From the director of Trainspotting, 28 Days Later and The Beach, comes another unexpected cinematic experience. Mostly because there is no bloodshed, drugs or hardcore darkness featured. Rather, Danny Boyle’s new film Millions is more reflective of the director himself: affable, smart and safe for all ages. Millions is the fable-like story of two brothers starting anew after recently losing their mother. Anthony (Lewis McGibbon) is an ever-practical 9-year-old who sees life as if on a stock ticker; 7-year-old Damian (played brilliantly by newcomer Alex Etel) uses imagination and faith to negotiate the world around him. When a suitcase full of money drops from the sky, the brothers find themselves embroiled in an adventure both exciting and personal. True to Boyle’s eye for the gray in situations, what could have been just another feel good movie turns into a textured look at what real wealth is. Pushed from its Christmas release date to now, Millions is a perfect spark to dry the spring rain. Glide talked with Boyle recently in Boston about his new piece of work.
This definitely seems like an odd time to release such a holiday focused film.
Yes, I know. We were meant to be release in December in the UK, and then six weeks – no, four weeks before we were due to open – we had the publicity already in place and everything, three American Christmas movies jumped on our date, Polar Express, Surviving Christmas and Christmas and the Klunks. They just came into the date like three huge bullies and you had to move – doesn’t matter whether the movie is good or bad, you have to move. It’s cruel but you have to accept it.
How did you get involved with the project?
I think the writer [Frank Cottrell Boyce] finally told me this later – they are very canny, writers – I think he had shown it to every director in the U.K. and they had said no to it. Because, I’d run into directors and they’d ask what are you working on and I’d say Millions and they’d tell me, ‘oh yea I turned that down.’ I think [Frank] thought that I’d turn it into a slasher flick or something but I read it and I loved it. It was very close to my own background. You know you can make the easiest decision when it’s not based on rational or business or career. I kind of jumped on it and we worked on it for a year. We only left one scene – but we didn’t hack it about – just developing it, nurturing it. Anyway, it felt very autobiographical – even thought it’s not – it felt that way because I had such a similar devout Catholic upbringing.
The casting of the kids seems dead on – how hard was it to come by Alex and Anthony?
We looked at hundreds of kids. We limited the search because when you search too widely you just never want to make up your mind up – ‘Oh we’ll see some more’ – so we limited the search. The little kid, Damian just walked in one day and I thought, genuinely, ‘That’s him!’ And it proved to be. They have to go through three or four auditions and some producers were not into him. Technically there were better actors, but they were not interesting. You go for a spirit and not an actor. An audience watching for 90-100 minutes, I think sometimes with child actors you want to strangle them. But he had something about him there that fell in with the story – you could fall in with him. Someone said to me the other day, when you see that in a kid there’s an old soul in there somewhere.
The visuals of the movie are so rich, how did you and your D.P. [Anthony Dod Mantle] approach shooting the film?
We wanted it very much to feel like -as in all films, that it was told from the perspective of the central character. You’re inside a boy of seven and we wanted it to feel like that. When they are moving houses, at that age, they just tell you you’re moving and the next minute the house is there. You don’t realize the stress, it’s just there. You hope to set the agenda that there’s a magic in the film although the kid doesn’t think it’s magic, it’s not unreal, it just is. So all the colors are very primary. We wanted them to pop and dazzle in front of you, like the way kids’ paintings do. And the saints aren’t like pious, they aren’t stiff like a statue. [Damian’s] relationship is informal – he chats away – we wanted them to feel like they had a personality and didn’t behave like they’re in the book.
How are you feeling about the film now that it’s finally being shown?
I’m very proud. I know directors say that all the time but I am genuinely proud of it. If your film gets massacred [by the press] it hurts, but here if it gets massacred, it will hurt, but I won’t believe any of it – and I think one of the points of the film is about believing, and I always took that approach to it.
Sometimes when you take something on like this, it can water down your principles when making films, but the people involved here are so vulnerable so I’m protective of them. Sometimes I lose that moment or lack of confidence after a film. I don’t feel that way here. I’m very proud of it.
