Video: IRVINE WELSH: REALITY IS NOT ENOUGH Trailer Debuts Ahead of World Premiere

The trailer has been released for Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough, the new documentary about the bestselling Trainspotting author. The movie will have its world premiere on the Closing Night of Edinburgh International Film Festival on 20th August, before hitting UK cinemas from 26th September.

From award-winning documentary filmmaker Paul Sng, the movie picks up with Irvine Welsh at a crossroads. After experiencing the huge success of several film adaptations and six million books sold worldwide, he has become acutely aware of his own mortality Now, with his hedonistic days drawing to a close, the outspoken author decides to explore the boundaries of consciousness through a psychedelic trip.

Through this lens, viewers join Welsh on a brutally honest examination of his life: how his creativity was fostered by his childhood in Edinburgh; the influences he gained living amongst 70’s London counterculture; and how groundbreaking work such as Trainspotting and Filth pulled him out of a self-destructive cycle, but also led him to heights of fame he never could have imagined. 

The autobiographical film combines observational footage with readings from his novels narrated by Liam Neeson (Taken, Batman Begins, Star Wars), Maxine Peake (The Theory of Everything, Shameless), musician Nick Cave, Ruth Negga (Ad Astra, Passing) and Stephen Graham (Adolescence, The Irishman). 

About Irvine Welsh:

Irvine Welsh was born in Edinburgh in 1958 and grew up on the Muirhouse housing estate in the West of Edinburgh. After moving to London in the late '70s, he spent ten years dabbling in punk rock before returning to Scotland at the end of the '80s, where he worked for Edinburgh Council, completed an MBA at Heriot-Watt University and started to write.

Welsh’s first novel, Trainspotting, was published in 1993 and became a cultural phenomenon across the world. A harrowing and bleakly hilarious tale of the life and adventures of heroin addict Mark Renton and his band of friends, Begbie, Spud and Sick Boy. 

Trainspotting and the follow-on book, Porno, were adapted into massively successful films directed by Danny Boyle and helped turn Welsh into a figurehead for alternative culture. His books have sold in the millions and have been translated into more than 30 languages and been adapted in a range of acclaimed films and TV dramas.