“I love that we’re popping your cherry,” laughs Jodie Comer, as I take my seat opposite her at a press junket for the hotly anticipated 28 Years Later, the second sequel to director Danny Boyle’s genre-defining masterpiece 28 Days Later. I’ve unwisely confessed that this is my first ‘IRL’ junket, and Jodie, despite being in the middle of a hectic press day, is doing a magnificent job of putting me at ease.
Styled by Danielle Goldberg, Jodie is wearing a pre-fall 2025 Gucci jumpsuit and looks a million miles away from Isla, her frayed, emotionally-disturbed character in 28 Years Later. The film is set in 2030, 28 years after a virus was accidentally unleashed in the UK, infecting the population with uncontrollable, murderous rage. We first meet Isla, Jodie’s character, on Lindisfarne, a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, where she lives with her husband, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and son, Spike (Alfie Williams), as part of a tight-knit community of survivors.
Throughout the film, Jodie looks “sweaty and rough,” as described by the film’s makeup supervisor, Flora Moody, who, for what it’s worth, adds, “It’s very hard making Jodie look rough!” Isla has a mysterious illness, one that causes immense headaches, confusion, and paranoia. There are no doctors on the island, so Isla’s symptoms remain untreated – a source of anguish for her family, especially son Spike, who goes to extreme measures to seek medical care for his mother.
“We were able to sit with Alex Garland and Danny Boyd (the respective screenwriter and director of 28 Years Later) and go through the script and create our own little histories of what the relationship to the island was, when Spike came along, and then get up on our feet,” Jodie tells me, reflecting on the charged family dynamic she created with Aaron and Alfie. “Danny had all the props from the house, he had a bed in the rehearsal room, and then we could block scenes out and get in the bed, get under the cover and play around and be silly.”
28 Years Later is actor Alfie Williams’ big-screen debut, a colossal achievement for the 14-year-old from Gateshead. “I think we both felt protective of Alfie, especially Aaron,” Jodie tells me. “Aaron had a lot of stunt rehearsals and stuff (with Alfie), so they spent even more time together. It was just important for him to feel comfortable.
“From the moment I met Alfie, he seemed to have such an instinct, a confidence and a fearlessness, actually, which I was like, ‘Wow’, I’m inspired by that. I want to harness some of that for me.”
Sony Pictures
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