Before winning a slew of industry and critics awards—even prior to hitting North American multiplex screens—Slumdog Millionaire was actually slated to be a direct-to-DVD release. How did the Toronto Film Festival play a part in getting the film released into movie theaters, thereby helping director Danny Boyle garner a BAFTA (British Oscar) and Golden Globe for Best Director, then go on to land several Academy Awards, including one for Best Picture? You’ll find out as Earl Dittman gets Boyle to answer that very question, after the jump.

“We owe a lot to both the Toronto and Telluride film festivals. Originally, Warner Independent Pictures had the film, and then Warner Independent closed down—which meant we were an orphan. Obviously, there was no profile for the film because there was nobody in it that anybody in the West really knew anything about. So, we thought that that was it. Somehow, the folks at the Toronto Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival had gotten hold of copies of the film and they both demanded that we show it. Warner Brothers showed it to Peter Rice at Fox Searchlight Pictures. He, and all these guys at Fox Searchlight, sat down and watched it, and loved it. Peter bought it off Warner Independent, and we went to Toronto and Telluride—and began making history.”

Since you had such big hits with Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, did you instinctively know that Slumdog Millionaire would appeal to your fellow countrymen in England and to North American moviegoers?

“Not at all. To be honest, you never know. In retrospect, I had no idea Trainspotting would appeal to any single person outside of Great Britain. Actually, I thought that Slumdog might work in the U.K. because of the connection with India. We’ve got a very large, visible Indian population there. There’s all the history. Our leading man, Dev (Patel), was on the (BBC) show Skins, which has a bit of a profile. So, I thought it might work there, but I had no idea about America or Canada. What I hadn’t really thought about is how important the underdog idea is in both countries—even more-so in the U.S. If you get it right, it’s so part of the psyche in America—the belief that if somebody has a dream and they stick to it—that they get it there, even if everything’s apparently stacked against them. The country is built on that idea. We romanticize it and, obviously, people are very cynical about it outside America, but it, actually, it’s a really pure idea. I had forgotten that, and I think that’s one of the reasons that it had so much appeal to American and Western audiences.”

What has it been like watching Dev Patel (the young man who plays the oldest version of Jamal Malik in Slumdog Millionaire) go from a complete unknown to an overnight sensation?

“It’s been wonderful. He’s got such a bright sense. It’s lovely to see him grow. When we started the film, he was 17, and had his mom with him. We had to get rid of her—but not literally.” Laughs]

What did you learn about the slums of Mumbai, India, while you were directing the film there?

“There are pejorative connotations to it. They’re not really like that. They’re actually just places where people live, not very wealthy people, but they’re actually incredibly resourceful people. Ironically, they are not provided for by the state or by the council. There’s not enough running water, and a sewage system, particularly, is just not there. But the people themselves are absolutely amazing. Their homes are clean, and they’re very generous once you find the right way in. You have to go by all the guidelines of their society. They were very excited that we were making a film there. They were keen to make sure that we didn’t just say they were poor. They wanted it to be an exciting film and didn’t want it to be a pitiful documentary about what we’re going to do with all the poor in India. They hate all that. We were very privileged to work there. Since I went to India to make it, I learned something about destiny and about fate and the way things work. I never really believed it, but people believe it there in a way that’s quite meaningful.”

How do you find the right balance between entertainment and the serious issues?

“I try to use popular means, which is sometimes through genre. If you call it a genre, in Western terms, it’s a Dickens genre. In Bollywood terms, it’s a classic good brother/bad brother story. Then, I try to stretch as much as I can, but not only to be entertaining but interesting as well. That’s what I try to do every time if I can, but not always with great success or any success. I don’t want to make private films. I’d go and watch them, but they’re not really my forte. I love things when you can feel them catch the audience and you can feel yourself caught with the audience watching it. How you balance those things comes down to the story and the writers.”

What was it like having to cut the film down to exactly two hours?

“The longest film I’ve ever made was about a hundred minutes, so I was really alarmed when I saw how long it was. I cut a lot of stuff. There’s some wonderful stuff with the show host going to the police station and the police commissioner who’s very funny. But it was just confusing and too long, so I just cut it. Those scenes are on the DVD.”

There are several other deleted scenes on the DVD for Slumdog Millionaire. What made you decide which ones would end up on the cutting room floor, and consequently, the DVD?

“Well, we did have an extra question, actually, but we cut it for many reasons. One was for length, the other was because it was slightly confusing. You’ll have to watch the DVD to see it. It was a question about a British architect, Frederick Stevens, and what monument in India he built. The options were: Taj Mahal, Howrah Bridge, India Gate or VT Station. That’s why, at the end of the film, Jamal rather bizarrely sat on the statue of that British architect. That’s why it’s there, because it was originally one of the questions that we had to cut to get the film down to exactly two hours.”

Finally, there’s no nudity and or hardcover violence in the film, so why did Slumdog Millionaire end-up with a R-rating?

“The original contract was for PG-13, so I took that very seriously as my responsibility. There’s very little in the film that you see that would confound guidelines, but they said, ‘It’s too intense. The intensity of it says that it’s an R.’ It wasn’t even about specific little scenes that you could change or edit, just about the intense experience. But, I did want to make it an intense experience. I like extremes and I wanted you to feel the film constantly at massive extremes.”

SPECIAL FEATURES on the Slumdog DVD: Audio commentary with director Danny Boyle and star Dev Patel; 12 deleted scenes; “Making Of Slumdog Millionaire” with Boyle and more.

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