Danny Boyle: Art, Memory and Multitasking

Danny Boyle: Art, Memory and Multitasking - WSJ.com:
In the fall of 2011, while director Danny Boyle was preparing his patriotic, family-oriented vision for the London Olympics opening ceremony, he was simultaneously shooting his latest movie, a noir-ish psychological thriller about an art heist gone horribly wrong, with a creepy subplot involving body hair. The unusual mix "allowed us to keep the dark side of our minds active while we did the public, responsible job in the Olympic park," says Mr. Boyle, known for his Oscar-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire."
Sinuhe Xavier

Forging Ahead With a Goya Classic
"Trance," which opens April 5, stars James McAvoy as Simon, an auction-house employee who, after getting whacked on the head during the theft of a £27.5 million ($41.8 million) painting, wakes up in the hospital and can't remember where he put it. Rosario Dawson co-stars as an alluring hypnotherapist who attempts to unlock Simon's memories of the painting's hiding place.In real life, the painting in question, Francisco Goya's "Witches in the Air," isn't missing. It's safely ensconced at the Prado Museum in Madrid. Mr. Boyle chose it for the film because he thought the figure in the painting's foreground—a man with a blanket over his head—reminded him of Simon, in that "he could only partially see what was around him." . . . 

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