A spectacle like no other

Director Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle, the Oscar-winning director of Slumdog Millionaire, is approaching the culmination of his own Olympian task: producing tomorrow’s London 2012 opening ceremony.

Was blown away by the opening ceremony last night. Whatever your expectations are, forget them! It’s beautiful

“I’ve never really done anything on this scale,” the 55-year-old Briton admitted last month.

Mr Boyle’s eclectic cinematic back-catalogue includes the film noir Shallow Grave, fantasy thriller 28 Days Later and Trainspotting, the story of a gang of young heroin addicts in Edinburgh.

However, it is the final scene from Slumdog Millionaire, with its hundreds of Bollywood dancers, which comes closest to the enormity of the Olympic opening ceremony.

No fewer than 10,000 participants, mostly volunteers, will take part in the ceremony in front of 60,000 spectators at the Olympic Stadium and an estimated global television audience of one billion.

Mr Boyle has begged those attending rehearsals to keep the show a surprise and not go beyond the snippets he has announced publicly.

But despite his pleas, details began to emerge as people left the run-through unable to contain their excitement.

Spectators tweeted pictures of Monday’s technical rehearsal − one with a hand covering most of the action − while others commented on the show.

“Was blown away by the opening ceremony last night. Whatever your expectations are, forget them! It’s beautiful,” said Mims Reilly.

Mark Beaver wrote: “So lucky to have seen the Olympic rehearsal last night. The whole nation should feel justifiably proud on Friday”.

Sue Hillman, who tweeted a picture of her ticket, wrote on her blog: “Although it was not the full line-up yet,as several videos and some of the performances were not in last night, nor was the parade of athletes naturally, it was wonderful − strange in parts and absolutely brilliant in others”.

The first section of the ceremony will recreate an English countryside scene.

The pastoral set of meadows, peasants and real animals, including horses, cows, and sheep grazing next to picnickers, has stumped commentators, drawing unflattering comparisons to the children’s TV show Teletubbies.

But recent aerial images of the set reveal the River Thames’ familiar curves winding through the bucolic scene and into a rapidly changing urban landscape.

Mr Boyle has also hired nurses from Britain’s state-run National Health Service, in order to “tell the story through real people”.

“I just try to push realism as far as it will stretch. And I’ve tried to do that with a lot of my films,” the director explained after Slumdog Millionaire.

The ceremony marks another step in the unconventional journey to the top of the entertainment industry by Mr Boyle, who was born on October 20, 1956 in a working-class Irish Catholic family in Bury, a suburb of Manchester in northwest England.

He directed several series for BBC television before moving to the big screen in 1994 with Shallow Grave.

But it was 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire, set in the slums of Mumbai, which shot him to international fame after it scooped eight Oscars, including the best director award.

With £27 million (€34.5 million) to spend on the Olympics opening ceremony, Mr Boyle’s budget will be similar to that spent making Slumdog.

As with his films, the sound­track is set to play a key role, judging by an unconfirmed 86-song set list published in the media. Included in the list are Adele and The Beatles, and more controversially God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols.

Whether the song will be played in front of Queen Elizabeth II tomorrow, time will tell.