Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes on what drew them to Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later
The Killing Eve and Conclave stars have crucial roles in the zombie horror sequel currently in cinemas
Sony Pictures
- James Mottram
28 Years Later is in cinemas now. Add it to your watchlist
Ad
It’s been 23 years since Cillian Murphy’s bike courier Jim woke up from a coma in a London hospital. Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later – written by The Beach novelist Alex Garland – gave us some of the most iconic images on film in the early 21st century, as Murphy’s Jim wandered across a deserted Westminster Bridge and Piccadilly Circus – only to discover that the population had been evacuated after a virus rapidly spread, turning humans into rage-fuelled creatures.
It was the film that spawned a host of zombie movies, from Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake to Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead ‘zom-com’, as well as conjuring a 2007 sequel, 28 Weeks Later, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.
But now, like one of the undead, the franchise has risen with 28 Years Later, with the original creatives joined by a new cast. Among them, Jodie Comer, playing Isla – a survivor living on Holy Island, in Britain’s northeast, among a community that has managed to fend off the infected – which are now running riot on the mainland.
Comer, the Liverpool-born star of Killing Eve, knew exactly why she wanted to sign on to play Isla. "I think the opportunity to work with Danny Boyle and Alex Garland," she tells RT.
"I’d never done a genre piece before, and it feels like if you’re going to delve into a world like this, to be led by them, it was a kind of dream." The two decades between the two Boyle-directed films was also a big draw. "[I wanted] to see how [the] filmmakers have utilised that and continued the story."
28 Years Later. Sony Pictures Releasing
The actress admitted she felt "exhilaration" when she saw a screening of 28 Years Later just a couple of weeks ago. “There’s the terror, but there’s the intimacy and the emotion, and the levity, there’s the humour. You kind of go through this washing machine of emotions and then come out feeling energised and affected in some way. And I guess people are hungry for that sensation when they view something."
In 28 Years Later, Comer’s ailing character must leave it to her husband Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) to take their young son Spike (Alfie Williams) on his first trip to the mainland – separated from the island they live on by a causeway that’s only accessible in low tide. There, Spike will gain his first kill as he sees the infected close up – though, needless to say, things don’t go to plan.
Comer was impressed by the Newcastle-born Williams, who previously featured in a small role in BBC show His Dark Materials. "He’s very confident," she says. "He has a lot of instincts. And it was interesting because our dynamic is nuanced in a sense [that] he’s often having to play the parental figure in our relationship." Williams – who is now aged 14 – will also take centre stage in the next instalment, the Garland-scripted 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman) and due out in January 2026.
Joining him will be actor Ralph Fiennes, who features in 28 Years Later as Dr Kelson, a survivor on the mainland who builds a tower of skulls – the Bone Temple – which he collects from those who have died from this terrible virus. "He strikes me as a combination of priest and installation artist,” says Fiennes.
"This requirement to create a monument to the dead, witness all the souls that have passed… it’s a bit like an artist... I mean, there are artists who want to recognise suffering and loss of lives, and we know things occur where names and people who we’ve lost are put on monuments, even veterans’ monuments. So I think it’s in that tradition of honouring the dead."
Intriguingly, Fiennes had not seen the original 28 Days Later but did his “homework” ahead of meeting with Boyle. “I thought the first film was fantastic. I thought he and Alex are such a great team, and their screenplays are so smart. So I think it transcends the notion of a genre horror movie with so many ideas in it about violence and humanity and parental care and love and the sense of who we are as an island. I think the theme of England in it is very strong in an interesting way.”
The Bone Tower itself was built in North Yorkshire, alongside the River Ure. "It was a very special place to be in," adds Fiennes. “The choice of location was full of a spirit that really supported what the actual designs was about.” If that helped the actors get into character, so did the fact that the ‘infected’ felt very real. These were far more than just extras.
Ad
"When you’re being chased by them, they’re in full prosthetic and makeup,” says Comer, “which is helpful, because you’re having to use your imagination a little less and just kind of react."
Authors
James Mottram
James Mottram is a London-based film critic, journalist, and author.
Ad
Ad
Get the Christmas double issue
Too much to watch at Christmas? Let Radio Times do the choosing to find something the whole family will enjoy.
Loading...
Ad
Loading...