Danny Boyle has been one of the most interesting directors of the last twenty years. When he has hit the mark with films like Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, he's been massively influential in the medium. Even his misfires - A Life Less Ordinary, The Beach - have been fascinating in their reach. And what I've loved about Boyle is his complete disregard for genre. He can do horror, comedy, drama, and action.

Boyle found a perfect script for someone with his diverse talents in Slumdog Millionaire by Simon Beaufoy, which tells the amazing story of a young man from the slums of India winning that country's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? How did he do it? Did he cheat? Did he know the answers? Was it fate? Slumdog is not only the best film of Boyle's career, it's easily one of the best films of 2008 and should catch fire in the next few months on its way to what feels like inevitable nominations and year-end acclaim. It's great.

Boyle stopped in Chicago recently and sat down with The Deadbolt to talk about the making of Slumdog Millionaire, the response to it, and he even dropped some hints about another "28" movie. Take a seat and spend some time with one of the most intriguing directors working today.

THE DEADBOLT: I love the movie. And I'm not alone. Have you been blown away by the response?

DANNY BOYLE: Yes. Here, especially. I always thought it would work in Britain. You don't know how much but I thought we'd connect in Britain because our relationship with India is quite close in many ways for all sorts of reasons. We only left there sixty years ago. There's a HUGE Indian population in Britain. But I wasn't sure about here. But it's the underdog thing, and the "purity of love" thing, and the extreme drama of the story that people respond to here. They just go for that. And it feels like a generous film. People here do like that kind of film. People like film to be generous, which means warm, but it's also quite cruel. There's a lot of horror. But they forgive that if it's heart is big enough.

THE DEADBOLT: Last year when we spoke about Sunshine, I suggested that your movies are about people trying to grab the exceptional and now you've made a movie about a slum kid in Mumbai who becomes a millionaire.

BOYLE: [laughs] It's weird. I've just come from Austin where they gave me this award, one of these lifetime, extraordinary things. It's weird because suddenly people start talking about the films differently. They start connecting them. It's not good to think like that, personally. You've got to leave that to critics and journalists and film writers. I instinctively don't read that stuff because you get really weird, because it is stuff you don't really think about but CLEARLY it's true. When you read it or when you say that, you think "Yeah, hmmm...." But, you know, since we met I didn't think that...

THE DEADBOLT: I'm trying to take credit for the movie.

BOYLE: [laughs] It's a weird coincidence.

THE DEADBOLT: Let's talk a little bit about the source. How is the film different from the book?

BOYLE: Very different. It's a tribute to Simon Beaufoy. I read the screenplay first and I committed to the film without even looking at the book. In fact, it was without even finishing the script. After ten pages, I knew this was what I wanted to do. Obviously, the idea is in the book - a kid goes on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and answers questions because of experiences that have happened to him in his life. But what Simon did that was clever...

There's a very rigid structure in the book, which you tire of. It's a series of short stories. You read one and go to sleep. Read the next one the next night. But if you put them all together in two hours, it becomes very "obvious" as a structure. What Simon did was try and keep ahead of people. He gives the audience a lot more intelligence than just a rigid structure. You're asked to keep up with things that have happened and that haven't happened yet. "Wait for that everyone. It will explain itself in a little bit." He did that and that's very satisfying. I remember thinking how intelligent he'd made me feel, which is a really brilliant thing in the screenplay.

THE DEADBOLT: One of many things I loved about the movie is the visual sense. How much of that is in the screenplay and how much of it is you and what you bring to the film?

BOYLE: The honest truth is that it's in India - that thing. Anybody who goes there - Simon went 20 years ago on a hippie, two-year, rambling trip. When he was given this book to adapt, he went back. Then he came back with me. The truth is that, although you always want to take credit for stuff like that, you couldn't give the credit to Simon, to the cinematographer, to me. It's India. If you're open to it, it will give you all of this stuff. It's an extraordinary place. If you approach it with the right frame of mind, it's incredible.

THE DEADBOLT: Yet we've seen a lot of movies set in India that don't have the vibrancy of this movie, that don't capture India. What's the right frame of mind that you're approaching it with?

BOYLE: You've just got to "be". You can not impose on India. It's so complex and vast. There's a billion people. That's enough to start a planet, never mind a country. The idea that anyone, especially a Westerner, can come in and control it for his own ends is ridiculous. You've got to forget all of your training, all of your schedules, all of your stuff, and just wait. Go with it. It makes executives, line producers, and stuff like that panic because you haven't shot anything by mid-afternoon but...

THE DEADBOLT: Really?

BOYLE: Oh, yeah. If you trust it, you'll find that it's given back a hundred fold what you wanted.

THE DEADBOLT: What was the most challenging part of that structure?

BOYLE: Not thinking of it as a challenge. People say "What difficulties did you have to overcome?" You just don't think like that. That's the filmmaker's mindset - "Everybody's against me." You just go with it. I'm not a hippie. I was a punk. But I really went for that whole mindset. And I still regard it like it. And I still smile when some of the things come at you that just [throws his hands up]. Because they go, "Well, they won't give permission for that." You don't scream and shout and bang tables because you find yourself there and you're doing it anyway - what you'd asked permission for and been declined but this guy changed his mind... It's not even as easy as that! Changing his mind! It's just always moving and changing perspective. It's infinite - India. The idea that you can understand it and control it is insane. You've got to benefit from it. That's all.

EXCLUSIVE: Danny Boyle Returns From India with Slumdog Millionaire Page 2