The T2 screenplay is trying to kill me. And since Iâm rife with feels, Iâm going to do a deep dive into John Hodgeâs screenplay with my Mark/Simon shipper goggles firmly in place. (Although, I didnât really need the goggles, because itâs all right there.)Â
Interestingly, their relationship is both better and worse in the screenplay than it was in the film, with some interesting changes along the way. In a way, the script is less romantic about them and their relationship than the film ultimately became. Â
Of course, the highlight:Â
Veronika (in her own language): You know nothing. You understand nothing. You are quite clearly so in love with one another that I feel almost awkward even in your presence. Why do you pretend to hate each other so much when all you want is to be together? Instead of looking at me why donât you just take your clothes off and get on with it.
Simon sits on a bench at the edge of a park. Looking this way and that, he does not hear Renton approach.
Renton: Brought him with you, have you?
Renton glares at him. There is no question of believing a single word of Simonâs bullshit.Â
Simon: OK... OK... I may have, you know... heard something. Iâm sorry I didnât mention it--
Renton: May have heard something!
Simon: All right-- fuck it, I knew! I knew he was out. And I could have served you up to him on a plate any time I wanted to!
Renton: And Iâm sure you were going to!
Simon: Yes! Yes, I was! I was looking forward to it!
Renton: I ought to fucking kill you.
They sit in hostile silence, each inwardly deciding whether to kiss or kill the other.
Renton and Simon are in old-married-couple mode. They are watching a film-- could be anything, an old Van Damme movie, a black-and-white classic, a documentary. There are cardboard pizza boxes, bottles of lager. They converse lazily while watching the film.
This is typical of John Hodge, who usually offers suggestions for what the characters are watching or listening to but with a big âeh whatever you wantâ attached, which I like to think is because heâs so used to working with Danny Boyle by this point that he knows Danny will have stronger opinions about media choices than he will. Completely my own headcanon, but still.
Theyâre talking about Spud wanting to publish his stories-- the scene will later be chopped and moved to the end of the movie-- and Simon is feeling so comfortable that he answers his phone âcheerfullyâ without checking the caller ID. Simon. Itâs Begbie, and we get to see Simon do some more of his dance to keep Begbie off Markâs trail, adding to Begbieâs later accusation that Simon was stringing him along.
Spud: Are you going to see Simon?
Renton affects to have barely considered the matter.
Renton: Simon? Uh... I donât know... heâs probably busy...
Spud: Naw, you got see old Simon.
Renton: You know how it is-- time goes by--
Spud: -- be gutted not to see you.
Renton: --He and I, you know how it was, we sorted of drifted apart...
[This calls back to the original novel, where Mark and Simon are pretty explicitly done with each other by the end of the book: âHe thinks about Sick Boy, and all the things they went through together. They had shared some good times, some awful times, but they had shared them. Sick Boy would recoup the cash; he was a born exploiter. It was the betrayal. He could see Sick Boyâs more-hurt-than-angry expression already. However, they had been drifting apart for years now. Their mutual antagonism, once a joke, a performance for the benefit of others, had slowly become, through being ritualised in that way, a mundane reality. It was better this way, Renton thought.â]
Spud: You and Simon was like that.
Interesting, the âYour blood runs in my veins, Mark!â line was originally after Simonâs angry outburst at Mark for looking at his watch during Simonâs pitch/walk down memory lane, as opposed to before, which I think adds more emotional weight to the line because itâs said out of anger instead of emotional manipulation and therefore feels more âreal.â
And I like this bit at the end:Â
A beat. There is nothing to say. Renton and Simon look at one another. The feud is over. Simon starts the car.  Â
Iâm glad the less romantic bits were either cut or softened for the film. Obviously lol. Because the script has a more cynical take on their relationship:
Renton: I look out on the world and I see strangers. And you... you are the... you have the distinction of being-- I donât know... the least unfamiliar-- thatâs it.
Simon: Itâs better than nothing.
One of my favorite small bits in the movie was when Mark reassures Simon that his flat isnât too messy, because it felt like a reminder that, underneath it all, they really are friends. But in the screenplay, itâs with an ulterior motive (the lack of which is precisely why I liked it in the film). The motive being Veronika of course:Â
Simon: Itâs not a mess, is it?
Renton sees no reason to correct his rivalâs failings.
Renton: No. No, itâs just masculine.
The portrayals of the apartment and Simon in general in the film vs. the script are also interesting. The apartment looked fine to me in the film, and Simon as fastidious as ever with his nice clothes and attention paid to his personal appearance (bleaching his hair, straightening his cuffs, usually seen in his nice suits, etc.). Whereas, in the script, heâs described as fairly slovenly. Heâs repeatedly introduced in scenes as slouching around in his âunderwear,â and his apartment as âthe most disgustingly untidy, food-and-booze-container strewn bachelor pit imaginable. Dirty laundry, sticky floors, nightmare kitchen, crusty bathroom.â That doesnât feel like Simon to me, either in the movies or the books. Iâm wondering if Miller and/or Boyle agreed with me and ignored those bits in the script, because the apartment never looks too messy to me, and even while in his âunderwear,â Simon is wearing a sexy black tank top that matches his well-fitting black sweatpants. Vain, always.
Another interesting character bit: before Mark and Simon go into the Orangemen bar, the script describes Simon taking off a crucifix necklace he was wearing and handing it to Veronika, suggesting that heâs actually Catholic? I donât remember that being a âSimon thingâ from the books, and it definitely wasnât in the first movie. After a re-watch of the scene, I noticed that you can see Miller reaching up to take off the necklace hidden beneath his shirt just as the script dictates, but the cut jumps ahead a few seconds before you ever see the necklace. You can also see the gold chain of the crucifix in other scenes when Simonâs being casual in his black tank top, but the cross part is hidden under the shirt. I wonder at both the inclusion and the exclusion. Â
I think itâs pretty clear that Simon more or less gives up his plan of revenge against Mark (or at least temporarily forgets about it) after Mark returns to him and is finally honest with him. After all, whether he admits it to himself or not, what Simon really wants is to have Mark back. And he has him by that point, and I donât think thereâs any suggestion that Simon was planning to give him up until old habits assert themselves at the end and he plans to run off with Veronika and the money (and I really question whether he would have gone through with that, given the opportunity). I also donât think that the film ever suggests that Simon is doing anything with Begbie other than protecting Mark. (I recall it being more nebulous in the book.) Another favorite moment of mine is when Simon tries to shield Mark even when Begbie aims a rifle at them. If that isnât the height of love for Simon, I donât know what is. Simon does save Mark from hanging to death in the script as he does in the film, but he doesnât rush to do so and his first instinct is to try to save himself:
Simon: Frank, I can explain.
Begbie: You knew. Stringing me along, so you were.
Simon is moving towards Begbie, hoping to leave Renton isolated.
Simon: Honestly, please--
And suddenly Begbie strikes him across the side of the head with a tool he held in his hand.
I donât really have to explain why I dislike that lol. Kinda dampens the bromance through-line when one of the romantic leads attempts to betray the other to save their own skin at the eleventh hour. Simon only comes across as protective in the film. I cannot stress enough that Simon, snake that he is, attempts to shield Mark with his own body. Thatâs not in the script.
On another note, the Trainspotting ladies get a bit short-changed. Gail lost a few scenes, including a good one with Mark, and itâs made clear that she still loves Spud and that theyâre still technically married. I have an even stronger appreciation for Anjela Nedyalkovaâs acting, because Veronika comes off as really flat and two-dimensional on the page without the charm she brings to the role. Poor Diane was a much bigger part of the movie, and the loss of her subplot with Mark is borderline criminal. She comes to his rescue more than once. You see the strength of her character, their unspoken bond, and you really get the tragedy of it that these two missed their shot:
Diane: Iâm not stopping you. Iâm not here for that. Iâll solve your problems and Iâll pick up the pieces and bring you in out of the cold, but Iâm not going to stop you making a fool of yourself. Thatâs up to you.
Renton: Do you ever wonder--
Renton: I do. If you and me... if things had been different...
Diane: No, Mark: if youâd been different.
FEELS. But going back to Mark and Simon...
The through-line of the movie is their relationship, their bond. In the end, you see that they didnât lose everything, because they still have each other. Finally have each other, thanks to Veronika removing the âopportunityâ for betrayal. The temptations and trials are over, and theyâre together in âold married couple mode.â When all of their characters are having their âmomentsâ of reconciliation at the end of the film, Spud goes to Gail. Mark goes to his father. Simon thinks about Mark and the good times when they were children. For him, it was always about Mark. In the published script, Simon doesnât think about Mark. He just dwells on the loss of his âdreamâ of the sauna and a future with Veronika. I prefer the movie ending.
