Aaron Taylor-Johnson<\/a>) in a community of survivors on an small island connected to the mainland by a single causeway. But when Spike is taken across the causeway armed with a bow to learn how to fight the infected for himself, it kickstarts an adventure with major \u2014\u00a0and deadly \u2014\u00a0consequences.<\/p>\n\n\tWilliams is an actor Boyle says is \u201chugely talented,\u201d telling Variety that his young star, who was only 13 when they were filming, \u201cbenefitted from what was almost a guardianship exercised by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, introducing him to and accompanying him through the rigours and demands of action shooting.\u201d Boyle notes that, in the second half of \u201c28 Years Later\u201d with the help of Comer and co-star Ralph Fiennes, Williams was able to learn about \u201cstillness, imagination and presence, not driving the action but letting the film come to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBoyle isn\u2019t someone Williams had heard of before \u201c28 Years Later\u201d came his way. But he quickly got up to speed when he was auditioning, watching the original film and also the director\u2019s iconic 1997 classic \u201cTrainspotting\u201d (perhaps a few years earlier than he should, although he gets a pass). He immediately knew he wanted to be involved.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut \u201c28 Years Later\u201d isn\u2019t the end of Spike\u2019s journey, with the film shot back-to-back with \u201c28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,\u201d directed by Nia DaCosta and due out in January. \u201cThere are plenty of horrors ahead of him in the second film but he\u2019s been set up by his fellow actors to meet that evil with courage and imagination,\u201d says Boyle (who also recently revealed that a trilogy-capper is in development and awaiting to see how the first film in received). <\/p>\n
\n\tSpeaking to Variety in his first major interview, Williams discusses being inspired by his dad (an actor himself who has been directed by Ken Loach), what it was like to climb up the tower of skulls, the \u201ccrazy\u201d experiencing of seeing himself on the poster and how Stephen Graham \u2014\u00a0much like for \u201cAdolescence\u201d star Cooper \u2014\u00a0played a crucial role in his career.<\/p>\n
\t\tHow excited are you for the film to be coming out?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tI can\u2019t wait. I\u2019m excited for people to finally see it. Everyone\u2019s really excited to finally watch it.<\/p>\n
\t\tHave you seen it yourself?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tI have! After watching it, I rang Danny and just praised him, because it was it was fantastic. It was really good.<\/p>\n
\t\tCan you describe who Spike is and what happens to him in \u201c28 Years Later\u201d?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tSpike\u2019s a young boy who lives on Holy Island in in the Northeast [of England] with his mum and dad, and when it\u2019s his 12th birthday his dad starts teaching him how to survive on the mainland. And throughout the film, Spike kind of gets more mature and changes and start becoming ready to deal with the infected. He\u2019s a great character.<\/p>\n
\t\tAnd you\u2019ve got Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as your mum and dad. How was that?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tYeah, they\u2019re my parents. It\u2019s just a privilege to be able to work with such an all-star cast. They\u2019re amazing. And they actually felt like my mum and dad. We had great chemistry and we got along. It was so much fun.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tAlfie Williams and Aaron Taylor-Johnson hunt the infected in \u201c28 Years Later\u201d
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSony Pictures<\/p>\n
\t\tSo how did you get this role?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tI sent an audition tape and got a recall. And it was in Newcastle, so that was great because it was really close. So I went down and I met Danny, and already that was comfortable. Obviously I was nervous, but it felt good. So we were doing a couple of scenes, and then I got another recall, and then I got another one, and then another one. I had to do four and then I got the part. <\/p>\n
\t\tAnd were they looking for someone specifically from your part of England? <\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tYeah, I think they were. I got to keep my accent.<\/p>\n
\t\tYou\u2019ve been in TV projects before \u2014\u00a0including \u201cHis Dark Materials.\u201d Were they big speaking roles? <\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tHonestly, for \u201cHis Dark Materials,\u201d I just came in, said a line, and that was it. This is my first big lead part. <\/p>\n
\t\tAmazing. And how did it feel making that leap? <\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tIt\u2019s so exciting. It\u2019s amazing to be part of something like this. <\/p>\n
\t\tDid you know anything about Danny or his films beforehand?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tI didn\u2019t! My parents knew him, obviously. But after I got the audition, I just started watching a lot of his films, obviously starting with \u201c28 Days Later\u201d and then \u201cTrainspotting\u201d and I was like, I\u2019ve got to be part of this. <\/p>\n
\t\tWhat did you think of \u201c28 Days Later\u201d?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tI loved it. Yeah, it\u2019s very gritty and intense. A lot of these films are just brilliant \u2014\u00a0they\u2019ve just got a unique feel to them.<\/p>\n
\t\tYou\u2019re in almost every scene of this. Did you know when you first auditioned that it was going to be for such a big role? Was there a point when you realized that you were basically the lead of the film?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tYes, I kind of knew from the start when I was auditioning that it was for the lead role. And then when I read the full script, it was pretty clear how important the role of Spike was.<\/p>\n
\t\tDid you need any special training?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tI had a couple of months of archery training. It was great \u2014\u00a0I just went to down to a local range that does archery and was just shooting arrows for a couple of months. And I got really good at it, so after this ends I\u2019m gonna keep doing it.<\/p>\n
\t\tCan you describe your first day on set? What can you remember?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tYeah, I remember Spike had to climb down the side of this hill on the first day. And he had to be really tired and out of breath and to do that Danny told me to do some squats before the scene. I was so tired after the squats and the acting. It was a pretty gruelling day, but so much fun working on \u201c28 Years Later\u201d for the first time.<\/p>\n
\t\tYou\u2019re in lots of scene with rotting corpses and disease-ridden infected. It looks incredibly realistic and horrifying on screen, but how realistic was it on the set? Did you ever feel scared or even nauseous at all?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tAll of it was really realistic on set \u2013 there was no green screens or anything. It was all done by the amazing prosthetics and special effects people in the crew, so looked incredibly realistic. Obviously you know it\u2019s not real as you see the people before they\u2019re made up \u2013 but it\u2019s still pretty scary when you see them for the first time.<\/p>\n
\t\tThere are also plenty of amazing action scenes with chases and explosions. Are there any that really stand because they were particularly exciting or interesting to shoot? And did you do your own stunts?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tClimbing the bone temple was pretty scary as it was quite high, as you can see on the poster. But I was harnessed and the team behind all that make sure every safety precaution is in place. There was also a time when Spike and Isla (Comer) are hiding on the ground from an explosion that\u2019s going over their heads \u2014 that was really exciting! We could feel the heat, but it felt completely safe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tSo that tower of skulls \u2014\u00a0the bone temple \u2014\u00a0was actually a real thing that was built?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tYeah, it was fully built as part of the set. I climbed it and was harnessed the whole time, but I had to climb all the way to the top of it and it was still pretty scary. It was really fun, but it was a big structure and really high.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat\u2019s it been like seeing yourself on the poster?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tIt was amazing! I wasn\u2019t actually expecting to be on the poster, but I was so happy when I saw it and I was right there at the top of the bone temple. Seeing those posters all over the country now and on the sides of busses and stuff is crazy!\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tThe U.K. poster for \u201c28 Yearsa Later\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tHow did you first get into acting? Does anyone else in your family act?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tYeah, my dad is an actor [Alfie Dobson, who has appeared in Ken Loach\u2019s \u201cSorry We Missed You\u201d and BBC drama \u201cThe A Word\u201d]. That\u2019s kind of why I wanted to start doing it. I wanted to follow in his footsteps.<\/p>\n
\t\tWas there anything you remember seeing your dad in and thinking, this is for me?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tI remember when I was young, there was a Viking thing he was in, and he was showing us pictures of him on set in costume and everything. I was like: Dad, I want to do that.<\/p>\n
\t\tYour dad must be very proud of you!<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tAlfie Dobson interjects from the background: Very proud!<\/p>\n
\t\tSo did you join a drama club or anything like that? And can you remember your first performance?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tI was in a drama school for a while, but then I quit as it was a bit more musical theater and I wanted to do TV and film. So it didn\u2019t feel right. I started auditioning for roles around the age of 7, a couple of adverts and things. I then did a short film called \u201cPhallacy\u201d with Stephen Graham and Sean Parkes \u2013 and Stephen Graham helped me a lot during that period. He recommended me to his agent, who I\u2019m with now, and couldn\u2019t have been nicer. I feel like that was a real stepping stone to getting this part.<\/p>\n
\t\t\u201c28 Days Later\u201d was a breakthrough film for Cillian Murphy. He was obviously a little older than you are now, but are you aware of what appearing in this sort of film can do for your career?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tYeah, that set him off and I\u2019m hoping, you know, this film does the same for me.<\/p>\n
\t\tYour co-stars Aaron and Jodie have been through this too. Did they have any words of advice or guidance on how to handle it all?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tAaron taught us a lot of about how to deal with some of this stuff and to kind of get ready for it and gave us some advice on that. He said it can get a bit intense and overwhelming sometimes. And because he\u2019s been acting since he was young, he knows all about it.<\/p>\n
\t\tAway from intense post-apocalyptic horrors, what films do you like the most?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tI actually like a lot of comedy movies. I\u2019ve just been re-watching \u201cStranger Things\u201d on TV, because I like that, and \u201cThe Boys.\u201d But for movies, I just like crappy comedy movies. Like \u201cStepbrothers\u201d and \u201cClick.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tYou\u2019ve obviously already starred alongside some of the best actors already, but are there are any others that your particularly enjoy watching?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\tI like Andrew Garfield. He was amazing in \u201cHacksaw Ridge.\u201d And J.K. Simmons, who was great in \u201cWhiplash.\u201d Also Bryan Cranston. There are a lot of great actors!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2025 has been a banner year for young British actors. First came Owen Cooper, the 15-year-old star of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3940],"tags":[16475,54589,78588,4080,48891,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-192289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-28-years-later","9":"tag-aaron-taylor-johnson","10":"tag-alfie-williams","11":"tag-celebrities","12":"tag-danny-boyle","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114700014329324647","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192289","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=192289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}