British filmmaker Danny Boyle says he would not direct Slumdog Millionaire today due to what he calls “cultural appropriation,” adding, “I’d be looking for a young Indian filmmaker to shoot it.”
Boyle, who has enjoyed success in his decades-long career as a director and now has an estimated net worth of $60 million, told the Guardian in a recent interview that he has “regrets.”
“We wouldn’t be able to make that now,” Boyle said of his 2008 Oscar-winning film, Slumdog Millionaire, after being asked how he thinks history will judge the movie about “a ghetto kid who hits the jackpot.”
“And that’s how it should be,” the 28 Days Later director added. “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.”
While Boyle shot the film in Mumbai with a local crew and included dialogue in Hindi, the filmmaker told the British newspaper that this was, nonetheless, “a flawed method.”
After being asked if “the production itself amounted to a form of colonialism,” the Shallow Grave director replied, “No, no,” adding, “Well, only in the sense that everything is.”
“At the time it felt radical,” Boyle said. “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.”
The 127 Hours director went on to suggest that he has engaged in “cultural appropriation.”
“That kind of cultural appropriation might be sanctioned at certain times. But at other times it cannot be,” he said. “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,” Boyle added. “Even if I was involved, I’d be looking for a young Indian filmmaker to shoot it.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the British director weighed in on U.S. politics, saying, “much” of President Donald Trump’s “dominance is undoubtedly down to his appeal to the media.”
“He is so media friendly. His soundbites, everything about him, fit hand in glove with news and entertainment to the point where it’s damaging,” Boyle said, claiming that the UK, meanwhile, is “quite fortunate.”
“We’ve dodged the far-right bullet for the moment and we elected Keir Starmer against the tide of what’s been happening elsewhere,” the foreign Trainspotting director said of the United Kingdom, adding, “It could be a lot worse.”
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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