Anybody who put their peepers to Trainspotting and wondered just how Rent Boy, Spud, Begbie and Sick Boy became so unmitigatedly depraved can now put their wonder to rest. Why? Because the cat who cast those characters has written a prequel, that’s why. We speak of course of Irvine Welsh, who’ll be reading from his just-racked Skagboys this Thursday at Books and Books; then celebrating its wondrous depravity at HaVen.
What’s the one question you wish you never had to answer again? I could probably do without people asking me what I thought of the Trainspotting film.
Is there in turn one question you wish would get asked but haven’t? How does it feel to be such a fantastic lover?
What’s the answer? Pretty f*cking good, as it happens.
Do you expect Skagboys to eventually see the cinematic light of day? Yes, but I'm thinking of it more in terms of a TV series than a feature film.
Were you aware Rent Boy has his own Tmblr account? No. But I'm on Twitter and I talk to Begbie, Sick Boy, Spud, Bruce Robertson, Bladesy and most hilariously Juice Terry and Post Alec from Glue. Every one of them are in character and astonishingly good. It's like they've come alive, which is weird.
How ‘bout the fact that five of his slangs have made it into the Urban Dictionary? It's cool about the Urban Dictionary thing. It's flattering when your characters become iconic.
What Skagboys term do you think likely to lexicon likewise? On Skagboys terms I can't remember much of them as I'm working on other stuff now, but 'a face like a painters radio' springs to mind.
Irvine Welsh reads from Skagboys Thursday September 20th, 8pm at Gables' Books and Books. Afterparty at HaVen.
