Danny Boyle, the critically acclaimed director of darker movies like Trainspotting, Shallow Grave and The Beach, surprised his fans when choosing a sweet imaginative story about kids for his next project. Boyle sat down with me to talk about the film and his reasons for doing it.

What drew you to this story?

DB: I thought the idea was absolutely captivating. I was also very keen to work with Frank Cottrell Boyce, who comes from a long line of amazing writers from the North West. He was someone I’d always admired and there’s a warmth in his writing that is fantastic. It’s really about imagination and not just using the imagination. Damian sees these figures and other people think he’s pretty wired, but it’s a leap to believe in things like saints.

How did the story come about?

DB: We would sit down and meet every couple of weeks and read it to each other and make suggestions. I don’t write, it’s Frank’s writing, but we would battle and then he’d go away and come back and sometimes what you ask for is in there and sometimes, thank God it’s not, because what you ask for is rubbish. To collaborate you have to get along very well and chuck away the ego, because a writer can’t be defensive about what he’s done, and honestly, I’m looking to inspire the writer, not take over the writing.

The saints angle was ingenious, yet brave. Were there any worries about that thread of the story?

DB: It’s not necessarily religious. It’s just saying if you believe in your dreams they will work for you in the end. Which is what Damian believes. Some wonder where they come from and want to justify how they got there, I thought they just turn up and chat to him.

I like that the characters are not clearly drawn and raise some questions in our minds. How do you as a director bring that mystery to the camera?

DB: The starting point is it should feel like it’s their world that we’re looking at and one way to do that is the way it was done in ET. You always position the camera at the child’s height so they’re looking up at adults or else we’re cutting off their heads. We tried to do a similar thing with the color of the film so it felt like the world was as rich as it is in kids’ imagination. You want it to burst with life and conversely dark and scary, cause when you’re scared as a kid, that’s no half measure.

Normally your films feature some incredible A-list talents like Ewan McGregor and Leonardo Di Caprio. Why didn’t you go for that in Millions?

DB: I felt it should be an ordinary family with ordinary people. Of course financiers always want someone like Richard Gere. I felt that the father, who is trying to do the best for his family, should be an ordinary type person who is just struggling. It makes the film harder to sell, but you have to believe in things like that and trust in your story. It would imbalance it to try to cast an A-list actor.

I know music is an important ingredient in your films. What part did music play in making Millions?

DB: I love music and choosing the music for my films. I worked with John Murphy who did the score, and we were very inspired by Edward Scissorhands, that score is very much the feel of Million’s magical imaginative score. I’m a frustrated musician. I can’t play a note or compose, but music is a big part of my productions.

Film audiences definitely responded to last year’s Oscar-nominated Finding Neverland, which is also about imagination. Will that help open the possibilities for moviegoers to see Millions?

DB: I hope so. Although Finding Neverland is about keeping that belief on into your adult life and not growing up. In Millions, when Damian says goodbye to his mom at the end, he’s saying goodbye like he knows he has to grow up because he won’t see her again. It’s a closure.

They say you should never work with kids and pets. Did you face any difficulties with the kids in this movie?

DB: Just that we got the kids for only three hours a day. Especially the young one, and of that three hours he has to have a lesson and a break so you end up with only a few hours to shoot. Normally we could have shot the film in 6 – 8 weeks; instead it took 12 weeks because we had to work around the kids’ schedule. It was nice to go home in the evening though, and the boys were just a delight.

I know you passed on the next sequel of Alien Love Triangle, so what’s up next for you?

DB: I didn’t feel capable to doing Alien at that time as I was intimidated by special affects. Now I’m feeling more confident so I’m working with Andre McDonald and 28 Days writer Alex Garland; he’s writing his next film Sunshine. It’s a sci-fi, which I haven’t done before. We’re supposed to shoot in England, but because of the weakness of the dollar, we may have to move somewhere else.

(Read Diana Saenger’s reviews of classic films at http://classicfilm.about.com.)