Audience interest didn’t match up to the critical appraisal of the film
(Image: GETTY)
The director of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple has spoken out about her frustration that the franchise movie hugely underperformed at the box office.
Nia DaCosta, who was at the helm of the fourth instalment of the film series earlier this year, expressed her disappointment that audience interest didn’t match the film’s critical appraisal. The movie stars Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams and a cameo from Cillian Murphy, who reprised his role in a series which shot him to stardom.
Speaking to Empire, Nia DaCosta, 36, said, “It’s so funny, because literally every barometer we use in this industry to determine whether or not a movie is good, and people like it and want to see it, was through the roof, and yet our box office wasn’t there.
“I made a great film, and I’m really proud of it, and people liked it. My friend said to me years ago, ‘Nia, your career is for you to enjoy,’ and I really have been trying to put that into practice and take that to heart over the course of the past few years,” she continued.
The film was released just 28 weeks after Danny Boyle’s long-awaited sequel, 28 Years Later, and Nia thinks the marketing stunt might have been a misjudgment as it confused audiences.
“I think maybe too soon, because people were like, ‘Oh yeah, I saw that last summer!’ I’m like, ‘No, no, so there’s a sequel!’ But yes, it was very clever,” she explained.
On the subject of her career, Nia said it was “for us to enjoy,” before adding, “Obviously, they’re stressful and hard, and anything that involves an audience is really bruising. You have to court and interact with people’s opinions of you and your work. And it’s usually not you – it’s an avatar of you created by a bunch of impressions.
“I’ve been working through that, and so when this came out, and it didn’t do as well in terms of the money it made, I was disappointed. But I was also like, ‘I’m so happy that when people find the film, they’re going to enjoy the film.’ I wish it made more money, but I’m really proud of it.”
Nia got the chance to direct Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy in the latest film of the franchise, as he returned to the movie series that helped catapult him to a household name more than twenty years ago. Talking last summer, she said: “As a fan of the first [movie], I was completely gagged – and gooped, as they say – to be the one directing his return.
“In the script, he’s making tea and toast for his daughter and teaching her about history. And he’s in that house he was in from the very first movie. And I was like, this cannot be some big hero returns, pew-pew-pew craziness. It has to feel grounded and human.”
Murphy first broke onto the international scene in the post-apocalyptic horror 28 Days Later (2002), playing Jim, a bicycle courier who wakes from a coma to find a deserted, virus-ravaged Britain. Now, more than two decades later, he returned to the franchise in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple bringing Jim back into the story and reconnecting the new chapter directly to where it all began.
Cork man through and through, Cillian Murphy was born and raised in the Douglas area of Cork, where he spent his early years far from the Hollywood glare he’d later become used to.
Before becoming one of the most recognisable actors on the planet, Murphy was more into music than movies, playing in a rock band called The Sons of Mr Greengenes in his teens. He later studied law at University College Cork, but quickly realised he preferred the soundstage to lecture halls.
From Cork stages and small Indie roles to leading major films, his journey has been a steady climb rather than an overnight leap. Despite global fame and award-winning performances, he’s still often spoken about as having that quiet, grounded Cork edge – the kind you don’t really lose, no matter where life takes you.