DIRECTOR Danny Boyle was in London last night for the global premiere of his long-awaited zombie sequel 28 Years Later.
Manchester-born Boyle, whose parents hailed from Co. Galway, was in the capital to walk the red carpet in Leicester Square with some of the stars of the film, including Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
After a gap of more than 23 years, Boyle returned to direct the sequel to his 2002 hit 28 Days Later, which starred Cillian Murphy and was written by Alex Garland.
Alfie Williams, Jodie Comer, Danny Boyle and Aaron Taylor-Johnson attend the 28 Years Later world premiere at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square last nightGarland also returned to write the sequel, and Murphy, whose character Jim’s future was unclear at the end of the first film, came back on board as executive producer, although he does not appear in this film.
But this is only the first instalment of a planned 28 Years Later trilogy.
It boasts a stellar cast, which also includes Jack O’Connell and Alfie Williams, and Boyle was only too happy to share it with the viewing public for the first time in London last night.
“We’ve persuaded the Americans to spend a ton of money on a movie that is entirely British,” Boyle said ahead of a preview screening of the show, which opens in cinemas today.
“It’s entirely set in Britain,” he explained, “all over the place, it was meant to be just in Northumbria but some of you will recognise different bits of it in different places.”
He added: “It’s brilliant to bring it here and open it in London.
“And like we are all crippled with anxiety about how it is going to do because we want to make a third film, it’s meant to be part of a trilogy, but to do that it has to perform well and everything and things like that,' he admitted.
“But not withstanding any of that it’s an absolute blast to be here premiering the film and not in New York and not in LA.
“So yeah it’s very special for us.”
Boyle went on to share an insight from his experience with the first film of the franchise.
“When we launched the first film 23 years ago they said whatever you do don’t call it 28 days later,” he said.
“They said, there is a Sandra Bullock movie out at the moment called 28 Days, and it is a romantic comedy, and if people book and turn up and see this they will be deeply disturbed.
“And we said ‘good’. And I hope you agree when you see this one as well.”
