Suchismita Ghosh
Danny Boyle’s zombie thriller ’28 Years Later’ is set to start shooting in the United Kingdom next month. It is the threequel to the 2002 modern horror classic ’28 Days Later.’ Alex Garland, who wrote the original film, also penned the upcoming movie. The project is the first of a new trilogy, and the second film has already been announced with Garland on board as the screenwriter. The plot of the third installment in the franchise is currently under wraps. Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes are part of the film’s cast.
In the 2002 film, Cillian Murphy plays Jim, who gets in a bicycle accident and falls into a coma. He awakens to find England in a forlorn, postapocalyptic collapse due to a virus that turns its victims into seething killers. He then navigates his way around the desolate landscape to look for survivors and comes across Selena (Naomie Harris) and Major Henry West (Christopher Eccleston). The narrative ends with Jim surviving the apocalypse.
The movie revitalized the zombie-horror genre and paved the way for several hit films/shows such as ‘World War Z,’ ‘Zombieland,’ ‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘Dawn of the Dead’ to follow its lead. A sequel to ’28 Days Later’ was released in 2007, titled ’28 Months Later,’ with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo directing and Boyle and Garland serving as executive producers.
The film will be Boyle’s first feature since the 2019 romantic comedy ‘Yesterday,’ starring Himesh Patel and Lily James. Some of the Oscar-winning director’s latest works include the television special ‘Free Your Mind: The Matrix Now’ and FX’s biographical series ‘Pistol,’ featuring Toby Wallace, Anson Boon, and Sydney Chandler.
Garland is an Oscar-nominated writer who previously helmed ‘Ex Machina,’ ‘Annihilation,’ and the action-flick ‘Civil War,’ starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson. He also wrote and directed ‘Men’ and created Hulu’s ‘Devs,’ featuring Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman, and Jin Ha.
Comer plays Kathy in Jeff Nichols’ upcoming film ‘The Bikeriders.’ The actress portrayed “Woman” in the thriller drama ‘The End We Start From’ and Marguerite de Carrouges in Ridley Scott’s period drama ‘The Last Duel.’ She is also known for performing as Villanelle in ‘Killing Eve.’ Taylor-Johnson is awaiting the release of ‘Kraven the Hunter,’ the fifth movie in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU), and David Leitch’s ‘The Fall Guy.’ Fiennes’ recent credits include Wes Anderson’s four Netflix shorts, including ‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.’
Boyle, Garland, Andrew Macdonald, and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, are producing the movie. Murphy, the star of the first film, is set to serve as an executive producer of the threequel. His involvement as an actor is yet to be confirmed. The performer has been vocal about his interest in reprising Jim. “I was talking to Danny Boyle recently, and I said, ‘Danny, we shot the movie at the end of 2000.’ So I think we’re definitely approaching the 28 Years Later. But like I’ve always said, I’m up for it. I’d love to do it. If Alex [Garland] thinks there’s a script in it and Danny wants to do it, I’d love to do it,” he told Collider.
The United Kingdom, where the film’s shooting is slated to take place, has previously served as the backdrop for ’28 Days Later’ and ’28 Months Later.’ Some other films shot in the region include Jason Statham-starrer ‘The Beekeeper‘ and Andrew Haigh’s ‘All of Us Strangers,’ starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal.
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