Trainspotting is a 1996 British satirical/drama film directed by Danny Boyle based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh. The movie follows a group of heroin addicts in a late 1980s economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life. The film stars Ewan McGregor as Mark Renton, Ewen Bremner as Spud, Jonny Lee Miller as Sick Boy, Kevin McKidd as Tommy, Robert Carlyle as Begbie, and Kelly Macdonald as Diane. Author Irvine Welsh also has a cameo appearance as hapless drug dealer Mikey Forrester. The Academy Award-nominated screenplay, by John Hodge, was adapted from Welsh's novel. The title of the film refers to a hobby of sitting and watching trains pass by and is used as a metaphor for wasting time. Beyond drug addiction, other concurrent themes in the film are exploration of the urban poverty and squalor in "culturally rich" Edinburgh. The film has been ranked 10th spot by the British Film Institute (BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films of all time....