Danny Boyle had a 'nightmare' filming naked zombies for 28 Years Later
Danny Boyle has admitted it was a "nightmare" filming naked zombies for new horror movie 28 Years Later.
The moviemaker has stepped back into the director's chair to helm the new horror - written by Alex Garland - 23 years after the pair's first film 28 Days Later hit cinemas and Danny has revealed they needed to take extra care not to have "naked" actors on the set because they had strict rules in place to protect the film's child star Alfie Williams.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Danny explained: "I mean, if you're recently infected [with the zombie virus], you'd have some clothes, but if you've been infected for a long time, the clothes would just disintegrate with the way that you behave.
"We never knew that [about rules governing nudity on set when there's a child present] going in, it was a nightmare."
Danny went on to explain the work-around they came up with, adding: "Interestingly, because there was a 12-year-old boy on set, you're not allowed for anybody to be naked, not really naked, so they look naked, but it's all prosthetics ...
"So it's like: 'Oh my God,' so we had to make everybody prosthetic genitals'."
Danny revealed he was keen to push boundaries with the elements of nudity and gore in the film and he's glad studio bosses were supportive of his plans.
He told Variety: "I think one of the wonderful things about horror is that you're expected to maximize the impact of your story. Everybody wants to do that with a drama, with the romance, whatever.
"But with horror, it's obviously gonna be brutal, some of it. What we loved was setting it against an innocence that's represented by the various children in it, and also the landscape, the beauty of the landscape, the nature.
"Having those two forces stretches your story as far as you can go, if you maximize them. That was our principle and the studio was supportive of that, of course they were."
28 Years Later is out this month and a fourth film in the series 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple - directed by Nia DaCosta with Danny as a producer - has already been shot ahead of a planned January 2026 launch date.
However, the 'Trainspotting' moviemaker hopes to be back in the directing chair if the final movie is given the green light.
The series was created by Alex Garland - who wrote the screenplays for all the films except for second instalment 28 Weeks Later - and started with Cillian Murphy's character Jim, who awakes from a coma to discover Britain has been plagued by a terrible pandemic known as the Rage Virus, which turns those affected turn into murderous zombies.
Cillian makes a brief appearance in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and is due to be given a bigger role in the untitled follow-up, but Alex Garland has revealed there's still no script for the next month.
He told Variety: "The script isn't written. It's strange: There's a story, there's a plan, there's a structure ... So short answer: I've got the idea, I've got the plan, but there's not a script. I'm waiting to see what happens, I suppose."
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Danny Boyle has admitted it was a "nightmare" filming naked zombies for new horror movie 28 Years Later. The moviemaker has stepped back into the director's chair to helm the new horror - written by Alex Garland - 23 years after the pair's first film 28 Days Later hit cinemas and Danny has revealed they needed to take extra care not to have "naked" actors on the set because they had strict rules in place to protect the film's child star Alfie Williams. Speaking to PEOPLE, Danny explained: "I mean, if you're recently infected [with the zombie virus], you'd have some clothes, but if you've been infected for a long time, the clothes would just disintegrate with the way that you behave. "We never knew that [about rules governing nudity on set when there's a child present] going in, it was a nightmare." Danny went on to explain the work-around they came up with, adding: "Interestingly, because there was a 12-year-old boy on set, you're not allowed for anybody to be naked, not really naked, so they look naked, but it's all prosthetics ... "So it's like: 'Oh my God,' so we had to make everybody prosthetic genitals'." Danny revealed he was keen to push boundaries with the elements of nudity and gore in the film and he's glad studio bosses were supportive of his plans. He told Variety: "I think one of the wonderful things about horror is that you're expected to maximize the impact of your story. Everybody wants to do that with a drama, with the romance, whatever. "But with horror, it's obviously gonna be brutal, some of it. What we loved was setting it against an innocence that's represented by the various children in it, and also the landscape, the beauty of the landscape, the nature. "Having those two forces stretches your story as far as you can go, if you maximize them. That was our principle and the studio was supportive of that, of course they were." 28 Years Later is out this month and a fourth film in the series 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple - directed by Nia DaCosta with Danny as a producer - has already been shot ahead of a planned January 2026 launch date. However, the 'Trainspotting' moviemaker hopes to be back in the directing chair if the final movie is given the green light. The series was created by Alex Garland - who wrote the screenplays for all the films except for second instalment 28 Weeks Later - and started with Cillian Murphy's character Jim, who awakes from a coma to discover Britain has been plagued by a terrible pandemic known as the Rage Virus, which turns those affected turn into murderous zombies. Cillian makes a brief appearance in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and is due to be given a bigger role in the untitled follow-up, but Alex Garland has revealed there's still no script for the next month. He told Variety: "The script isn't written. It's strange: There's a story, there's a plan, there's a structure ... So short answer: I've got the idea, I've got the plan, but there's not a script. I'm waiting to see what happens, I suppose."
