“There was an extraordinary idea”: released 18 years ago, this science fiction film signed Danny Boyle was to be a trilogy

In 31 years of career, Danny Boyle has been able to build a solid filmography. If a number of fans of the filmmaker readily cite works like trainspotting, 28 days later or his multi-Millionaire Slumdog Slumdog thanks to which he won the statuette of the best director, there is at least a work that completely missed his appointment with the public and criticism: Sunshine, released in 2007, which is really the unhealthy of the filmography of the British filmmaker.

The story of this science fiction film takes place in 2057. The sun is dying, leading to its decline the extinction of the human species. The Icarus II spacecraft with a crew of 7 men and women on board led by Captain Kaneda is the last hope of humanity. Their mission: to explode a nuclear machine on the surface of the sun to relaunch solar activity …

“An embarrassing philosophical reflection of gutters”

Written by Alex Garland, Sunshine aligned a casting of madness as a bonus: Chris Evans, Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong, Mark Strong or Cliff Curtis and Troy Garity.

And a large part of the criticism (“An embarrassing philosophical reflection of gutters” writes for example Liberation, while a kind variety varies “Sunshine shines brightly before imploding in a dramatic black hole”…), the film has not seduced spectators any more. For a budget of 40 million dollars, Sunshine has not even brought 39 million to the international box office.

A capital disappointment, necessarily, which will even make Chris Evans say in 2011 this disillusioned comment: “I love Sunshine. […] Maybe ten people saw it. All my good films, no one sees them. Everyone will see the fantastic four, but no one sees Sunshine. I would have a different career if people had seen it. “

“There was an extraordinary idea”

In a recent interview with the site Colliderfor the promotion of his highly anticipated film 28 years later (in the room with us on June 18), Danny Boyle reveals that Sunshine was in fact the first part of a trilogy in the making.

“Originally, Alex [Garland] wrote two other parts. It was supposed to be a trilogy. He [Garland] has only written the main lines. It was a planetary trilogy. This concerned the sun itself, with two other stories. What is interesting is that Alex has a natural storyteller instinct to tell of these expanding stories, and that is why 28 years later ended up becoming a trilogy “.

When the journalist asks him what would have been the intrigue of Sunshine's suite, Boyle answers: “Oh, I can't tell you … Well, because I can't remember enough details. But there was an extraordinary idea in one of them”. Even by insisting, Boyle will not let go, “Because Alex could use it again”.