{"id":179853,"date":"2025-06-13T01:38:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T01:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/179853\/"},"modified":"2025-06-13T01:38:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T01:38:14","slug":"danny-boyle-wanted-two-things-in-28-years-later-brexit-and-the-teletubbies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/179853\/","title":{"rendered":"Danny Boyle Wanted Two Things in \u201828 Years Later\u2019: \u201cBrexit and the Teletubbies\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The film 28 Years Later follows 2002\u2019s 28 Days Later and 2007\u2019s 28 Weeks Later, but it\u2019s also the first title in a new trilogy of zombie movies. The 2002 project was directed by Danny Boyle<\/strong> and written by Alex Garland,<\/strong> and the pair have reunited for the latest film, which will be released in theaters June 20. They\u2019ve already collaborated on the second installment too, which is produced by Boyle, written by Garland, and directed by Nia DaCosta.<\/strong> \u201cFor the third, we\u2019re looking for funding, in case anyone wants to help us out,\u201d Boyle joked slyly while presenting the film in Rome this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took time before I got back into the world of 28 Days Later,\u201d he added, explaining his long absence from the franchise. \u201cIt\u2019s a film that\u2019s still very much seen and loved, but we decided with Alex that we would only work on it again if he had a strong idea.\u201d In the end, Boyle said, there were just \u201ctwo things we absolutely wanted to include: Brexit and the Teletubbies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The British children\u2019s show opens 28 Years Later, which soon takes us to an island where a small community lives separate from the monstrous creatures introduced in the previous films. The cast includes Jodie Comer<\/strong> and Aaron Taylor-Johnson<\/strong> as a married couple, as well as screen newcomer Alfie Williams<\/strong> as their son, Spike. \u201cSpike\u2019s journey is the journey of the film itself,\u201d said Boyle. \u201cWe wanted to make a horror film, but also talk about family and the changes it can undergo even on a collective level.\u201d Taylor-Johnson\u2019s character wants his son to follow in his footsteps, exhibiting \u201cthe mindset of 1950s England, where men and women had separate roles.\u201d The retrenchment of old-fashioned values was inspired by Brexit, Boyle said. Spike exits that conservative society to find his own way, \u201cwhich, in the film, represents progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyle heaped praise on Williams, noting how young actors seem especially well prepared for the challenge of filmmaking these days. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing how acting has changed among the very young actors,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it was the effect of the Harry Potter saga. Seeing those movies made them say, Why can\u2019t I do it too?\u201d He also spoke about not wanting to replicate the deserted London of 28 Days Later, which feels different in a post-COVID world. \u201cCOVID forced us to change our horizon,\u201d he said. In this film, people are also grappling with a deadly virus. \u201cAfter so many years, the survivors are not just hiding from it but are risk-seeking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The virus at the center of the 28 films enrages its victims\u2014echoing the effect technology can have on users in the real world. But Boyle also relied heavily on that technology while making the film.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used a lot of iPhones,\u201d the director said. \u201cAlso a lot of light cameras. We didn\u2019t want anything heavy since we had to move within beautiful nature. That\u2019s why we also used a variety of drones; we would send the actors into the scene and then film them with those.\u201d Boyle\u2019s intention was to find something that was visually new: \u201cThe first film was made entirely in digital and was the first of that genre to have wide distribution. Over time, technology has evolved. Now even your phone can shoot in 4K. So we experimented, although we ran into several problems. With the crew, it was complicated. A director can make a film every two or three years. Crews are on sets all the time, so it\u2019s normal to settle on formulas that you already know and are proven.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe presented the crew with challenges, destabilizing them at times. It has been challenging to fight this resistance to change\u2014which may not produce perfection. But that is not what we are interested in either. We look for what\u2019s in between, in the cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to name the real monsters society faces today, Boyle answered, \u201cI can only speak\u2026about my own country, but I think we are realizing more and more every day that there is a lack of real figures of resistance among our leaders. There is a lack of people who can be an inspiration and send us forward. There was a time when people believed that artificial intelligence could become a reference, but they soon realized that the business opportunities it offers often come at the expense of freedom. So if I had to say who I believe in right now, I would answer: the BBC. It has no owners, no shareholders, and it is a reality check on every image and news story before publishing it\u2014from what [Donald]<\/strong> Trump<\/strong> claims to the nefariousness of Russian politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Original story in VF Italia<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The film 28 Years Later follows 2002\u2019s 28 Days Later and 2007\u2019s 28 Weeks Later, but it\u2019s also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,48891,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15,995],"class_list":{"0":"post-179853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-danny-boyle","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-zombies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114673504067142697","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}