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Director Danny Boyle says he's 'not sure' British are great filmmakers

EDITORIAL USE ONLY Filmmaker Danny Boyle at a press conference for Factory International, Manchester's new space for arts, music and culture, as its opening plans are announced. Picture date: Thursday 29 September 2022.
Danny Boyle made the comments at a BFI talk. (PA)

Director Danny Boyle has apparently admitted that he is “not sure” the British are great filmmakers.

The 66-year-old – who scooped the best director Oscar for 2008’s massive hit Slumdog Millionaire – said he thinks that Brits excel at theatre and pop music but possibly not movies.

According to the Daily Mail’s Eden Confidential column, he made the comment during a recent talk at the British Film Institute (BFI).

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“It’s a terrible thing to say at the home of British film but I am not sure we are great filmmakers, to be absolutely honest,” he was quoted as saying.

Danny Boyle arriving at the premiere of Pistol, at the Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, London. Picture date: Monday May 23, 2022. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/Empics
Danny Boyle said Brits are great at theatre and pop. (Matt Crossick/Empics)

Boyle, who was born in Lancashire, went on: “As a nation, our two art forms are theatre, in a middle class sense, and pop music, because we are extraordinary at it.”

The director – whose other big films include Shallow Grave, Trainspotting and The Beach – gave the talk at BFI Southbank, where there was a 20th anniversary screening of his film 28 Days Later.

The horror film about a highly contagious virus that induces aggression being unleashed in Britain starred Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston and Brendan Gleeson and was unveiled in 2002.

Danny Boyle with the Best Director award, received for Slumdog Millionaire, at the 81st Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles.
Danny Boyle won an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire. (PA)

A sequel called 28 Weeks Later was released five years later.

Fans have long wanted another instalment in the post-apocalyptic series and Boyle has hinted that a third film could follow.

Speaking to NME he said that a script had been written for an instalment entitled 28 Months Later.

Rarely is London so quiet - a still from Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later (Fox Searchlight)
A still from Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. (Fox Searchlight)

“I’d be very tempted [to direct it],” he said.

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“It feels like a very good time actually. It’s funny, I hadn’t thought about it until you just said it, and I remembered ‘Bang, this script!’ which is again set in England, very much about England. Anyway, we’ll see… who knows?”

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