Danny Boyle birthday special: 11 things to know about the Slumdog Millionaire director

Danny Boyle is well known in India as the director of the Oscar Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire

Updated: October 20, 2014 5:23 PM IST

By India.com Staff

Danny Boyle birthday special: 11 things to know about the Slumdog Millionaire director

 Danny Boyle birthday special: 10 things to know about the Slumdog Millionaire director

Born on October 20, 1956, Danny Boyle is well known in India as the director of the Oscar Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire starring Anil Kapoor, Dev Patel and Freida PintoThe film was a breakthrough project for Dev Patel and Freida Pinto in Hollywood. Not to forget A R Rahman who composed the song Jai ho which was widely appreciated and also helped him win the Academy Award. Slumdog Millionaire turned out to be a life changing opportunity for the cast and crew associated with it.

The man behind the successful film which changed the career for many, Danny Boyle is celebrating his birthday today. Here are 11 things perhaps, you should know about him.

1. Danny Boyle is an English film director, having directed Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later, 127 Hours and Trainspotting apart from Slumdog Millionaire. He is a producer, screenwriter and theatre director.

2. After his schooling, Danny Boyle worked in a theatre company directing plays and acting. Boyle began his career at the Joint Stock Theatre Company. Later, he joined the Royal Court Theatre in 1982 where he directed The Genius by Howard Brenton and Saved by Edward Bond. He has also worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and directed five plays.

3. Danny Boyle’s love for films began when he viewed the movie Apocalypse Now. He had said, “It had eviscerated my brain, completely. I was an impressionable 21-year-old guy from the sticks. My brain had not been fed and watered with great culture, you know, as art is meant to do. It had been sandblasted by the power of cinema. And that’s why cinema, despite everything we try to do, it remains a young man’s medium, really, in terms of audience.”

4. Danny Boyle directed his first film Shallow Grave; it was the most commercially successful British film of 1995, after which he made Trainspotting. The film was based on Irvine Welsh’s novel of the same name. Both of these films were widely appreciated in British cinema.

5. Danny Boyle turned down an offer to direct the fourth film of the Alien franchise with a major US studio. He then stepped into Hollywood by directing A Life Less Ordinary.

6. For the London 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony, Danny Boyle was the Artistic Director. The ceremony, entitled Isles of Wonder, showed British culture, including the Industrial Revolution and British contribution to literature, music, film and technology. Reception to the London Olympics ceremony was generally positive, both in the United Kingdom and internationally.

7. The upcoming Shekhar Kapur directorial film Paani will be produced by Danny Boyle.

8. Danny Boyle also has interest in music and has considered a musical film with original compositions. He has also expressed interest in an animated movie.

9. Danny Boyle studied at Thornleigh Salesian College in Bolton, and studied English and Drama at Bangor University. While studying at Bangor University, Boyle dated actress Frances Barber.

10. Danny Boyle is a trustee of the UK-based African arts charity Dramatic Need.

11. Danny Boyle was to direct a sequel of 28 Weeks Later and also Trainspotting.

Here’s wishing Danny Boyle a very happy birthday!

By Shri Krishna Iyer

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