Page 3 Profile: Danny Boyle, film-maker

Danny Boyle, film-maker (Getty Images)

The director?

From a gritty expose of heroin addiction in Glasgow to a heartfelt tale of love in the Mumbai slums to an Olympics opening ceremony to rival the best, Danny Boyle is a director indeed.

But the 56-year-old behind Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire has admitted that creating cinematic masterpieces isn’t always plain sailing, especially when it involves wrestling with the bureaucrats behind London 2012.

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Speaking ahead of the launch of a new biography, Danny Boyle: Creating Wonders, the director said he regularly clashed with the Games organising committee over their penny-pinching approach. On one occasion, he told The Sunday Times, Locog tried to sell the volunteers their own costumes to cut costs.

Did he let slip any other gems?

Yes! Boyle also revealed that Damien Hirst walked away from a scheme for him to design a wrap for the Olympic Stadium due to concerns about a controversial sponsorship deal with Dow Chemical.

So did Boyle spit the dummy too?

He repeatedly threatened to resign. But he suggested this was often simply a negotiating ploy. “Occasional threats to resign were useful,” he said. “There’s a terror of bad headlines in the press, which you have to turn to your advantage.”