28 Weeks Later Exclusive Halloween Set Visit

Early in October, I got a once-in-a-lifetime call to ask if I would be interested in flying to London to visit the set of 28 Weeks Later, and then follow that up with a trip south to Morocco in order to spend a few days lurking around The Hills Have Eyes 2 production. How could I be so lucky? It appears that my activity as a reporter, critic, and editorial consultant had something to do with it, but I think our Editor in Chief grew tired of me crashing his MSN Messenger and got the bright idea of sending me to Africa, where wireless Internet is a little harder to come by. The other aspect of the invite is that studios like Fox Atomic recognize that our outspoken readers dig getting scoops on anticipated upcoming horror films like the two we dove into, and while I can’t spill my guts just yet on everything, we figured we’d let a few cats out of the bag as a special treat in honor of this great day—Halloween, or as they call it in Canada, Halloween. ( I know I am a friggin comedian ). I should probably also warn you this set report does contain some limited spoilers, but no plot spoilers or anything serious. Just some good old information to get you warmed up and excited for this flick!

In London, we entered 3 Mills Studios and were greeted by the 28 Weeks Later publicist, Sarah Clark, who would act as our guide for the next two days. Behind her were the cast and crew trailers, lined up aside a double-decker bus that acted as the cafeteria during breaks. A few kids were kicking a soccer ball around, and at least one appeared to be bleeding badly from his face. Closer inspection revealed a tight makeup job, as this kid was clearly infected. Out of the cafeteria bus came a few more torn-up looking infecteds, even if some of the girls were pretty hot-looking maniacs.

28 Weeks Later is the follow-up to Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, considered to be (by many) the reason behind the rebirth of the “zombie” film, even though Boyle’s creatures aren’t exactly zombies. The story revolves around Robert Carlyle's character, Don, and takes us through to 28 weeks after the virus first emerged, when the United States Army is assisting in the reoccupation of a clean zone somewhere within London’s city limits. They’re allowing citizens to return to “District One,” but only under the highest security possible.

Things start off smoothly, until one day, the virus finds its way into the clean zone when a carrier of the virus somehow passes through security. Just how does the virus make it through undetected? Let the debate begin...but this news that the outbreak will be in the film is exciting since the actual infection epidemic was only alluded to in 28 Days Later by character accounts and the tell-tale signs of turmoil within the abandoned city that were the result of the exodus. 28 Weeks promises to have many extremely graphic scenes, and a ton of infecteds, including one amazing sequence where a helicopter, blades and all, takes out a large crowd of aggressive infecteds…looking horrorific based on the clips I saw.

Another thing we didn’t witness in 28 Days was the military’s response to the epidemic, which is a notable addition to Weeks. Why is it such an interesting plot point you ask? Because instead of choosing the French, German, Russian, or British Army to go in on the mission to reoccupy the fallen city, there was a decision made to use the American Armed Forces. Could there be some parallel being drawn between the US policy in Iraq and the US occupying force in “District One?” It appears so, but sources say that on the record this relationship is nothing blatantly spelled out. And thank the writers for that, because there’s nothing worse than a preachy horror film.

Maybe all this just happens to be a coincidence, like how Romero’s early Living Dead films reflect racism, consumerism, and a whole boat-load of isms when you read between the frames…or, maybe as the release of the film draws closer we’ll begin hearing controversy over how Spanish Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo depicts the competence and foresight of US leadership during times of international crisis...

Our first interview on the set of 28 Weeks Later was with a fully fleshed-out infected stuntman/actor Paul Kasey, who was actually the creature movement coach as well. How’s that for a great gig, showing other people how to move and act like a rotting rage infected maniac. After a tour of the sets and interviews with producers Allon Reich, Andrew Macdonald, and Enrique Lopez Lavigne, we took a break at the studio café—where David Cronenberg happened to stroll in right behind us. We spent the rest of the day observing the shooting of the suspenseful opening sequence to 28 Weeks, where the heart-pounding pace of the film, and the level of splatter, is clearly rooted.

“Neil Marshall (writer/director of The Descent) joins me for a night out in London”>

Returning to the set the next day, we made our rounds again with interviews and spent a good amount of time with makeup artist Cliff Wallace (of Hellraiser fame). After speaking for a bit, we had a quick lottery and one of us journalists were made up as an infected. The lucky guy even filmed a scene that might end up in the final cut, but if not, the video I got of him running around outside our hotel putting his movement coach Paul Kasey’s advice to good use, and shocking the unexpecting passerbys was priceless. And to set the record straight, two weeks have passed and my jealousy and bitterness that I didn't win that drawing has slightly subsided.

Wrapping up our visit with interviewing costume designer Jane Petrie, production designer Mark Tildesley, and stunt coordinator Justin Pearson, we were awarded parting gifts; including an original poster of the “Government Notice” of viral contamination that appeared in 28 Days Later…which we will be giving away in an upcoming exclusive contest.

“The actual government warning posters hanging around the city in 28 Days Later.”

And though this thrill-filled trip couldn’t possibly be done justice in one meager overview, we’ve got a lot of great interviews and more to come. This is just a quick taste of what is to come to celebrate halloween. We are going to overwhelm your senses with some bad ass set reports and interviews, coming very soon! Oh yeah, and don’t forget to check out www.FoxAtomic.com 's Carnival of Lost Souls on this Hallow’s Eve to get further scoops and details on both films…and stay tuned to our site for the latest on 28 Weeks Later, The Hills Have Eyes II, and all things horror as we continue, dedicated in our mission, to make your nightmares a reality. We will be running a slew of exclusives over the coming weeks as well as interviews, photos and lots of other spiff-tastic goodness.