Danny Boyle's Sunshine

Space suites inspired by Kenny from South Park, recreating the solar system in London’s East End and pitching a film about eight astronauts in space strapped to a bomb, these were just some of the topics covered by Danny Boyle last Sunday at Popcorn Taxi’s exclusive screening of his new film Sunshine at Sydney’s Bondi Junction.

The Scot who gave us Trainspotting and Shallow Grave, was in fine form as he discussed his cast, “Big stars just don’t work in space; it just humbles everyone.” He continued on this train of thought discussing the benefits of using a less than stellar line up of Hollywood talent. “If you don’t have big stars the audience has no idea who’s going to die next!” he laughed.

The event brought back memories of the London NFT’s Guardian Lectures and I very much look forward to the next Popcorn Taxi event. For the record, Sunshine, the film that Boyle wanted to be “more NASA than Star Wars,” is fabulous. Doing for the Sci-fi genre what 28 Days Later did for horror. Boyle’s new movie harks back to such luminaries as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien and Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris and you can’t give higher praise than that.

For my full thoughts on the film listen to Cinemascape on Eastside FM nearer the time of the film’s release next month.