Having T2 filmed in my flat with one of movie’s big stars walking around in his pants? It has all worked out very well thanks
HOMEOWNER ON LANDING DREAM JOB AFTER TRAINSPOTTING CAST ARRIVE AT HER DOOR
Jackie McCraith Smith thought being made redundant was pants – until film director Danny Boyle brought Jonny Lee Miller to her home dressed only in his underwear and offered her a dream job. The former account manager got the shock of her life when Boyle turned up at her home and asked if they could use her top-floor Leith flat in the new T2 Trainspotting film.
Just weeks later, she was standing in her kitchen chatting to Miller as the Hollywood star filmed scenes for the movie dressed only in his boxer shorts.
Jackie got on so well with Boyle and the rest of the cast and crew, they hired her to work alongside them for the rest of the shoot. Now she hopes to forge a new career in the movie business.
The 29-year- old said: “In the original Trainspotting, Ewan McGregor says, ‘Choose life. Choose a job.’ And that’s what I did.
“I couldn’t believe it when Danny Boyle and then Jonny Lee Miller turned up at my flat. But watching the cast and crew at work looked such good fun that I plucked up the courage to ask Danny for a job and it paid off.”
Jackie, who had been out of work for more than six months, was taken on as part of the location crew and spent the next two months working alongside the cast.
She said: “My flat was used as Sick Boy’s home but I went on to work everywhere from Spud’s bedsit and Begbie’s house to the block of flats you see Spud falling off in the trailer and the nightclub where they film the famous toilet scene.
“I worked on the locations of the iconic running scene and got sunburned when we filmed up Arthur’s Seat.
“Everyone was so lovely. Jonny couldn’t have been nicer, chatting to me about tattoos in my kitchen with just his pants on. Ewen Bremner is very funny and a complete joker. Even Ewan McGregor took the time to ask how I was and blether away.”
Jackie says that, despite working alongside many of the country’s best-known actors, she found herself star-struck even while knocking on residents’ doors in West Lothian.
She added: “We were filming in Blackburn and I had to give the locals letters explaining what we were doing.
“When I knocked at one house close to where we were shooting, Susan Boyle came to the door – she was great.”
Jackie, who got married to fiance Gavin, 30, just a week after filming was finished, loved every second of working in the movie industry.
She is now listed with Film Edinburgh in the hope of picking up more work and says her packed bags are on stand-by in case Hollywood comes cal ling. She added: “Now I’ve got the bug, I’d love to do more work in the industry.
“I got to watch T2 Trainspotting alongside the crew and it was very weird seeing Jonny standing at my front door on the big screen.
“They filmed scenes of the inside of Sick Boy’s flat at their studio – which they made look much messier than my home – but they borrowed everything from the numbers off my door to my doormat to make it look the same.
“The experience was amazing. I can’t wait to do it again.”
Rosie Ellison, film manager of Film Edinburgh, said: “Jackie has a brilliant story and, as a result of her tenacity and experience on T2 Trainspotting, she is listed in our production guide, which is a database of local crew and facilities for incoming productions.
“There are a number of ways you can get involved with Film Edinburgh, from listing your home as a potential location to joining our local crew directory.
“T2 Trainspotting was our biggest production last year, filming in more than 50 locations over three months. Having Danny and the team back after 20 years was hugely exciting for the city.”
Jobless fan I was out of work but director Danny got me back on the right track Jonny couldn’t have been nicer and Ewan was just a real joker. It was so much fun