Filmmaker Danny Boyle Experienced A ‘Nightmare’ While Filming Naked Zombies For 28 Days Later

Danny Boyle has acknowledged that filming naked zombies for his next horror picture 28 Years Later was a “nightmare.”

Danny has revealed that they had to take extra care not to have “naked” actors on the set because they had strict rules in place to protect the film’s child star Alfie Williams. The filmmaker has returned to the director’s chair to helm the new horror, which was written by Alex Garland, 23 years after the pair’s first film, 28 Days Later, hit theaters.

“You’d have some clothes if you’re recently infected [with the zombie virus], but if you’ve been infected for a long time, the clothes would just disintegrate with the way that you behave,” Danny told PEOPLE.

“It was a nightmare to learn about the rules governing nudity on set when a child is present.”

“Interestingly, because there was a 12-year-old boy on set, you’re not allowed for anybody to be naked, not really naked, so they look naked, but it’s all prosthetics,” Danny said as he described the workaround they devised.

“Oh my God,” the person said, “so we had to make everyone have prosthetic genitals.”

Danny stated that he was excited to push the envelope with the film’s gore and nudity, and he is happy that the studio executives agreed with his ideas.

“I think one of the great things about horror is that you’re expected to maximize the impact of your story,” he told Variety. Whether it’s a romance, a drama, or something else entirely, everyone wants to accomplish it.

However, horror is unavoidably going to be violent, at least in part. What we cherished was juxtaposing it with a sense of innocence symbolized by the diverse youngsters there, as well as the natural beauty and landscape.

If you make the most of those two forces, your story will travel as far as it can. That was our guiding idea, and the studio naturally supported it.

This month sees the release of 28 Years Later, and the fourth installment in the series, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which was produced by Danny and directed by Nia DaCosta, has already been filmed in advance of its January 2026 release date.

However, if the finished film is approved, the Trainspotting director aspires to return to the helm.

The series was developed by Alex Garland, who wrote the screenplays for every movie except the second installment, 28 Weeks Later. It began with Jim, played by Cillian Murphy, waking from a coma to learn that Britain has been hit by a horrible pandemic called the Rage Virus, which turns its victims into homicidal zombies.

Although Alex Garland has disclosed that there is still no script for the upcoming month, Cillian appears briefly in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and is expected to play a larger part in the untitled sequel.