Of course we go back and now this world attention the film has is extraordinary. As you would expect, it was absolutely full on, passionate. It was a red carpet like I have never seen it. They had these Bhangra drummers playing with us and you couldn\u2019t hear a thing. You couldn\u2019t hear what anyone was saying to you! You couldn\u2019t hear the questions! So you are giving answers which you hoped are linked to the questions, but you know they couldn\u2019t hear me anyway. (laughs)<\/p>\n
ASIANCE: Now, you probably can\u2019t even go back to the slums now. They\u2019ll mob you.<\/h3>\n
Danny Boyle:<\/strong> Well, I tell you that in India, they give attention to the Director, which you don\u2019t get anywhere else in the world\u2026..even in America, which shares a lot of the same things with India about movies. <\/p>\n Maybe Steven Spielberg is a star but there are no \u201cstar\u201d directors in America. Maybe Steven Spielberg, maybe James Cameron, although I don\u2019t think he makes enough movies. We like to come here (America) for the PGA (Producers Guild of America) and now people notice me in the airport and come up and ask for my autograph.<\/p>\n Danny Boyle:<\/strong> It\u2019s scary. Because I think, I\u2019m never going to make this plane. I\u2019m going to have to be really rude to someone and say \u201cNO\u201d or I\u2019m not going to make this plane. (laughs) I was traveling sometimes with Anil Kapoor and I realized how gracious he is. He has had it every day. Every time he steps out of his house, for so many years, he\u2019s so gracious of people. He never turns anyone down, does everything people ask of him. Sooo gracious and it\u2019s very important to be that gracious.<\/p>\n Actually Dev and Freida who are the main focal point had to learn to do it because it\u2019s their first exposure to it and they have been lovely. They dealt with the press, with interviews live and recorded and all the pressures of that. They also did all the print advertising, taking pictures, photoshoots, interviews but they always remembered. <\/p>\n We were in New York going to some glitzy National Board of Review and the fans are standing outside for hours, freezing. And I remember they went over and signed autographs for them. <\/p>\n They have dealt with it beautifully. I\u2019m really proud of the way they\u2019ve grown. Because I watched them literally grow from absolutely nothing into this public exposure. I saw it start at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals and watched them grow. And obviously cameras aren\u2019t interested in the Director, especially here (Los Angeles). They are in Freida particularly, and Dev. It requires real professionalism.<\/p>\n Danny Boyle:<\/strong> I think they have. I would love to have 10% of their future earnings, so it\u2019s really lovely for them. It\u2019s a whole other skill that\u2019s called for once all this attention is over, of course, you have to learn to handle it. It\u2019s a little bit like handling a film, suddenly you\u2019re part of family, then everybody scatters. <\/p>\n Last night at the SAGs, they received the Ensemble Award, and that is something directors\/producers don\u2019t understand. They are a big family in a way. They are very vulnerable. They are always the ones up there. It\u2019s lovely to see them applaud themselves. They kept saying, \u201cCome up on stage, come up on stage.\u201d And I said, \u201cAbsolutely not.\u201d There is no place for directors up there, just screen actors. <\/p>\n Danny Boyle:<\/strong> No, I didn\u2019t go to film school. I was actually trained in theatre. I was lucky enough to transfer to television to learn how to use a camera and eventually I got a feature film. I\u2019ve been through the three platforms of the industry. <\/p>\n I do really. There is no magic door, which if you can\u2019t afford it, you\u2019ll fail, if you can\u2019t go through. If there was a magic door, there would be a huge line, the rich would be at the front and the poor would be at the back, as always. But there isn\u2019t. There absolutely isn\u2019t. So film school is not the magic door. But that is not to say that it isn\u2019t a good thing. Everything is a good thing and everything is a bad thing. <\/p>\n There isn\u2019t one particular way of doing one thing or the other thing. What you have to do is persist. If you are really lunatic for it, you will get there. Because what happens in the industry, it seems like some sort of self survival technique to get rid of the people who are only in it for the glamour. They just get bored with having to wait and they just go on and do something else, but it\u2019s the survivors and lunatics that can\u2019t live without it who suddenly find themselves in an interview on the telephone being asked what advice would you give (laughs). <\/p>\n So just follow your nose. Be passionate. Don\u2019t be frightened to actually tell people what you think of their work. I think that is always very important because I think you always just imagine that people don\u2019t want to hear from you. But if you love somebody\u2019s work, find a way to tell them. If it means something to you, find a way to tell them. And when you do get the chance, Be Bold!! <\/p>\n Don\u2019t be intimidated by anyone. If you start off, what you\u2019ve got are things that are indispensable to movies, you\u2019ve got energy, youth, things that look like you might never break in. That is what the industry desperately needs a constant renewal of.<\/p>\n Danny Boyle:<\/strong> Well, our film has had an enormous amount of attention but there have been some other filmmakers who have worked hard; Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapur, who you have to pay respect to.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s lovely the way people have embraced the film. We\u2019ve been lucky and encountered a bit of change. Things are changing a bit. I don\u2019t know how many years it takes to work out but it never works out fully. It always evolves and evolves. You can feel a change.<\/p>\n Danny Boyle:<\/strong> I think there is a lack of knowledge here in just how talented Bollywood actors are. I benefited from that, I think partly because of my background and extensive knowledge of working with actors. And I was able to make that transition from a style in Bollywood to a style kind of Hollywood film, a transition between those two industries. <\/p>\n It was an adjustment in terms of tone and style but the talent is there, as huge as you\u2019d expect it to be. It\u2019s a nation that loves movies. Arguably, movies started in Bollywood. There\u2019s an argument that the Warner Brothers went there first in the 1890s. They went to Bombay first. Any industry that has grown for that long and with such popular success and a love, is always going to have huge talent. I was lucky to benefit from that.<\/p>\n That is what helped me a lot, the city itself. It\u2019s indigenous\u2026.the potential storytelling of the city. That\u2019s also something you benefit from. So in terms of my career, it\u2019s been a huge boost for me and revitalized me working there. <\/p>\n Danny Boyle:<\/strong> Yes I did. I went to see him do the show at KBC (Kaun Banega Crorepati – an Indian reality\/game show based on the UK gameshow Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? This version’s title literally translates to "Who will be a ten-millionaire?"). He recorded an episode of the show. He was excellent at doing it. He has a different style to those who have done it before him. That was really interesting. I went to see him. We had lunch afterwards. He was very, very gracious and lovely to meet him. It\u2019s very difficult to convey just how big he actually is. I wonder what that pressure is like for him. I have no idea but again, HUGELY gracious man. Those guys take the privilege and responsibility of it seriously. <\/p>\n He is so busy. It\u2019s impossible to get an answer from him, or get his schedule. We\u2019re lucky we moved on to Anil Kapoor who\u2019s a superstar in his own right. It makes sense that the host of the show is famous. You\u2019d expect it to be somebody famous in India but also it allows you to fictionalize it a bit. Like in the beginning where he makes fun of the kid a bit, that helps us dramatically. You wouldn\u2019t have that in the real show. <\/p>\n And then you have this extraordinary idea that he has also come from a poor background and has made it to be a superstar. Until you get an extra dynamic later on in the film, it makes the show more than just a vehicle upon which the narrative is riding. I\u2019m very pleased. \n \n<\/p>\n Danny Boyle: <\/strong> I\u2019d love to work with Anil Kapoor again. He is a serious, heavyweight, proper commanding actor. I would love to do a thriller there. There are so many actors I would like to work with again. I want to do something with Irrfan Khan. He was playing a police officer. I had to persuade him. <\/p>\n I would love to do a thriller in Mumbai. It was such a picturesque film. It has bits of elements of thriller in it and gangsters and all the different elements that make up the city. When you are working in the East, you can\u2019t help but think, \u201cWhat a place for a thriller!\u201d The new money, the disparities in the city, the role of the police in the city, the gangsters from Dubai or from Pakistan or from wherever they are from Malaysia or wherever these gangsters are who are running these slums. It is just incredible and then this complete and total devotion of everyone to Bollywood. <\/p>\n They are full of dance. The devotion to Bollywood stars just unites the whole country. Those are the elements where you think a great thriller can be done there and can play everywhere in the world. India has to get use to that kind of attention. It\u2019s going to become, not just as an exotic place, it\u2019s going to become the center of people\u2019s attention, the way America is at the moment, how there are so many movies set in America. It\u2019s such a landscape for movies. India is going to have to learn to accept that kind of attention given in this next century. <\/p>\n Danny Boyle:<\/strong> You can\u2019t help that Jaymie. It\u2019s an inevitable part of anything that the film focuses on. It slightly distorts it just by giving it attention in a way. We worked in the slums because we wanted to work with real locations. I found them incredibly resilient despite very tough lives, very little lack of infrastructure and provision. The people are resilient, breathtakingly resourceful. And I wanted the feeling of the film to reflect that spirit because it\u2019s about a kid who comes from that background and rises. I wanted that to somehow be conveyed in the film. <\/p>\n Inevitably, people think you are glamorizing poverty because it\u2019s actually an exhilarating story in the end. But I didn\u2019t try to do that. There is nothing funny about poverty. I also think you have to be respectful about what people think. A few people said to us, \u201cYou\u2019re not going to show us as poor are you?\u201d And you go, \u201cWow! That is an impossible question to answer.\u201d But if you put it on film, it\u2019s going to look poor. <\/p>\n I also wanted to show the energy and resilience of the energy and places we worked. I wanted them to feel proud of their lives, as well as the other people to feel that they should have better provision as well. That debate could be continued. An outsider should not get involved in that politically. India will answer its own questions, politically, economically and culturally. I\u2019m just a visitor and I\u2019m very privilege to make a film there. <\/p>\n I\u2019m quite happy now to accept and absorb whatever criticism comes as well. I\u2019ve done enough films now where that is part of the deal. I\u2019m in such a lucky place to be able to make a film like this. You have to stand there and take whatever comes. I have had failures as well that no one wants to see. But you have to stand up and don\u2019t run away. <\/p>\n At first there was some worry about the word \u201cSlumdog\u201d. People regarded that as insulting but people hadn\u2019t seen the film yet. It\u2019s a hybrid word of underdog which we take great pride in, us storytellers, because there is a huge underdog in slum. The triumph of that is that there is a triumph of the underdog. That is what generates its love around the world. It\u2019s wonderful to see Mumbai but the real triumph is the heart of the underdog. We love that story because it gives everyone hope. And now we face a tough couple of years, so it\u2019s great to have a story like that that generates that kind of buzz. <\/p>\n Danny Boyle:<\/strong> I always wanted to use Paper Planes from way back because it\u2019s a song I love. There\u2019s something extraordinary about the fact that she\u2019s part Sri Lankan, from London and part New York. She\u2019s part of modern life. She comes from all over, like so many people now. <\/p>\n Then they used her in Pineapple Express, the trailer and I thought, \u201cOh NO!\u201d if anyone is supposed to introduce the song to people the way you do (Slumdog should)\u2026\u2026anyway.<\/p>\n I invited her into the cutting room to watch the trailer. She was very please in the use of the music and she liked the film a lot. And she gave me really good notes, very smart. She watched it, we talked about it and then she said, \u201cDo you want some notes, as well?\u201d I went, \u201cOh ok!?\u201d She gave me two notes, printed notes, which were excellent. You wait for months for notes like that from executives. Well you get hundreds of notes which aren\u2019t very good for you. Then I told her I was going to use Rahman to do the music, and she said \u201cI grew up devoted to Rahman\u201d. <\/p>\n So we worked out a way they could work together and they did this song, \u201cOh Saya\u201d, which is the first song of the film. The way the film has worked and the way different things aligned beautifully for us, where you have some role to play, but you don\u2019t have the ultimate role to play, which are constellations aligning. You don\u2019t quite understand but just working out is really bizarre. I don\u2019t expect it to always be like that. But I just stare and wonder at the way it has worked for us. <\/p>\n The soundtrack last week went to number one on the Album charts on itunes! The Album charts! Not the Soundtrack charts. I just think that is so wonderful for him and three nominations for him! And a Golden Globe! I know what he means to India and I know what he means to film goers in India. It is totally justified. He can\u2019t say that, but I can. He is the Mozart, the Dvorak, the Tchaikovsky, whatever you call it (laughs). He is a genius at it and so the acknowledgment that they are giving him is totally worthy.<\/p>\n Danny Boyle: <\/strong> Absolutely not! (laughs) You never ever, ever have a speech ready. Even if you make a fool of yourself because you don\u2019t know what to say or you forget people, all those sorts of terrible things. Do NOT get a speech ready because as Benjamin Franklin said, and he\u2019s also featured in the film, \u201cNothing is certain in life, except death and taxes\u201d. I think that is absolutely true.<\/p>\n Danny Boyle: <\/strong> Nice to talking to you Jaymie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ASIANCE: You just came back from promoting in India? How was it returning now after all your accolades? 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How was it returning now after all your accolades? 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\nI use to love the fact that every movie poster in India had the director\u2019s name on it. I use to cheer that. But you are also the spokesman for the film. <\/p>\nASIANCE: How is it adapting to that fame? .<\/h3>\n
\nIt made me realize. <\/p>\n![\"Danny](\"http:\/\/www.asiancemagazine.com\/files\/200902_DannyBoyleGGgroup.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nASIANCE: Have they now been approached with anything in terms of offers? Anything that you know of? I know we interviewed Freida in November.<\/h3>\n
ASIANCE: I know that you are theatre trained? I didn\u2019t read that you went to an actual film school, so what advice would you give to aspiring film makers who don\u2019t have the money or opportunity to go to film school? Any advice? .<\/h3>\n
ASIANCE: You really are the first film maker to bring an Indian Inspired film to America.<\/h3>\n
ASIANCE: Well you are the one who sort of brought this to the forefront, mainstream America, don\u2019t you think?<\/h3>\n
ASIANCE: Did you meet Shahrukh Khan, the \u201cKing of Bollywood\u201d and host of \u201cWho Wants to Be a Millionaire\u201d in India?<\/h3>\n
\n<\/p>\nASIANCE: Is there anyone that you really want to work with?<\/h3>\n
ASIANCE: What do you think of critics who say you are glamorizing slums and saying you reinforce stereotypes or reinforce Western stereotypes about the country?<\/h3>\n
ASIANCE: Regarding AR Rahman. Did you know he was planning to use M.I.A? We thought she was perfect. What did you tell him about the music? I know you said you wanted it loud.<\/h3>\n
ASIANCE: Well you have all these Oscar nominations, odds are that you are supposed to win the Oscar. Do you have your speech ready? <\/h3>\n
ASIANCE: Well good luck, of course we\u2019ll all be watching.<\/h3>\n