EDINBURGH-It was the shocking, surreal, drug-fuelled movie that defined a generation. Two decades later, the ageing Scottish lowlifes of “Trainspotting” are back with a new sequel which premiered Sunday in Edinburgh.

“T2: Trainspotting” reunites Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller and Ewen Bremner with now Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle.

Renton, the character that launched the career of “Star Wars” actor McGregor, returns to Edinburgh after years away and his friends Begbie, Sick Boy and Spud are waiting, as dysfunctional as ever.

While the first movie was shot mostly in Glasgow, despite being set in the once heroin-blighted Edinburgh suburb of Leith, “T2” sees the Scottish capital take on a central role.

“It was lovely to shoot here in Edinburgh, and you feel that Edinburgh is much more of a character in this film than it was in the first one, and it’s absolutely right that we are here for the premiere,” McGregor told AFP on the red carpet.

Two decades on, Sick Boy (Miller) is a pimp exploiting the wave of gentrification that has swept the city, psycho Begbie (Carlyle) is an escaped convict and burglar, and Spud (Bremer) is still “on the skag”. Heroin has been relegated to a bit-part behind cocaine and Viagra, Begbie is even more foul-mouthed and menacing than ever, and there are plenty more gut-wrenching gross out scenes to match Spud’s breakfast table surprise in the first movie.

But despite the tough scenes, Bremer said the film has “a lot of humour in it”.

“It’s based on the real struggle of what it is to get by, you know, why people fill their lives with something. whether it is heroin or whatever they find to fill the void and heal the pain,” he told AFP.

There are references throughout to the first movie, including to its hugely successful soundtrack with a remix of Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life”.

Irvine Welsh, author of the “Trainspotting” novel, said the inclusion of Edinburgh group Young Fathers gave the new film a “distinctive Edinburgh feel”.