Jodie Comer on 28 Years Later: “It Was So Instinctive, So Alive”

Interview by Edith Bowman for Be In The Scene

There’s a moment in 28 Years Later when the world feels like it’s breathing again. The landscapes of Northumberland, the eerie calm of Holy Island, and the fragile heartbeat of survival all pulse through Jodie Comer’s performance. Sitting down with Be In The Scene’s Edith Bowman, Jodie reflected on the intensity, creativity, and surprising tenderness of Danny Boyle’s long-awaited return to the 28 Days Later universe.

“It really did feel special,” Jodie began. “Even in prep, there was something about it. The way the camera team were working, the way Danny was leading the set, and the way Anthony Dod Mantle was shooting, it was so innovative, instinctive, playful. I had no idea what it was going to look like. When I finally saw the film, I was experiencing it almost for the first time.”

Boyle’s set, she explained, was alive with experimentation. “It was so dynamic. I was blown away by it. What Danny and Alex [Garland] have created, how beautifully every part has come together, it’s brilliant. I’m just glad to be a part of it in some way.”

Building the heart of the film

Jodie’s character, Isla, is the film’s emotional anchor: a mother navigating a desolate world alongside her son, played by newcomer Alfie. Their relationship carries both tenderness and quiet tragedy. “Those moments with Alfie are really special,” Edith said during their conversation. “That journey you both go on, it’s extraordinary.”

She smiled at the memory. “Danny scheduled two weeks of rehearsals before filming. We were in this school hall in Newcastle, just a table in the middle, pictures on the wall, props everywhere. He even had the bed from the bedroom scene in there. We spent the first week talking through the script with Alex, asking questions, and then we got on our feet, getting tactile, finding those dynamics.”

Normally a child would look to their mum for guidance. He was having to provide that for me

Jodie Comer

The mother-son relationship, she said, required a reversal of roles. “It’s very different to my own, and very different to his. Alfie’s character had to lead a lot of the time, where normally a child would look to their mum for guidance. He was having to provide that for me. That was something we had to really explore.”

Her admiration for her young co-star is genuine. “He’s amazing. From the moment I met him, he was so confident. He had such clear instincts, wasn’t shy to share his opinions. I found it inspiring, I thought, I wish I was more like this in my day-to-day life.”

Sacred ground

The shoot itself was as demanding as it was extraordinary. Boyle and Mantle pushed the production into rugged, often inaccessible landscapes across Northumberland, Scotland and North Yorkshire.

“The whole experience was so sensory,” Jodie recalled. “We shot on Holy Island, on land you’d never normally be allowed to go on. Isla spends so much of the film trapped in her own world, so when she’s finally out there, it’s like she’s soaking everything in. At one point, we were in a forest and the moss was like a bouncy castle, it was that thick and alive.”

Then came the night shoots at what the crew dubbed The Bone Temple. “It was in North Yorkshire, by a river, under a full moon,” she said. “Ra Kehlson [the production designer] had made these wind-chimes out of bones, so there was this strange music drifting through the air. It was haunting and beautiful.”

It was there she shared scenes with Rafe Fiennes, whose quiet gravity left a deep impression. “He has this calm, grounded energy. When I watched the film back, I realised he’s doing the same for the audience as he does for the characters, you feel held by him, you seek him out.”

And through it all, she credits Danny Boyle’s sensitivity and openness. “He’s incredibly nurturing. You always felt safe to explore, to fail, to find something new.”

Be In The Scene

Before the interview ended, Edith asked Jodie a signature Be In The Scene question: If you could be in the scene of any film or TV show, where would you put yourself?

She grinned. “This has come up a bit today, but I want to sit on the sofa in The Royle Family. Just one night. I’d love to experience that once, just be a fly on the wall, sit with baby David and a cup of tea.”

A world reborn

As 28 Years Later storms cinemas, Jodie’s humility and wonder are unmistakable. She doesn’t speak about herself as the star of the film, but as one part of something larger, an experiment in mood, place and human instinct.

“It’s so good,” she said simply. “Not just me, but the whole thing. What Danny and Alex have built, it’s brilliant. I’m just glad to have been a part of it.”