Boyle admits he hated life on The Beach

Film-maker Danny Boyle remains adamant Leonardo Di Caprio was not to blame for the critical failure of his movie The Beach, insisting his own hatred of the backpacker lifestyle was the root cause of the problem.

The acclaimed Trainspotting director realised he had made a mistake in agreeing to adapt Alex Garland's best-selling novel about westerners seeking an escape from modern life when he began to miss being at home in London.

And Boyle is keen to move blame away from DiCaprio - who was suffering from a Titanic-fuelled backlash in the media when The Beach was released.

He tells movie magazine Empire: "The biggest problem for me was that I had nothing in common with the people on that beach, those backpackers.

"The idea of 'escaping' was alien to me. I really didn't know what I was doing there. Actually I remember John Hodge (the film's screenwriter) saying, 'You know, I think I hate these people...'"