Danny Boyle turns 70: The star director who wants to be a simple citizen

On the evening of April 27, 2012, the British nation held its breath for a moment. The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics was in full swing, with around 27 million viewers watching the spectacle on television. They saw Daniel Craig parade as James Bond in Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II. asked to leave and shortly afterwards flew with her in the helicopter over London. When they circled over the Olympic Stadium, the monarch did not hesitate. She jumped into the depths in the pink costume. Of course, a stunt woman sailed through the clouds, but that did not detract from the success of the show. Even today, the opening ceremony is considered one of the most beautiful of all times. Danny Boyle was the artistic director. A year later, the British director was to be elevated to knighthood for his services, but he refused. “This is not my thing, it has never been,” he told the Guardian in 2013. “I think it is more important to be an equal citizen than a preferred subject.” This attitude runs through the life and work of the director born in Radcliffe in 1956. His arch-catholic mother wanted a priestly career for him, instead Boyle turned to the theater. He worked for several years at the Royal Court Theatre and for the Royal Shakespeare Company until his debut “Little Murders Among Friends” (1994) celebrated his breakthrough. The director with a flair for people From “Trainspotting” (1996), the pop culture somewhat inflated film about a group of heroin addicts, about the eight Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008), which tells about the rise of a quiz show participant from the slum of Mumbai, to “127 Hours” (2010), in which a man is trapped in a crevice for five days: Danny Boyle’s films are about people who face seemingly insurmountable obstacles – and yet overcome them. Boyle is regarded as someone with a strong sense of people. He has an “almost childish enthusiasm that is insanely refreshing,” Jodie Comer told this newspaper. The actress appeared on “28 Years Later” (2025), a horror thriller in which Boyle negotiated the social aftermath of Brexit. While his political convictions are usually subtly expressed in his films, he regularly takes a public stand. For example, after the premiere of “Ink” (2026), his latest film about the rise of the tabloid “The Sun”, he criticized Donald Trump’s handling of the truth. In addition, he advocates the abolition of the British monarchy, and at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics he decisively put the British labour movement in the foreground. The Queen participated in his production. Today, Tuesday, Danny Boyle turns seventy.