Renton's other friends, aggressive alcoholic psychopath Francis "Franco" Begbie and footballer Tommy Mackenzie, who abstain from illegal drugs, warn him about his dangerous drug habit. Mark Renton, a 26-year-old unemployed heroin addict, lives with his parents in the Edinburgh ward of Leith, and regularly partakes in drug use with his friends: treacherous, womanising James Bond fanatic Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson docile and slow-minded Daniel "Spud" Murphy and Swanney, "Mother Superior", their dealer. A sequel, T2 Trainspotting, was released in January 2017. A 2017 poll, which consisted of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine, ranked it the tenth best British film ever. In 2004, the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll. The film was ranked tenth by the British Film Institute (BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films of the 20th century. Trainspotting was released to critical acclaim, and is regarded by many critics as one of the best films of the 1990s. Beyond drug addiction, other themes in the film include an exploration of the urban poverty and squalor in Edinburgh.
The Academy Award-nominated screenplay by John Hodge follows a group of heroin addicts in an economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life.
Based on the 1993 novel of the same title by Irvine Welsh, the film was released in the United Kingdom on 23 February 1996. Trainspotting is a 1996 British black comedy-drama film directed by Danny Boyle and starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, and Kelly Macdonald in her debut.