How ’28 Years Later’ Director Danny Boyle Took a Risk with Sequel’s New Sound [Interview]

Among the many elements that cemented director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland‘s 28 Days Later as a contemporary horror classic was John Murphy‘s unforgettable score, especially standout track “In The House – In A Heartbeat.”

For its sequel, new trilogy-starter 28 Years Later, Danny Boyle wanted to shift gears and give the film its own identity. That meant taking the unexpected route in nearly every way, from storytelling to technique to even the film’s sound. 

It’s been nearly three decades since the rage virus first escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and the passage of time has drastically altered life within the quarantine zone.

Boyle tells Bloody Disgusting why he went in a completely new direction for 28 Years Later. “We tried to create a different landscape, really, because I think the idea of the film was that we were doing, although it would have a debt to the first film, obviously. As much as possible, it would be an original film.”

Boyle continues, “We used a different sound team, [led by sound designer] Johnny Byrne, who had worked on The Zone of Interest. His sound team approached it wonderfully. They build very incrementally, very unusual, the way they work, they build very incrementally, and they visit all the locations, they record all sorts of sounds and stuff like that.”

Byrne’s sound design matches the intensity of the infected, delivering an assault on the senses that often leaves you on edge. It wasn’t just the sound design that Boyle wanted to feel fresh, but the score for 28 Years Later as well.

“The second ingredient was to use Young Fathers, who are a group from Edinburgh in Scotland, a bunch of incredible musicians who’d never done a movie before,” Boyle explains. “Huge risk. We could have turned to John Murphy, who’d done such a wonderful job on the first movie. But again, we wanted the landscape to feel different, to feel fresh and different. It’s a big risk, especially for the financiers who were going, ‘Oh, just double down on what you did before. That was great. We could just…’

“Our instinct was always to try and go to new places if we could.”

“We had a new cast. We have Cillian [Murphy]’s involvement, but not as an actor yet. But he will be turning up and worth waiting for,” Boyle also teases during our conversation.

28 Years Later is rated “R” for “Strong bloody violence, grisly images, graphic nudity, language and brief sexuality.” The film brings the rage virus back to theaters June 20.

Director Danny Boyle on the set of Columbia Pictures’ 28 YEARS LATER. Photo by Miya Mizuno.

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