"Slumdog Millionaire" Soars To New Heights

"Slumdog Millionaire" tells the story of a poor boy who goes on a game show in order to reunite with his long-lost love. The movie is a favorite of critics and it just won four Golden Globe Awards.

Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy are still on a high from the big win.

"Does it seem real?" asked Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

"No. I keep waking up staring at the statue, saying 'Thank goodness it's still there,'" said Beaufoy.

An unlikely pair -- Beaufoy, a screen writer most famous for "The Full Monte" about people taking off their clothes and Boyle, a director most famous for "Train Spotting," a movie about heroin, teamed up to make "this wonderful, gorgeous, heartfelt, beautiful story," Smith gushed.

"Well, actually, I remember 'The Full Monte' and it was one of the most warm, inclusive pieces of screen writing I had ever witnessed in a cinema. It didn't exclude anybody from the experience. That's quite rare to find. And yet it's also very honest about peoples' lives," Boyle said.

The combination proved successful and the result was "so vivid" and "almost documentary-like at some points," Smith added.

"There are some directors who shoot your script, and once in a blue moon, a director comes along like Danny who makes it fly. You can just feel it in the film, that energy of that city, Mumbai. It has amazing energy, and Danny is the most energetic director that's ever lived," Beaufoy said.

Surprisingly, Boyle had never been to India before the shoot.

"That was my first time. I read the script and I was like -- you could feel the city. I got there and it was confirmed by being there. It's like New York. I mean, it's not like New York, it doesn't look like New York, but the energy on the streets is like New York," Boyle said. "Everybody is doing bits of business at all different levels. There's this kind of vivacity in the city. And it's like New York. It grabs you by the throat and says you will never be the same again," Boyle explained.

Some people may ask "Why should I see this movie?" - a story of a boy put through horrible circumstances that ends up on this game show.

"Why should we care about him," Smith asked.

"It's a story about hope, really, at the end of the day. Right now, when financial markets are crashing all over the world this is a film about someone that goes on a show all about money, 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.' He doesn't even want to be a millionaire. He wants to find the long lost love of his life. It's a story that says money is not the most important thing in your life and right now, it seems like a good message," said Beaufoy, who became emotional just talking about it.

The story with amazing heart was shot in one of the most challenging places in the world - the streets in Mumbai.

"What was that challenge like for you?" Smith asked.

"In Bollywood, they make films in studios only, they don't make them on the street. We tried to make them in the real places every time," Boyle said.