More Than Monsters: Danny Boyle on his return to rage and redemption

Extra.ie​

13 hours ago

When 28 Days Later stormed onto screens in 2002, it redefined the horror genre not with gore alone, but with a haunting meditation on what remains when society collapses.
Now, over two decades later, Danny Boyle returns with 28 Years Later, a film that expands the scope of his dystopia while digging deeper into the soul of its survivors. Gone are the empty motorways and frantic sprints of the infected, what remains is a quieter terror, one that settles in the cracks of human connection, moral compromise, and fragile hope.
Sitting down with Extra.ie ahead of the film's release, the Oscar winning director chatted about the humanity behind the horror and his creative companionship with our very own Cillian Murphy. When 28 Days Later stormed onto screens in 2002, it redefined the horror genre not with gore alone, but with a haunting meditation on what remains when society collapses. Pic: Brian McEvoy Photography
For Boyle, horror has never been about spectacle, it's about pressure, what it reveals, what it distorts, and what it leaves behind. His lens lingers not just on violence, but on the choices made in its wake.
In 28 Years Later, the rage virus is still present, still deadly, but the true infection now might be something more insidious: despair, disconnection, the erosion of empathy. Through intimate scenes in shattered towns and moments of tentative tenderness between characters, Boyle explores the human instinct to rebuild, even when the world resists.
Touching on those brief glimpses of grace, the director began: ' One of the core themes is that the infected are sick. They're not monsters, you know? They're not like robotic monsters or creatures from outer space or something like that. They're us and the infection has completely taken them over,' he began. Now, over two decades later, Danny Boyle returns with 28 Years Later, a film that expands the scope of his dystopia while digging deeper into the soul of its survivors. Gone are the empty motorways and frantic sprints of the infected, what remains is a quieter terror, one that settles in the cracks of human connection, moral compromise, and fragile hope. Pic: Brian McEvoy Photography
' The figure of Kelson(Ralph Fienes), he says that he builds this monument that he's building for infected and non-infected. You know, he doesn't differentiate. Whereas I think Aaron Taylor Johnson, the father of Alfie, does differentiate and says they're not even human. Just kill them.'
Boyle briefly touched on one of the stand out moments of the film, where Isla (Jodie Comer) aids one of the infected during childbirth. It's a quietly devastating scene, a moment that momentarily suspends the terror and reminds us, almost unbearably, of what's been lost.
' Obviously, you don't attract Jodi Comer to a bad script,' he laughed. 'I think it was quite personal. Alex was writing about someone that is very close to him who's gone through some of the problems that you have where the mind just begins to come apart a bit really. Boyle briefly touched on one of the stand out moments of the film, where Isla (Jodie Comer) aids one of the infected during child birth. It's a quietly devastating scene, a moment that momentarily suspends the terror and reminds us, almost unbearably, of what's been lost. Pic: Columbia
' That's the humanity right there, and she passes something on to her son, but she's also weirdly passing it on to Alfie who plays the part.
'She's sort of teaching him about an interior world and a humane world, a world of some compassion, and they find that in the midst of all this horror.'
One of the most striking evolutions in 28 Years Later isn't just on screen, but behind the camera, where Boyle reunites with longtime collaborator Cillian Murphy in a new capacity. One of the most striking evolutions in 28 Years Later isn't just on screen, but behind the camera, where Boyle reunites with longtime collaborator Cillian Murphy in a new capacity. Pic: Peter Mountain/Dna/20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock
Having first worked together when Murphy played the bewildered survivor Jim in 28 Days Later, their creative dynamic now enters a different phase, with Murphy stepping into a producer role.
Charting Murphy's transformation from emerging actor to a driving creative force, and exploring how their shared history shaped the tone, rhythm, and emotional core of the new film.
' He acts as a producer on the film, and that liberated us because we didn't have to make a direct and obvious connection with the first film,' Boyle continued. Having first worked together when Murphy played the bewildered survivor Jim in 28 Days Later, their creative dynamic now enters a different phase, with Murphy stepping into a producer role. Pic: Brian McEvoy Photography
'But it is there, you are moving on a journey towards him in the second film, which has been shot for release in January. He appears as a kind of figure at the end of that film, very wonderfully done by Nia DaCosta, the way she reintroduces him.
' And then the third film is meant to be his. So the films will then connect with the first film through Jim, his character. There's something very similar about him and something very different about him as well. So there's lots to look forward to in it.'