UNITED KINGDOM: Rage returns to the streets of London in the horror film, "28 Weeks Later"

It is the year 2003 and the United Kingdom is a wasteland, destroyed by an outbreak of the deadly virus. Twenty eight weeks later, the U.S. Army in control and has established a quarantine area called District 1 in London Isle of Dogs. Reconstruction of mainland Britain begins, and the first group of retuning refuges begins. Four years after the international success of "28 Days Later," director/producer/writing team of Danny Bole and Alex Galand felt that the time was right to make a sequel. Taking on the roles of executive producers, Boyles and Galand bring in a new creative team to move the story forwards of Spanish director, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, best known for his 2001 debut film 'Intacto' and screen writer Rowan Joffe. The film picks the story 15 weeks into the outbreak of the original 'Rage' virus as a small group of survivors hide out in a remote country home. It is not long before the survivors are discovered by carriers of the virus and all hell breaks loose. As virus is passed from one survivor to the next, it soon becomes every man, woman and child for themselves. "The pace of the movie is so fast and so intense because this is a war between nature in a way, but the disturbing nature which is an infection and human people, so in that sense, it think it was very important that the rhythm of the movie especially when the outbreak comes again, there is no stop, it is like an intense journey." The film that includes cast members Robert Carlyle of 'Trainspotting', 'The Full Monty', 'The Beach' and 'Eragon', Rose Byrne of 'Sunshine', Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau and Catherine McCormack, is set predominately in London's Canary Wharf business district. Carliyle plays Don, one of the few people to have survived the initial virus outbreak. Don works as a maintenance manager at the new District 1 quarantine centre. Carlyle, a fan of the original, had his reservations about a sequel. "I was a bit, you know, reluctant at first, because you think, "sequelitis', I am not sure this is going to work," he told Reuters in London. "But there is something about it, which seems like it has more reality, even than the first one. If you accept that the premise has been set by 28 Days, and you suspend your disbelief, then I think that this is the natural progression to that. I think the reality of Don with his wife and his children, I think that gives it some kind of heart, and that is what spoke to me." With outbreaks of bird flu, BSE 'mad cows disease', Ebola and SARS all in recent years, the idea of an infectious virus wiping out an entire city or country is no longer confined to the realm of science fiction. It was in taking the idea of a possible viral epidemic and blowing it out of proportion that has seen the cult-like success of the first film. Better known for his television appearance as Michael in the hit American TV series 'Lost', Harold Perrineau plays US Army chopper pilot Flynn in "28 Weeks Later." Perrineau explains why he thinks the horror genre is so universally popular. "I don't know what it is, people like to be scared, they like to be pushed to be sort of pushed to the edge of their emotions, and horror films do it, especially ones like this one because it is so plausible, an infection that goes wild, it is really plausible." So what do you do if you ever find yourself cornered by a bunch of Rage infected zombies? Robert Carlyle offers this stark advice. "I would say don't engage in any conversation whatsoever, there is no time for that, really. These people are just socially inept. You have got to run! You have got to run very quick! That is the main difference, the infected in '28 Days'... movies, is that they are quick, these ones. So don't talk, run fast!" Made on a shoestring budget, "28 Days Later" took about 82.7 million U.S. dollars worldwide when it was released in 2003. The success of the first film meant that a sequel was inevitable. Robert Carlisle leaves the door open to the possibility of more to come from the franchise. "I think with '28 Weeks', if you think that the virus is Rage, there is a lot of rage in the world at the moment, a lot. And perhaps this is the illogical conclusion. Maybe we all kill each other, till there is nobody left. Is that what is going to happen, twenty eight years later? We will see." '28 Weeks Later' opens in nationwide in UK screens on May 11.

ITN Source | May 9, 2007

Tags:. .infected. .bunch. .suspend. .disturbing. .nationwide