After Trainspotting, there was a huge amount of interest in adapting other books by Irvine Welsh, but partly because no one was quite sure how Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge had got the tale of Renton and co. to work on the screen, the only one we got was The Acid House.
However Ecstacy will arrive in cinemas later this year, and now it appears we’re getting a version of Filth as well. The Playlist spoke to Welsh, who said that James McAvoy, Alan Cumming and Jamie Bell are all onboard for the movie, and it’ll start shooting early next year. Thats going to be the main cast, Welsh said, James is going to be main character, Jamie is going to be Lennox his kind of sidekick and Alan is going to be Toal, his boss.
The author will produce, while Jon S. Baird will direct. Baird apparently got the job behind the camera after impressing Irvine with his feature debut, Cass.
Earlier this year, McAvoy did hint he had a role coming up “that is quite extreme I mean, quite full on mental”, and it would appear this is it. He’d play Bruce Robertson, a sex-obsessed, cocaine-addicted, bigoted Edinburgh cop who is supposed to be investigating a murder but gets sidetracked by his own hangups, mainly revolving around his rather extreme sex life.
An adaptation has been talked about for years, but as you may have gathered from that brief synopsis, it’s a tough one to turn into a movie that will work – especially as it includes things like a talking tapework and an incredibly dark ending. However Baird has now rewritten the screenplay, with Welsh saying about it, I think Jons definitely done something really sort of magic. Hes captured and hes kept the essence of the main protagonist but hes done a lot of interesting things with it as well. Hes kind of rendered very, very cinematic and I think its a great script and its going to make a great film with that cast attached.
Don’t take all this a gospel, as Welsh is known for talking things up that don’t come to fruition, but it looks like this one may actually happen.