Despite wearing an all-black suit, Danny Boyle�s mood is anything but sombre as he approaches one of the last press conferences of a very long day.

Once the Mancunian starts to talk, you soon remember who you�re talking to - the director who, in part, dragged British films out of the niche genre and made them marketable. Before the mid-90�s, a British film meant (a) corsets, or (b) Hugh Grant. There wasn�t enough money, or foreign interest, to risk anything different. That all changed with the opening few seconds of 1996�s �Trainspotting�. One of the critics� quotes from the infamous poster read �Hollywood come in - your time is up�, and that�s exactly what the film felt like.

In the following years Boyle embraced Tinsel town - casting Cameron Diaz in �A Life Less Ordinary�, working with hot property Leonardo DiCaprio on 'The Beach', becoming part of 20th Century Fox�s psuedo-indie wing, Fox Searchlight.

 'Sunshine', another genre film after tackling horror with 2003�s �28 Days Later�, stars Cillian Murphy, former Bond girl Michelle Yeoh, and �Fantastic Four� star Chris Evans who are included in a crew of a space ship, �The Icarus�. It�s mission? To re-ignite the sun!

Whilst it�s a Sci-Fi movie, Boyle points out that this is a �light sabre-free zone�. �I am a Sci-Fi fan� he says,  �not so much Star Trek or Star Wars, but I will find myself at the opening night of, say, Contact or Alien: Resurrection. Whereas with other films I wouldn�t be as keen�. 

When asked about the importance of the time frame in the film (it�s set 50 years from now), Boyle refers to �The Red Bus rule�: �50 years ago, in London, there were red buses, and there are red buses now. I mean they�re different now, obviously, but it is still a red bus. So, in the future, the technology will still be recognisable. It�ll be buttons and computers, not thought control or anything like that, it won�t be outlandish fantasy�. He cited this as the key to the film�s accessibility, using the element that made 28 Days Later so popular - the feeling that it could happen.

When it�s suggested he�s obsessed with the apocalypse, he gives a loud laugh and (to an extent) agrees.  �It�s funny isn�t it? It�s so obvious looking at the two films� There�s a lot more at stake than local politics. It�s a big issue, and it�s a big canvas to use. So I love that, that�s a great place to go with characters�.

Continuing on the theme of his �bleakness�, he goes on to say that this isn�t an �Armageddon�, Bruce Willis-saves-the-world type movie. �That�s why we called it (the ship) �The Icarus�. No American movie would ever call a ship �The Icarus�, because it�s fated. They�d call it �Spirit of Hope� or �Ship of Destiny�. They�d call it something optimistic� in America they would sacrifice all plausibility, because there would be hope. Hope is more important to them than anything�.