Reality Is Not Enough

From filmmaker Paul Sng (Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché, Tish) comes a thrilling and revealing exploration of Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, one of the most provocative writers of our times.

Year: 2025

Director: Paul Sng 

Co-Producer: Rohan Berry Crickmar 

Executive Producer: Sarah Drummond, Kat Mansoor, Mark Thomas 

Associate Producer: Kristin Atwood, Sam Barber, Emma Currie 

Archive Producer: James R.M. Hunt

Production Company: LS Films 

Distributor: Kaleidoscope 

Screen Scotland support: The film accessed funding through Screen Scotland’s Film Development and Production Fund 


Synopsis

Irvine Welsh is at a crossroads in his life. After finding huge success with several film adaptations and six million books sold worldwide, he has become acutely aware of his mortality. Now, with his hedonistic days drawing to a close, the outspoken author takes a wild journey that explores the boundaries of consciousness through a hallucinogenic trip. 

This captivating piece of biographical filmmaking combines intimate observational footage, rare archive film clips and readings from his novels narrated by Liam Neeson (Batman Begins, Star Wars), Maxine Peake (The Theory of Everything, Shameless), musician Nick CaveRuth Negga (Ad Astra, Passing) and Stephen Graham (Adolescence, The Irishman).


More information

Premiere: The film will have its World Premiere as the Closing Night of the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 20 August 2025. 

Image credit: Chris McCluskie