20 Things You Didn’t Know About Trainspotting
8. How The Crew Pulled Off That Sinking Feeling
While the crew behind this low budget monster of a movie didn't have to rely on too many special effects to get the story of a struggling group of addicts in Edinburgh off the ground, there was still the odd sequence that required some good ol' movie magic in order to successfully bring it into existence.
On top of the aforementioned prosthetic arm prop, another genius piece of thinking outside the box manifested itself in the moment Ewan McGregor's Renton finds himself sinking into the ground after overdosing on heroin. To achieve the visual that was to mirror what Renton was internally experiencing in the moment, the production team placed McGregor on a platform over a trap door and simply lowered him through it as he sank, moving the camera cleverly as "Just a Perfect Day" bled into the scene.
Far from the green screen and VFX world we know today, Boyle and his team had to think outside the box (or rectangle in the case) to bend reality to their will.