Danny Boyle says he remains proud of Slumdog Millionaire, but he would never make the Oscar-winning film in the current climate.
Reflecting on his 2008 Best Picture winner in an interview with The Guardian, Boyle said the film, about a Mumbai ghetto kid (Dev Patel) who wins a quiz jackpot, would be difficult to mount — and for good reasons.
“We wouldn’t be able to make that now,” the 28 Years Later director said. “And that’s how it should be. It’s time to reflect on all that. We have to look at the cultural baggage we carry and the mark that we’ve left on the world.”
Asked if he felt the production was a form of colonialism, Boyle responded: “No, no … Well, only in the sense that everything is. At the time it felt radical. We made the decision that only a handful of us would go to Mumbai. We’d work with a big Indian crew and try to make a film within the culture. But you’re still an outsider. It’s still a flawed method.”
He continued: “That kind of cultural appropriation might be sanctioned at certain times. But at other times it cannot be. I mean, I’m proud of the film, but you wouldn’t even contemplate doing something like that today. It wouldn’t even get financed. Even if I was involved, I’d be looking for a young Indian film-maker to shoot it.”
Boyle’s comments suggest he is unlikely to be involved in the effort to revisit Slumdog Millionaire through a film sequel and/or TV adaptation housed at Bridge7, a production company founded by former Netflix executive Swati Shetty and former CAA agent Grant Kessman.
Directed by Boyle and written by Simon Beaufoy based on the book Q&A by Vikas Swarup, Slumdog Millionaire follows the story of 18-year-old Jamal whose life of hardship in the slums of Mumbai gives him the answers he needs to win a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire-style show. The film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Director.
