Before 28 Days Later became the haunting, emotional, and feverishly intense and wild film that we got, it was something else entirely, something much different. According to screenwriter Alex Garland, that original idea probably would’ve tanked the franchise.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Garland opened up about a very early concept for the long-awaited third film in the rage-virus saga. Let’s just say, if things had gone that route, we wouldn’t be talking about 28 Years Later like we are right now.
“I had a version of this story that was basically a big, dumb action movie,” Garland admitted. The story would’ve followed a group of Chinese Special Forces soldiers who break quarantine and sneak into the U.K. to find the lab where the virus started hoping to find a cure. But when they arrive, another group is already there… trying to weaponize it.
“It was completely and utterly f***ing generic,” Garland said. “Shootouts and mass attacks and big, action-adventure-style set pieces.” Oh, and it would’ve been entirely in Mandarin with English subtitles.
Danny Boyle, his longtime creative partner, didn’t exactly embrace the idea. “He just laughed,” Garland recalled, adding that they both eventually tried to rework it, but “finally, we both gave up on it.”
Still, the process wasn’t a total loss. Garland said: “Writing something so generic was the freeing element to all of our problems. It gave us permission to have a totally blank slate.”
That “blank slate” gave way to the film we eventually got, which is a movie that builds on the legacy of the original without trying to imitate it. It centers on a father and son (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Alfie Williams) who leave their isolated island and reenter a U.K. that has mutated with the virus—both biologically and psychologically. The infected have evolved.
The recation has been divisive, but I loved it! I liked the big swings that it took and enjoyed what it ultimtely delivered. It also got me super excited about The Bone Temple.
It’s kind of a small miracle we got this version instead of the Mandarin-language military shoot-‘em-up. Sure, Garland’s scrapped idea could’ve made for something interesting, but it’s clear the soul of the 28 Days universe lies in something more grounded, personal, disturbing, and bonkers. It’s certinaly not a generic film!
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