Natural High: The Making of Irvine Welsh’s 'Ecstasy'
Trevor Hogg chats with filmmaker Rob Heydon about his feature length début along with actors Adam Sinclair and Billy Boyd...
Irvine Welsh and Rob Heydon
“After seeing the film Trainspotting [1996] and The Acid House [1998] in cinemas in Canada with a Scottish writer friend, Paul McCafferty who eventually co-wrote the screenplay for Ecstasy[2011],”
recalls filmmaker Rob Heydon as to the when he was introduced to the
works of author Irvine Welsh. “I first became aware of Irvine Welsh
when I was at Drama School and the novel Trainspotting had just been released,” states Scottish actor Adam Sinclair (To End All Wars).
“Everyone in the school was doing the famous speech, ‘Choose a job.
Choose a big fucking television. Choose life.’ All these kids over
Scotland were reading books from an author who wrote the same way they
spoke. He was very much part of a generation writing about stuff that
most of the youth could relate to. It made them feel like they had a
voice. Then the film happened and Scotland was put on the map in an
international arena.” The story about heroin addicts resonated with
Billy Boyd who is best know for playing one of hobbits in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 to 2003). “Everybody was reading Trainspotting.
It was quite a big book at the time the world over not only in
Britain. I read it and then there was a play made while I was at drama
school at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh which I missed. Kelly
Macdonald [No Country for Old Men] was working in a bar called
the Brunswick Cellars and I remember meeting her there. I had just left
college and was about to do the play of Trainspotting as the film was about to come out. We were talking about Trainspotting
and Irvine Welsh, and how great it was to work on his stuff and what
was the difference between the play and the film? I didn’t audition for
the film because I was still at drama school when it was being made but
I was in the play and we toured Britain which was amazing. It was a
cross of being an actor and a rock star because the theatres would
usually sellout in minutes. Before the play would go on we would play a
lot of Leftfield, a lot of great club music and people were so up for
the play. That was cool. Irvine Welsh is well known. It probably is
thought about as a cult [following] as he writes about the underbelly of
society or the stuff people don’t want to talk or write about. I love
the way he writes. Like with Lloyd in Ecstasy; it might be people involved in the darker side of society but doesn’t mean that they’re not intelligent or poetic.”
Being a fan and filmmaker, Rob Hayden acquired the movie rights to the short story The Undefeated which was included in the best-selling book Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance
by Irvine Welsh. Lloyd Buist (Adam Sinclair) attempts to start his own
enterprise selling ecstasy pills with his buddies Ally (Keram
Malicki-Sánchez) and Woodsy (Billy Boyd) which puts him in conflict with
volatile drug dealer Solo (Carlo Rota) who feels betrayed. “It helped
and hindered,” admits Rob Hayden when discussing the popularity of the
cinematic predecessor helmed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), and starring Ewan McGregor (The Impossible) and Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty). “People will always compare any Irvine Welsh film to Trainspotting, butEcstasy is not Trainspotting nor Wizard of Oz [1939] or Lawrence of Arabia
[1962]. It is a Cinéma vérité [ala French New Wave]; a style film
meaning on location sound, and shot on location with a mostly hand held
camera. Ecstasy is a small slice of a life story about a clubber in
Scotland.” Adam Sinclair observes, “The success of Trainspotting was always going to be big boots to fill. A lot of people wanted it to be Trainspotting 2; however, this was never the intention of the filmmakers or even by Irvine himself who said he wrote Ecstasy
as his attempt at a twisted love story. We had to acknowledge in the
film that this was a brainchild of the same man but then it stands as a
film in its own right. But the comparisons will always be made and that
is due to the huge success of Trainspotting.” Co-star Billy Boyd adds, “It did a bit because Trainspotting
was the movie of it’s time. It’s an incredible film. Beautifully shot
and acted, a great story. Coming from the same writer it has to be
there. But we forgot about and because Rob Hayden has his own style and
philosophy on life; a lot of that is in Ecstasy as well as
Irvine’s incredible writing. There is a lot of Rob Hayden in there so
it’s obviously a different thing. I don’t think we got to caught up
with it other than the people are from the same place.”
The project had been in development since 2000. “Yes and no,” responds
Rob Hayden when asked whether the long delay resulted in his initial big
screen vision evolving into something different. “The music was better
and the only scene that had to be cut from filming was two scenes of
special effects.” A particular literary moment involving Lloyd and
Heather, the married woman he falls in love with was a top priority for
the native of Toronto, Ontario to adapt cinematically. “The scene where
the couple is opening up on bed after making love for the first time;
the delivery by Adam Sinclair and Kristin Kreuk [EuroTrip] mixed
with the music was perfect.” As for the key of retaining the spirit of
the source material, Hayden remarks, “Keeping the voice of Irvine Welsh
alive in the characters while making a story that works for the screen.”
Despite the delay in the production, certain casting decisions did not
change. “Billy Boyd I met with in Scotland in 2002 and he was always
attached to the project. Woodsy was written specifically with him in
mind.” The writer-director gave the performer from Glasgow, Scotland a
couple of books to read. There was a lot of stuff about conspiracy
theories, aliens, spirituality, and religion,” recalls Boyd. “I was
reading a lot of that stuff so I could get into the head of someone who
was trying to think outside of the box. Who was trying to get other
ideas of what is reality? What is life? Why are we here? I read a lot
of that kind of stuff and religious texts of from different things such
as the Bhagavad Gita and stuff from The Bible.” Boyd was
not alone in waiting for the movie to be made. “I lived with the
character of Lloyd for several years before we eventually got round to
filming, so over that time I gathered lots of little things that I
thought were him,” reveals Adam Sinclair. “When I arrived on set I had
his shoes [Very important. Always know what kind of shoes your character
wears. It changes so many things], and several items of clothing. I
also filled in all the blanks as to his backstory. The audience never
finds this out but it does give me more to play within each scene.”
“Obviously after the cult following that came up after Danny Boyle's
film, and everything it did for all the cast, doing an Irvine Welsh
story seemed like the perfect opportunity for a young Scottish actor,”
recalls Adam Sinclair as to what led him to screen test for Ecstasy.
“I read the script having already read the book and related to the
character of Lloyd. Many of his life experiences were similar to my own
and I was part of the dance culture that was growing in Scotland in the
1990s. Not sure what landed me the role but I do remember dropping my
trousers in one audition. Maybe that was the cruncher.” The native of
East Kilbride, Scotland did not rely solely on the screenplay. “For
research, I went back and read Irvine's entire back catalogue. I could
see that every character he writes has a little element of him in there,
so I decided to take little bits from each of them. The story we did
was only a novella so I had to get more information about who this guy
was. The book Glue was an extremely helpful read. The script
also had a lot of musical references and with my wife being a deejay I
had her make me the film's playlist; that got me back to a time and
place I remembered very well from my younger days.” Sinclair remarks,
“When I'm acting, I try not to base a performance on anything I've seen
before because then it becomes exactly that, a performance. I tried to
relate every scene to a personal experience and deliver the lines as
honestly as possible.” The actor and the protagonist of the tale have
become entwined. “I don't see Lloyd as a character so much anymore; he
feels like an old aspect of me, a phase I grew out of. He is the eternal
Peter Pan, shunning most responsibilities but with his heart in the
right place. A kind of state that most of us are in in our youth, but as
we grow older we take on more responsibilities and therefore have to
step up and be answerable for what we do in life. Lloyd was coming
round to that by the end of the film.”
Almost every shot in the movie features Adam Sinclair. “The only test
of endurance was doing all of the dancing stuff,” states Sinclair.
“When you have a location for filming you usually only have it for that
day so all the dance scenes are filming consecutively. After a 14 hour
day of that I could barely walk to the toilet back at my hotel. Being
in most scenes is a great thing for an actor as you really get to live
with and be the character, unlike most gigs where you show up for a few
days filming here and there; this means you constantly have to find him
again and again. A particular sequence focuses on the facial reaction
of the actor who is bent over while the drugs to be smuggled are shoved
into a rather painful hiding place. “To be fair, I was just going for
pure comedy in that scene. I was trying to get the timing right for the
laugh.” The central performer of the dark romantic comedy developed a
creative partnership with his director. “Rob and I talked a lot up to
and over the course of filming; he was very open to my ideas and
personal experiences that I could bring to the table. From here, we
would work out what was going to be best for the scene and the movie.
The process felt very collaborative so I never felt he was telling me
what I had to do.” When it came to portraying the part of the Woodsy,
Billy Boyd remarks, “Before we started filming, I wasn’t sure of the
style which Rob was going to film so I was trying to get the character
real and believable and as intense as it could be. Once you get on his
set and see what the style is and how everyone else is pitching their
performance you become part of that world.”
Getting the costume right was important in helping Billy Boyd to immerse
himself in playing Woodsy. “Rob did an interesting thing that made it
difficult but also wonderful; he didn’t say, ‘Look. This is 1992.’ And
you go, ‘I know exactly what they’re wearing and the music they’re
listening to.’ As a deejay you would want to know that but you wanted
it set in a never time, not an exact moment. In a way you have to be
specific and real with your character but also slightly a stereotype of a
clubber or deejay. I went classic. I said to the costume lady, ‘It has
to be Adidas Trainers or Adidas Sambas or something like that and top
has to be a Fred Perry. You could wear that now or you could’ve worn it
in 1992.” Reflecting on his character, Boyd states, Although Woodsy is
quite intense, dramatic and takes too much drugs which puts him in a
different consciousness, he’s real and looking for the truth. Woodsy is
a searcher; if he was born into money and his parents put him on the
right path he would have taken a year out in India and found what he was
looking for. But being someone born in Leith with no money, Woodsy
found that by taking ecstasy, dancing and getting into the music.” To
research his role, Boyd sought the expertise of a professional deejay.
I did meet with Davey Forbes here in Glasgow who is a big deejay though
he is now more of a music producer. He was a deejaying in the early
1990s all of the big raves here out in fields in Perth. Davey taught me
how to deejay with vinyl. I went to his studio and we spent a couple
of nights as he would do matching all of that stuff which I loved. Some
of my favourite moments on-set were between takes when you could play
the music and try to mix it. It was good fun. Davey was a huge help in
finding Woodsy and also little things that deejays do. How do you slow
down a record or speed it up?” The Hospital Sequence where Woodsy
declares, ‘My drugs are better than yours!’ is a favourite of the actor.
“That was one of those moments where Rob let you do your thing. There
were some lines for that but it was a small scene. Rob had set-up the
supporting cast to do this band thing; I was supposed to be conducting
it and trying to past the days. I’ve spoken to drug addicts before when
doing Trainspotting and they were talking about how your day is
based around the drug. Where to get it? Where to take it? His days
would have been filled with the drugs, the music, picking up the right
records and to be in a hospital which have given him terrible drugs to
help him with what he’s dealing with. Woodsy was trying to find some
joy in there and felt he was helping people. With Rob, when I asked to
ad-lib it a bit he let that go. We did tones of takes of it and I could
see him in the corner of my eye giggling away behind the monitor. It
was good fun.”
40 trips to the United Kingdom were required to compose the screenplay
which was co-written by Rob Heydon and Ben Tucker with additional scenes
supplied by Paul McCafferty. “Locations in Canada that could play as
Scotland or Amsterdam and locations in Scotland that worked for the
story,” explains Heydon as to what he looked for during his location
scouting which resulted in the principle photography taking place in
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. “The Nightclub was a perfect night out in
Scotland. John Digweed is from Edinburgh and mentioned in the book; he
happened to be playing the weekend we were in Edinburgh.” The time
spent on previous projects had an impact on the production. “Working
on music videos helps you learn how to shoot quickly. We had 14 days of
main unit photography which is very short for any film. Then two days +
one night in Amsterdam to cover that location and shooting on planes
overnight on the flight over to Amsterdam then one another plane to
Scotland. We shot in the airport in Edinburgh, and six days of mostly
exteriors in Edinburgh; it was a VERY tight schedule for any feature
film production. It is a miracle any film ever gets made, but especially
hard for independent films.” The cast had to be prepared for their
roles once the cameras started rolling. “We didn't have a lot of time
on this shoot so most people were on their A game,” says Adam Sinclair.
“A lot of the really emotional stuff was given time together right,
which I think it needed, but time was not our greatest ally.” When
comparing what it was like acting in a Hollywood blockbuster as compared
to a $1 million production, Billy Boyd observes, “When we were doing
Ecstasy there were 50 people at lunch whereas with The Lord of the Rings
there a thousand at some points. Other than that the actual work of
standing in front of a camera with other actors trying to get a scene to
work with a director, the DOP and the lighting is exactly the same.
There is no huge difference. In something like Lord of the Rings
with Peter Jackson there was a lovely feeling where you kept on going
until it was right. If that took two days more than it was suppose to
that was okay. On independent productions you don’t have that but it
creates a different energy. The basic answer is that there is no great
difference in being in an independent or a huge production. It all
comes down to getting the characters and scenes right.”
The Canadian Film Centre was a useful training ground. “I helped
produce a couple shorts there,” remarks Rob Heydon. “It did help to
know how to keep a film on track without much of a budget – think
creatively!!!” A number of cinematic influences were called upon during
the making of Ecstasy. “Stanley Kubrick [Paths of Glory], [Jean-Luc] Godard [Breathless], [François] Truffaut [The 400 Blows], and others in the French New Wave along with some Danny Boyle and Coen Brothers [Fargo]
for good measure.” Adam Sinclair states, “It's not so much I'm proud
of any particular scenes, but there are scenes I watch and I can see I'm
telling the truth. There's not a lot of acting shall we say. All the
stuff surrounding his father was very soul bearing for me, as I was
going through the same process with my own father at the time, so
everything that Lloyd is going through emotionally was the same in my
own life. I guess I'm proud that I had the courage to go there.”
Sinclair notes, “It's unique in the fact that fundamentally it’s a love
story set against this gritty backdrop. The EDM [Electronic Dance
Music] scene is growing again in Northern America so the younger ones
will see a love story set in there world. To misquote Mr Welsh, ‘Nobody
wants to see middle age rich people looking for love, like Sex and the
City.’ Heydon agrees. “It is a transformational love story from the
love of Ecstasy to the Ecstasy of LOVE.” Boyd points to another key
element, the cinematic vision of the man behind the camera. It was the
first Rob Hayden thing that we’ve seen on the screen; he and Irvine
Welsh worked well together.” Hayden enthusiastically advises, “Watch it
with an open mind. See where the story takes you!”
Trainspotting was a commercial and critical success and one of the defining British films of
the 1990s. But Ecstasy, billed as a sequel of sorts to Irvine Welsh’s original
tale of the Edinburgh drug scene, is set to go straight to DVD.
Ecstasy was
screened at a handful of cinemas earlier this year but grossed less than
£30,000, and now a national release has been cancelled and the film will be
made available on DVD later this month.
On its
release in 1996, Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, which helped launch the careers of
Ewan McGregor, Kevin McKidd and Kelly MacDonald, earned more than £166,000 in
its opening weekend.
Based on The
Undefeated from Welsh’s Ecstasy, a collection of three short novellas, the film
also charts the Scottish capital’s substance-fuelled subculture, hinging on a
social worker’s romantic involvement with a drug addict.
But Ecstasy
the film has endured a long and difficult production process. Director Rob
Heydon initially bought the rights in 2000, but it took several years for Welsh
to approve the script.
The Scottish
Government’s former funding agency Scottish Screen were reluctant to back the
£5million project, forcing Heydon to take the production to his native Canada.
Only a small
portion of the film is shot in Scotland, and most of Welsh’s original dialogue
was rewritten for a wider audience.
There was a
further setback when leading lady Lisa Ray had to pull out for cancer
treatment, and her role was taken by Smallville actress Kristen Kreuk.
Ecstasy does
not feature the same characters as Trainspotting, but the marketing material is
strikingly similar to the iconic poster for its cult predecessor.
The film,
which also stars Lord of the Rings actor Billy Boyd, has had mixed reviews. While
foreign publications like Austalia’s Buzz Magazine call it “an absolute ripper
of a film”, critics closer to home, such as The Telegraph have been less
enthusiastic: “There’s referencing and then there’s photocopying, and Ecstasy
screams ‘toner low’.”
Last month
Welsh revealed that he is in discussions to turn Trainspotting - along with
sequel Porno and prequel Skagboys - into a television series.
Scots actor
James McAvoy will star in another new film adaption of a Welsh book, Filth,
which was filmed in Edinburgh earlier this year.
To mark the
release of Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy on Blu-ray and DVD from 20th August, Filmoria
are offering you the chance to win Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy on DVD as well as a
copy of his book Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance.
Irvine Welsh adaptation set to explore the agony of Ecstasy
A Canadian
company are bringing the seedy world of nightclubs, drug dealers and excellent
music of Trainspotting’s Irvine Welsh across the pond with the upcoming summer
release of Ecstasy.
Starring Adam
Sinclair (Mile High), Kristen Kreuk (Smallville) and Billy Boyd (Lord Of The
Rings), Ecstasy will once more explore the highs and lows of a life spent on
the narcotic-fuelled fringes of society. Sinclair plays Lloyd, a successful
smuggler and habitual user of the eponymous drug who falls for bored
middle-class housewife Heather. As the two descend into a hazy lifestyle of
clubs and pill-popping, they begin to wonder if their feelings for each other
are real or chemically-induced. Lloyd wants out of the life. All that stands
between him and freedom is one last job, and in the nature of all
one-last-jobs, it won’t be easy.
A host of
contemporary club-land regulars are set to feature on the soundtrack, including
Tiesto, Orbital, Primal Scream, Paul Oakenfold and, um, Coldplay, no doubt
providing a pulsating big-beat background to the chemically-enhanced
proceedings.
Despite
countless imitators, few films have managed to capture the lurid glamour and
grim reality of the drug scene as well as Trainspotting did over a decade ago,
which makes Irvine Welsh’s involvement a worthy reason to experiment with
Ecstasy.
Ecstasy will
be arriving on DVD and Blu-Ray on the 20th August 2012.
Message from Dollena Campbell,
outreach Producer for Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy:
Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy Goes World
Wide With Your Help!
Why do we need your help?
Because our independent film deserves
a strong presence!Distribution -
placing a film into theaters - is the hardest phase for filmmakers. It costs
money to place the film into each theater -and that’s before it generates any funds. When you look at the amount charged
per day to keep a film in a theatre (and per screen), multiplied by the amount
of theaters…it’s easy to see why we need your help or we won't be able to place
it in as many theaters as we’d like.This is where independent films live or die!It's taken Rob over eleven years to bring
Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy to the screen…let’s give it a big reception!After a limited debut in theUK we'd love to take Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy
worldwide.
Here’s a new trailer for Ecstasy which
stars Adam Sinclair, Kristin
Kreuk, Billy Boyd, Carlo Rota, Stephen McHattie, Alex Lifeson and is directed
by Rob Heydon.
Based on Irvine Welsh’s controversial book, Ecstasy: Three Tales of
Chemical Romance, ECSTASY is a twisted tale that explores the euphoric highs
and the devastating lows of a chemical romance.
Lloyd (Adam Sinclair) is on top of the world – beautiful girls, great
club sounds, and a never ending supply of the love drug, sustained by a smuggling
sideline for the local drug boss Solo (Carlo Rota). But when he meets Heather (Kristin Kreuk) he
is forced to question if the love he feels is real or just another chemical
high. As cracks start to appear in his
world he realises he wants out. If he
can just pull off one last trip for Solo, he’ll be free.
Ecstasy also stars Billy Boyd as DJ and e-prophet Woodsy, cameos from
John Digweed and Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, and a pulsing soundtrack from
some of the industry’s biggest names, including Tiesto, Coldplay, Orbital,
Primal Scream, Bonjay, The Mahones and Hawksley Workman. Directed by Rob
Heydon, Ecstasy was shot in 2011 on location in Scotland, Amsterdam and Canada and will be with us April 20th.
You can find out more on the official
Facebook page or by following the Twitter account.
On Friday, March 23, Ultra Music Festival kicks off in the beautiful Bayfront Park of Downtown Miami, and right across the street at the famous MIA lounge, join us for the historic US film debut of IRVINE WELSH’S ECSTASY.
Based on Irvine Welsh’s controversial #1 bestselling book, ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance, Ecstasy is a twisted tale that explores the euphoric highs and the devastating lows of a chemical romance. Starring Billy Boyd, Adam Sinclair and Kristin Kreuk, the film features sounds from some of the industry’s biggest names including Tiesto & Mark Knight, Paul Oakenfold, Bedrock, Coldplay, Orbital, Primal Scream, Lightfield, and The Mahones.
With avid dance music fans and industry elite all descending from 80+ countries, this will be one of the most sought after events of the week.
Enter now for this exclusive “Screening VIP Experience” giveaway on Facebook and possibly enjoy watching the film sitting next to the biggest names in dance.
The annual Winter Music Conference | Miami Music Week in Miami Beach hosts more than 500 industry gatherings, performance events, exhibits, seminars and workshops, and boasts one of the most in demand aggregations of legendary and emerging artists to be found in the world, attracting over 1,400 artists each year.
The exclusive screening will take place at 6PM in the stunning MIA - (Ultra Lounge), right across the street from where, later in that evening, the highly anticipated New Order performance will take place at the Ultra Music Festival.
This once-in-a-lifetime event will be produced by Creator Entertainment together with Electric Love Foundation, which is dedicated to cancer research and treatment.
Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy releases UK wide on 20th April 2012.
Read more at AltSounds
Message from the Ecstasy promotional team:
I'm working with Irvine Welsh's "Ecstasy" movie (starring Adam Sinclair and Billy Boyd) which is opening in the UK on April 20th.
Here's the trailer and the website for the film.
We're trying to spread the word about a contest we're having (it's open to UK residents only, but we're planning more U.S. contests later). The winner will get two tickets to the premiere in London on April 17th, £2000, two tickets to the VIP afterparty at Ministry of Sound, two nights in a five-star hotel, a limo for two nights, dinner with Irvine Welsh and the cast, a goody bag of signed memorabilia and photos with Irvine and the cast!
If you follow us (@ecstasymovie) and tweet about our contest we'll follow back!
We really appreciate any help so thank you so much! It's been 10 years since this project was started so we're looking forward to seeing it in theatres. Please let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to hearing from you!
STV caught up with stars Adam Sinclair and Olivia Andrup
along with director Rob Heydon at the UK premiere of Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy to
find out more about the movie which centres around Edinburgh’s nightclubbing
scene.
Scottish actor Adam Sinclair: I feared delays would mean I was too old to star in Ecstasy
He may be part of one of Hollywood's greatest acting dynasties, but Tinseltown's next leading man feared he would end up too old for his first headline movie role - after six years of delays. East Kilbride's Adam Sinclair stars in Ecstasy, the long-awaited adaptation of the Irvine Welsh chemical romance.
And the role is tipped to make him Scotland's next major movie star export.
Not that Hollywood holds any surprises for him - he's married to Kiefer Sutherland's stepdaughter Michelle, the couple have two kids and he has lived there for almost 11 years. But Adam feared he would miss out on what looks like being his breakthrough part thanks to the crippling series of disasters that befell the movie, as the Sunday Mail revealed in 2011.
He said: "This is my first big lead movie so it is exciting and hopefully the next chapter. I have had a lot of years playing various roles in British TV - I started on Boyz Unlimited with James Corden in 1999 - and there was a fear of getting stuck on the small screen.
"I auditioned for the film and didn't hear anything for two years, then got a call. It was another four years on that we got to camera.
"I was worried I'd outgrow the part - there was a lot of night cream and sleeping in Tupperware.
"It would be wonderful if the film got me to leading man status but that is not for me to decide.
"It is nice to hear that Rob Heydon, the director, feels my performance will do that and Irvine Welsh was complimentary about me too.
"He said recently that he saw the latest cut and he started to see the characters he had written as us, which is amazing. I did my best.
"If it takes me on to other things, fantastic - if not I just try harder on the next thing."
Rob originally wanted to shoot Ecstasy in Scotland, but the film's funding collapsed and there was no government support so they ended up making most of it in Canada. Lead actress Lisa Ray was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer, which meant she pulled out, to be replaced by Smallville's Kristin Kreuk. But Adam was desperate to stay attached to the film, along with co-stars like Billy Boyd, because of the chance to star in an Irvine Welsh film.
"I kept in touch with Rob and he was telling me about the money, then Lisa Ray got cancer - thank goodness she is recovering now.
"Then after all that, the politics of funding in the UK changed - overnight Gordon Brown changed the rules so our funding collapsed.
"I was in drama school when Trainspotting came out, it was the first time Scotland put itself on the map in the film industry in the modern world. Then I was lucky enough to do a voiceover part in Maribou Stork Nightmares.
"Ecstasy came up at just the right time. After the audition, reading the script, there were so many parallels to things in my life - his relationships, his family, the clubbing - I thought I may as well give it up if I didn't get the part."
It would be easy to be bitter about the lack of support in the UK for Ecstasy, given that Welsh's Filth is currently shooting in Glasgow with a star cast including James McAvoy and Alan Cumming.
But Adam insists he doesn't feel that way at all - he's just proud of his own film.
"If I sat and thought, 'why couldn't I have that?', I'd be grey, old and bitter. How many times do you go for a role and miss out? It's the same.
"I was at drama school with James, we were tipped as the big stars and then boom, he goes off into the stratosphere. If I got bitter about stuff like that I'd have given up years ago.
"I am happy it seems to be the year of Irvine Welsh.
"He has written a TV show for HBO about bare knuckle fighters and is doing the prequel book to Trainspotting, called Skag Boys.
"There's our movie, and they're making Filth. I'm curious to see how they do it, it is interesting casting.
"It is frustrating, of course, that it is hard at times to get things made in Scotland, as it's a small industry.
Those who work there are hanging on to it as much as they can so outsiders like Rob find it really hard.
"Certainly harder, I'd imagine, than for Irvine turning up with James McAvoy and Alan Cumming! But no, I am not upset and I wish them all the best."
Of course, Ecstasy will be compared to Trainspotting, and Adam feels it holds its own.
"They are big shoes to fill. We're talking Danny Boyle, who is about to direct the opening ceremony of the Olympics and won an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire.
"Whereas this is Rob's first feature film, he's done music videos in the past.
"We are not trying to be another Trainspotting but I think Irvine's voice comes through. Everyone will want to make me the new Renton but you have to take the movie in its own right and at the same time appreciate the on TV feared nods to Irvine and Trainspotting.
"Our film is not as stylised, it's more modern and faster-paced.
"There's a music video feel to it as it is about dance culture more than just the drugs, which are obviously involved too. It has to stand on its own though. We made our movie and I hope it is appreciated. I am certainly proud of it."
Whatever happens with Ecstasy, Adam is unlikely to be surprised. Because his father-in-law is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, he has a totally unique perspective for an actor on the rise. But Adam has been determined never to ask Kiefer or his father Donald for help in getting work - and hopes he will never have to.
"You realise that everyone wonders if they will work again - even very experienced actors like those in my family.
"After 30 or 40-year careers, they have those doubts. I see the business in its entirety from the upper echelons to lower minions, the whole spectrum.
"By the same token I never ask for work, I don't try to get on their shows or anything they are doing. It is too easy for people to point the finger - I'm doing it in my own right.
"It has been a very conscious thing not to ask for help. I was very cautious and don't know if I had to prove myself but as soon as I was involved with that family, my next good job would have had people saying, 'alright for some'.
"I am not in this for money or fame, it's the only thing I have ever wanted to do.
"I am still doing it, still learning. The ego goes when you have kids, it's not about that at all.
"I am doing OK so I don't need to go there in asking for help. Maybe one day I will but at the moment I'd rather not. I think I have earned respect from not going there too."
Luckily Adam didn't face the nightmare scenario, as a new boyfriend and a struggling actor, of being brought home to meet her dad for the first time - and walking in to find screen icon Jack Bauer of 24.
"When I first met my wife, I was making a film with Kiefer, To End All Wars. He was my drinking buddy first - he had seen me in action so told me to stay away from his daughter!
"It's great though, he's grandpa to the kids and he's filming his latest show in Culver City where we live, so we see him a lot.
"It's nice having that buddy relationship where we can go for a beer, but there's now the parental relationship, especially with the kids.
"He's their grandpa - my dad passed away and Michelle's real dad did a long time ago.
"Because of the family, Michelle gets it, they all do - if I am away a lot or going through a hectic time in the business, they understand and we have their support."
Adam's perspective on the movie industry also means he is realistic about an actor's career expectations - so he is already moving into directing.
"My accountant told me that, from the business side, an actor gets 10 years if you are good, that is the truth. If you get more and run to 20 or 30, you are out ahead of the rest. So you have to grow. In London, I had my own theatre company, Jockney Productions, did a few plays, then I did some Discovery Channel stuff as assistant director which was cool.
"It is such a big vehicle to steer but exciting because of that, a much more creative process. It is so exciting. I have a few projects I am working on at the moment.
"Michelle and I are making a documentary about her dad, Terry Kath, who was lead guitarist of the band Chicago and passed away in the 70s. Jimi Hendrix is quoted as saying Terry was a better guitarist than him.
"So we are making this film about my wife discovering her dad's legacy. I love that.
"Then I have a film idea too, which I won't say much about - it will be very interesting to the Scottish people, I'll tell you that much.
"A lot of 'what next' depends on how Ecstasy goes really, what doors it opens. I just want people to see who I am as an actor.
"For years I played Will in Mile High, this bleach blond very gay trolly dolly - and still, both people in the street and casting directors, think that is me. Hopefully the film changes those perceptions that I'm the TV guy."
Being a fan and filmmaker, Rob Hayden acquired the movie rights to the short story The Undefeated which was included in the best-selling book Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance
by Irvine Welsh. Lloyd Buist (Adam Sinclair) attempts to start his own
enterprise selling ecstasy pills with his buddies Ally (Keram
Malicki-Sánchez) and Woodsy (Billy Boyd) which puts him in conflict with
volatile drug dealer Solo (Carlo Rota) who feels betrayed. “It helped
and hindered,” admits Rob Hayden when discussing the popularity of the
cinematic predecessor helmed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), and starring Ewan McGregor (The Impossible) and Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty). “People will always compare any Irvine Welsh film to Trainspotting, but Ecstasy is not Trainspotting nor Wizard of Oz [1939] or Lawrence of Arabia
[1962]. It is a Cinéma vérité [ala French New Wave]; a style film
meaning on location sound, and shot on location with a mostly hand held
camera. Ecstasy is a small slice of a life story about a clubber in
Scotland.” Adam Sinclair observes, “The success of Trainspotting was always going to be big boots to fill. A lot of people wanted it to be Trainspotting 2; however, this was never the intention of the filmmakers or even by Irvine himself who said he wrote Ecstasy
as his attempt at a twisted love story. We had to acknowledge in the
film that this was a brainchild of the same man but then it stands as a
film in its own right. But the comparisons will always be made and that
is due to the huge success of Trainspotting.” Co-star Billy Boyd adds, “It did a bit because Trainspotting
was the movie of it’s time. It’s an incredible film. Beautifully shot
and acted, a great story. Coming from the same writer it has to be
there. But we forgot about and because Rob Hayden has his own style and
philosophy on life; a lot of that is in Ecstasy as well as
Irvine’s incredible writing. There is a lot of Rob Hayden in there so
it’s obviously a different thing. I don’t think we got to caught up
with it other than the people are from the same place.”
