It was bending the trees, and blowing the trash up, out of the skips – a frightening, furious wind. What would they be driven to say? One particular night I set off down Manila’s mean-streets for a beer, just a typhoon rolled in off the sea. I wrote for 10 hours a day, but the ending eluded me – the boys would succeed, of course… but what would be their grand gesture? Okay, I didn’t succeed – but John Boyne’s book kept me going when I lost my way, and reminded me to work harder, because children’s fiction needs a bit of toughness. I wanted to write something as short, serious and wonderful. When I sat down to write Trash I kept one book on my desk: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. What I love about the film is the way they lead it.Īndy Mulligan: Stephen Daldry cast three favela kids, with a charisma that lights up the screen – and when I met them on the set I’m afraid they broke me. To meet one’s own characters, forged the way you want them forged – that’s very special. They’re made of steel.” He assured me he’d do no such thing: he cast three favela kids, with a charisma that lights up the screen – and when I met them on the set I’m afraid they broke me. “Make the kids doe-eyed, cute and Dreamworks-cuddly – because that’s what they’re not. The film director (Stephen Daldry) asked me at an early stage what he could do to destroy the book. Their maths was impeccable, and without wishing to overdo the long-distance glamour, they displayed a survival instinct and a strength I found humbling. Many of them had never seen a school, but spoke three languages. Raphael and Gardo were delivered soon after, based on the tenacious beggar boys who’d come out at night as the drinkers got drunker – never to fleece or steal, but always to charm and cajole and beg that little bit more. That’s what we did, though – we stepped through the wardrobe for a moment into what was, to us, an upside down mad fantasy world of grimness.

It sounds shameful, doesn’t it? To visit a third-world dump to stare, and then go home again to TV and a three-course meal.

Andy Mulligan: we stepped through the wardrobe for a moment into what was, to us, an upside down made fantasy world of grimness.

Trash book andy mulligan