Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Leads Toronto Film Festival Prizes
British director Danny Boyle is the big winner at this year’s Toronto Film Festival for this latest picture ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Boyle was presented with the coveted Cadillac People’s Choice Award, voted for by film fans, on Saturday.
According to the Trainspotting helmer- “It’s about a kid from the slums of Mumbai, who has nothing – he’s ill educated, he’s illiterate – and he goes on the Hindi version of ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ and wins it. And they can’t believe that he’s done it. They think he’s cheated. They think he’s getting signals from embedded chips in his body, or that there are people coughing in the audience, but he won it.”
The prize, which was last year won by David Cronenberg’s acclaimed ‘Eastern Promises,’ is usually considered an indicator of Oscar success. Speaking at the festival, Boyle, who also helmed ‘Shallow Grave,’ ‘28 Days Later’ and ‘Sunshine’, added – “It’s a great underdog story.”
Boyle is next attached to ‘Ponte Tower’, a political thriller about one of South Africa’s most prestigious landmarks which became overrun and populated by violent gangs.
The director also recently hinted at returning to the ’28’ franchise with a third film. Boyle, who directed ’28 Days’ and produced its sequel ’28 Weeks Later’ in 2006 said – “I have an idea for it [but] I’ve got to present it and see what people think really because it might be silly really.