Danny Boyle Talks 'Sunshine' Problems, Upcoming Films and Why He Didn't Direct Alien: Resurrection

I've been wondering (while I throw things at the wall) why in the world Danny Boyle's Sunshine was supposed to come out next month, only to be moved all the way to December 15? Was it being pushed because of its Oscar potential, or was it -- gasp -- in desperate need of some re-tooling? Well, it can't be the latter because it's currently screening around the world, and is still due to be released everywhere (except in the States) next month. Could it be that this little sci-fi flick has Oscar written all over it? Or, does Fox just want to mess with us hardcore Boyle fans -- to a point where we start writing letters and booking odd trips to Argentina in order to catch the film on its original release date? Regardless, Boyle has been following his film around as it screens, answering questions; recently, he was in Australia where a scooper wrote into Moviehole with a brief break-down of what was said.

While he didn't provide any exact quotes, the scooper did scribble down some of the following tidbits:

• Sunshine's budget was $40 million, there were over 35 rewrites (which is pretty freaking scary) and the crew spent one year in post production.
• The test screenings for Sunshine were horrible; Boyle says he thinks they went bad because the audience couldn't look past the incomplete visual effects.
• Boyle had to shoot the final scene on DV in order to convince the studio to front the money to film it in a proper way. However, they had no problem paying for Boyle and 35 journalists to experience a zero gravity flight after the film was shot.

Apart from all the Sunshine talk, Boyle did say that his next film will be about a really smart guy who goes on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in order to impress a girl. Seeing as this pic has nothing to do with the previously reported Ponte Tower (and doesn't exactly sound like typical Boyle fare), I'm definitely interested to know more. Finally, Boyle told the audience that he turned down a helming gig on Alien: Resurrection because, at the time, he was too afraid to tackle the special effects.