FAQ for
Trainspotting (1996)

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags are used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Trainspotting can be found at [url]

Yes. Trainspotting is a (1993) novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. Soon after its publication, the novel was adapted for the stage. The film has been adapted from the stage play by Scottish screenwriter John Hodge.

The title is a reference to an episode where Begbie [Robert Carlyle] and Renton [Ewan McGregor] meet "an auld drunkard" in the disused Leith Central railway station, where they mean to use a toilet. The dunkard asks them (in a weak attempt at a joke) if they are "trainspottin."

Welsh has explained that, when he was growing up in Edinburgh, there was an abandoned train station that had become a place frequented by the homeless and drug addicts. When the drug addicts were going to the station to take drugs, they would often say that they were going 'Trainspotting'. According to director Danny Boyle, "Through the late '80s in Britain, it (Trainspotting) began to mean anybody who was obsessive about something trivial, and part of that is drugs. It's a very male thing. Women, they know better. It was a way in which men would conquer an area of life by just knowing everything about all the Sean Connery films."

Coincidentally, long term heroin injectors damage the veins in their arms leading to 'track marks' or 'tracks' all the way down their arms, and other parts of their bodies with easy access to veins.

Sick Boy's [Jonny Lee Miller] name in the novel is Simon Williamson. Renton refers to him by his real name in a scene that was deleted from the final film.

The generally-accepted answer is "cot death." This information comes from the novel and isn't explicitly stated in the film. In the book, it is due to neglect (starvation) because of the parents' heavy drug use.

Although we actually see Renton dive into the toilet and swim around underwater, the answer is no. This film utilizes surrealism to help prove its point. In this particular scene, we are shown how desperate Renton is due to his addiction and desire to get off of heroin. The swimming and Renton's drenched clothes afterwards exaggerate his desperation to help us understand what he's going through.

Toxoplasmosis is caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. It is contacted by eating contaminated meat and vegetables or by touching anything that has been contaminated with Toxoplasma. Cats are particularly notorious for carrying Toxoplasma (obtained from eating rodents and birds). Symptoms of Toxoplasma infection in adults can range from no symptoms at all to general flulike symptoms. Since the disease crosses the placental barrier, pregnant women are warned to be especially careful around cats and not to clean feces-laden litter boxes, as contacting the disease while in utero can be extremely harmful to a fetus, resulting in miscarriage, stillbirth, eye lesions, retinal damage, mental disabilities, and seizures. For more information about Toxoplasmosis, see http://www.cdc.gov/toxoplasmosis/.