Heroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends --Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane, along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind as Begbie and Sick Boy come knocking.
Direction
Boyle's kinetic style that defined 90s British cinema
Acting
McGregor's breakthrough and Carlyle's terrifying Begbie
Editing
Rapid-fire cuts that mirror the junkie's high
Director
Danny Boyle
Ewan McGregor
Renton
Ewen Bremner
Spud
Jonny Lee Miller
Sick Boy
Kevin McKidd
Tommy
Robert Carlyle
Begbie
Kelly Macdonald
Diane
Peter Mullan
Swanney
James Cosmo
Renton's Father
Eileen Nicholas
Renton's Mother
Susan Vidler
Allison
Pauline Lynch
Lizzy
Shirley Henderson
Gail
Stuart McQuarrie
Gavin
Irvine Welsh
Mikey Forrester
Dale Winton
Game Show Host
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Launched the 'Cool Britannia' era and made Irvine Welsh's Edinburgh dialect globally famous.
The 'Choose Life' monologue was rewritten 35 times; McGregor performed the final toilet scene in one take.
GB
