{"id":381139,"date":"2026-01-20T23:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T23:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/381139\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T23:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T23:02:08","slug":"nia-dacosta-on-ending-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/381139\/","title":{"rendered":"Nia DaCosta on Ending, Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t[This story contains spoilers for 28 Years Later<\/a>: The Bone Temple.]<\/p>\n

\n\tNia DaCosta<\/a> is well aware of the narrative that\u2019s forming around her back-to-back critical darlings of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple<\/a> and Hedda. But she can only laugh at the notion that the critical and commercial underperformance of 2023\u2019s The Marvels fueled her to silence any persisting naysayers. DaCosta has previously admitted that her threefold MCU sequel to Captain Marvel, WandaVision and Ms. Marvel evolved beyond what she originally pitched and filmed, so she readied herself for what was to come during the November 2023 release.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt does seem like I reacted very strongly to the response of The Marvels. But it was really interesting because I was prepared for what The Marvels would be in terms of its release. So I guess therapy has worked on me because I felt quite okay about it,\u201d DaCosta tells The Hollywood Reporter. \u201cObviously, you want your films to be received well. This is an audience-driven medium. So when 28 came around, I definitely was like, \u2018Oh, I want to show what I can do.\u2019 It was important that the movie be great and that I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDaCosta accomplished her very mission as The Bone Temple \u2014\u00a0the Alex Garland<\/a>-penned follow-up to his and director Danny Boyle<\/a>\u2019s 2025 franchise relaunch, 28 Years Later \u2014\u00a0is now her most well-received film among both critics and audiences. DaCosta\u2019s installment offers a number of major developments that Boyle\u2019s trilogy capper will resolve at some point in the near future. (Spoilers ahead \u2026)<\/p>\n

\n\tFor starters, Ralph Fiennes\u2019 Dr. Ian Kelson achieved a major breakthrough in terms of finding a cure for the Infected. His treatment of Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) with a morphine cocktail and anti-psychotic medication dampened the infected Alpha\u2019s aggression and psychosis, returning him to a more lucid, human-like state in which he can communicate and recall memories from his childhood. DaCosta hesitates to say that Dr. Kelson has definitively found a cure, but Samson is no longer the infected Alpha he was at the start of this trilogy.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was talking to Alex about it last night. I think I\u2019m good to say that [Samson is] not fully cured, and the level that he is healed is permanent,\u201d DaCosta shares. \u201cHe\u2019s not what he was [at the start of the movie], but is he one of us? I don\u2019t know. But he\u2019s not what he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film ends with a coda that reintroduces Cillian Murphy<\/a>\u2019s Jim, the star of Boyle and Garland\u2019s 2002 franchise launcher. He\u2019s still living at the same cottage in Cumbria that the audience last visited over two decades ago. The dynamic is noticeably different, though, as Naomie Harris\u2019 Selena and Megan Burns\u2019 Hannah are nowhere to be found. Instead, he\u2019s teaching his young daughter, Sam, about World War I and II when the now-former Jimmies, Spike (Alfie Williams) and Kelly (Erin Kellyman), near the property with Infected hot on their trail. Naturally, Jim and Sam decide to help, just as Selena had done for Jim all those years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSo where are Selena and Hannah? DaCosta can\u2019t say.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c[Jim] is definitely a father to a girl named Sam, and all those other questions will be answered in the next film,\u201d DaCosta says. \u201cI know things. I literally cornered Alex last night at the premiere. I was like, \u2018So what\u2019s going on?\u2019 But I\u2019m really excited about it. That\u2019s all I can say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, during a spoiler conversation with THR, DaCosta also discusses her showstopping Iron Maiden sequence, before revealing which recent collaborator she considered casting until she remembered they were already a part of the 28 franchise.<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple<\/a> came your way, you weren\u2019t too far removed from Candyman and The Marvels, both of which were sequels to other people\u2019s movies (as well as two TV series in the latter\u2019s case). Thus, I can\u2019t imagine you were itching to direct another sequel so soon after that. But was it one of those scenarios where you have to pursue an opportunity that involves Danny Boyle and Alex Garland?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was absolutely like that. But it\u2019s funny because Candyman and The Marvels were similar. I was like, \u201cI can\u2019t not do these movies if they come across my desk.\u201d So this just felt like the right thing to do given that it\u2019s a weird and different kind of franchise.<\/p>\n

\n\tHedda and now The Bone Temple are both critically acclaimed. Were you extra motivated coming out of your Marvels experience? Did you have a chip on your shoulder and use all of that bulletin board material as fuel?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt does seem like I reacted very strongly to the response of The Marvels. (Laughs.) But it was really interesting because I was prepared for what The Marvels would be in terms of its release. I had a really good team, and I was already off making Hedda. So I guess therapy has worked on me because I felt quite okay about it. Obviously, you want your films to be received well. This is an audience-driven medium. So when 28 came around, I definitely was like, \u201cOh, I want to show what I can do.\u201d I love playing in other people\u2019s worlds, and it was important that the movie be great and that I love it. That was the biggest thing for me.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m not sure if your deal was done yet, but did you and Imogen Poots talk about the 28 franchise during Hedda? Did she ask you to put in a good word for her 28 Weeks Later character?<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, I was in post on Hedda when 28 came around, but I\u2019m pretty sure her character is super dead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tReally!? You don\u2019t think her character is living in Paris with her brother?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI think Paris is nuked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t28 Years Later said that the virus was \u201cdriven back from continental Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I think the driving was atomic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s quite the euphemism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) Yeah. I actually was annoyed because I really wanted to work with Imogen again. I was like, \u201cOoh, Imogen would be \u2026 Oh no, she\u2019s already been taken by the franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJack O\u2019Connell, as Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, and Nia DaCosta on the set of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Sony<\/p>\n

\n\tThe introduction of the Jimmies in 28 Years Later was such a fascinating tonal swerve from the rest of the film. Were you able to see those specific dailies before you started filming?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I had access to the dailies for all of Danny\u2019s shoot. He was so generous and so open with me. I remember seeing slow-motion shots of [the Jimmies\u2019] backflips, and I was like, \u201cI don\u2019t even need to worry about what this means because I won\u2019t be doing any of this in my film.\u201d But it was cool \u2014\u00a0less as the person doing the sequel and more as a filmmaking nerd who grew up loving Danny\u2019s work \u2014\u00a0to see that scene in particular come together.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo you knew right away what to do with them and how you would deploy them?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I knew right away. When I read the script for the first time, I really was taken by the contrast between their crazy, erratic, violent, dark world and Kelson\u2019s bright, peaceful, hopeful world. That contrast really helped me figure out how to visually represent both.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou had Alex\u2019s two scripts and all of Danny\u2019s dailies, but you didn\u2019t get to watch the finished 28 Years Later before you started filming. In hindsight, are you glad it worked out this way?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m so glad. Part of the reason why I felt that I could step in and direct The Bone Temple was because they were so different. If they were really similar films, I would\u2019ve felt a bit like, \u201cLet\u2019s just make Danny do it. Why bring in another voice?\u201d But I felt a lot of freedom because they were different. So I don\u2019t think seeing the finished product first would\u2019ve changed anything that I did.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe thing with directing is that it\u2019s just so filtered through your own instincts, and to try to guess what Danny would\u2019ve done would\u2019ve been crazy for me. And I said that to him. I was like, \u201cBro, you have too many setups. I don\u2019t know how you get through a shoot day. I couldn\u2019t do that, and I don\u2019t want to do that. I want to watch it, but I don\u2019t want to try to copy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHis editing style also seems impossible to emulate.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019s a great editor. He\u2019s brilliant. Now that I know more about how his mind works, I can see why his movies are the way they are, and I can see why my movies are the way they are. It\u2019s because we\u2019re just different kinds of creatures.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRalph Fiennes\u2019 Dr. Kelson and Jack O\u2019Connell\u2019s Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal in Nia DaCosta\u2019s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Sony<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s a compelling juxtaposition happening with Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) and Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O\u2019Connell). Dr. Kelson hasn\u2019t given up on humanity and that includes the charitable treatment he gives the infected Alpha named Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). Meanwhile, Jimmy offers humanity a very different kind of charity in the form of ritualistic mutilation. Are they both trying to find meaning in this post-apocalyptic world in their unique ways?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I completely agree with that, and I really appreciate your wordsmithing there. There\u2019s a very charitable spirit in Kelson, and then there\u2019s the \u201ccharity\u201d with the Jimmies, which couldn\u2019t be further from charitable. That\u2019s what I love so much about the film. It\u2019s asking this question of all of us: How do we create meaning in a meaningless universe? How do we assign a sense of purpose in a world that\u2019s dead, chaotic, scary and terrifying? That\u2019s something we all think about because the world can be really terrifying and scary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYou have one person in Kelson who\u2019s a humanist. He\u2019s like, \u201cThere\u2019s no God, there\u2019s no devil, but there\u2019s hope because there\u2019s us. There\u2019s humanity.\u201d Then you have Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal who has to construct a dogma to get through it all, and his dogma happens to be sadistic and terrible. So The Bone Temple is definitely two characters who are on the same journey, but they\u2019re choosing very different ways of trying to find meaning.<\/p>\n

\n\tKelson is so charitable that he only jokes about charging Samson for his medical treatment. To him, as a former NHS (National Health Service) doctor, the idea of billing a patient in need is preposterous.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is crazy being here in London because you can go to the NHS and not have to worry about whether or not your job provides healthcare or not. There are things about it that can be improved, but the NHS is amazing. I know we\u2019ve been talking about this in the States for so long, and it\u2019s so weird to have to think, \u201cOh, I might lose my insurance because of X, Y, Z.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRalph Fiennes\u2019 Dr. Ian Kelson in Nia DaCosta\u2019s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSony Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tDr. Kelson is then forced to entertain Sir Jimmy\u2019s delusions that he has a father-son relationship with Satan. He puts on this dog-and-pony show so Jimmy can tighten his grip on his followers. When you first read this showstopping moment involving Iron Maiden\u2019s \u201cThe Number of the Beast,\u201d did you immediately know how you were going to proceed with it?<\/p>\n

\n\tI had no fucking idea at all. But with this being my fifth film, I\u2019ve gotten to the point now where I know my amazing team and I will figure it out. My production designers, Carson McColl and Gareth Pugh, come from live events, performance and fashion, so I knew they\u2019d be able to help me figure that out. My choreographer and movement director, Shelley Maxwell, was also amazing, as was special effects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Jimmies had to not only feel like they were meeting the devil, but as kids who were going to be hearing projected music for the first time, it also had to feel like their first punk concert. I wanted them to be moshing, basically. They had to have this ecstatic experience, and what can Kelson do as an individual to make them feel that way? So we just kept putting the pieces together, and then we eventually had enough to go, \u201cAh, this is it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf the watching of it was insane, the filming of it must have been \u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tInsane. (Laughs.) It was so insane and so crazy. We shot it in the middle of the night, and we were in the middle of nowhere in North Yorkshire. I\u2019m so glad the locals liked us because we were blasting Iron Maiden into a valley for hours, and Ralph Fiennes, this legendary British national treasure, was shirtless and screaming into the ether. It was amazing, and we never once got tired of it.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Bone Temple started screening before the tragic deaths of Rob and Michelle Reiner, so I have to imagine that Kelson\u2019s Spinal Tap reference has evolved into a more poignant moment in recent screenings.<\/p>\n

\n\tOh man. I feel like there\u2019s always a really warm chuckle when it comes up now. Everyone loves that line, and Rob Reiner gave all of us so much joy. Multiple generations can look at his films and feel comfort in them. So the fact that we can eulogize this man with joy because of the work he gave us is really special. It\u2019s just awful what happened to him and his wife and that they\u2019re not here anymore. But Rob Reiner\u2019s legacy is so full of love and light.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSamson (Chi Lewis-Parry) and Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) in Nia DaCosta\u2019s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSony Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tSamson returns to the Bone Temple after all the Jimmy-related bloodshed, and he seems to be recovered. He thanks Kelson before Kelson succumbs to the stab wound that Sir Jimmy inflicted. Is this lucid state only temporary based on the recent anti-psychotic meds he was given by Kelson? Or is it something more permanent?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is so interesting because there\u2019s going to be a third movie. (Laughs.) I was talking to Alex about it last night, and I don\u2019t want to say anything that might need to be retconned because I have strong opinions about how I approached it for this movie. But I think I\u2019m good to say that he\u2019s not fully cured, and the level that he is healed is permanent. He\u2019s not what he was [at the start of the movie], but is he one of us? I don\u2019t know. But he\u2019s not what he was.<\/p>\n

\n\tSomething in between.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah.<\/p>\n

\n\tSimilarly, when Jimmy says he can no longer hear the voice of Old Nick, is it more than just a byproduct of what Kelson drugged him with during the Iron Maiden performance?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThere could be any number of reasons why the voices aren\u2019t there anymore. But in that moment, he thinks he\u2019s been abandoned by his father. That\u2019s what he\u2019s speaking to. I see Sir Lord Jimmy as a Waluigi Joan of Arc. (Laughs.) He\u2019s hearing voices that are telling him to do things. But when you look back on Joan of Arc, does it matter if she really heard the voices? She did what she did, and people believed in it. So that\u2019s how I feel about that moment with Sir Lord Jimmy. Does it matter whether he really heard them or not? To him, they\u2019re real enough that the moment is terrifying and lonely.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom Jimmy to Jim, the epilogue brings back Cillian Murphy at long lost. How did this go down?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOh man, it was great. I remember my jaw dropping so many times while reading the script and flipping through each page. And then getting to the end and seeing Jim\u2019s name, it was really powerful. 28 Days Later<\/a> is so important to me, and it is so important if you\u2019re a horror fan and a zombie film fan. It\u2019s also the movie where a lot of us discovered Cillian Murphy. So to have my latest film end with him is amazing. He had also just won an Oscar for Oppenheimer, so I was just like, \u201cWhat is my life? Ralph Fiennes, Jack O\u2019Connell and Cillian Murphy?\u201d It\u2019s pretty epic and special.<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, considering he just played Oppenheimer, I love that he\u2019s teaching World War II history to his daughter, Sam. Jim then says something along the lines of how fascism, nationalism and populism never returned again. He really sounds like someone whose world ended in 2002, doesn\u2019t he?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, it\u2019s crazy how he\u2019s speaking like someone who has no idea what we know now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s hard not to envy the history he\u2019s teaching.<\/p>\n

\n\tI know. I\u2019m like, \u201cCan I go there?\u201d (Laughs.) This is so silly to say because I made this movie, but in my headcanon, [28 Days Later] actually happened pre-9\/11. The rage virus technically started in the summer of 2002; that\u2019s when everything went to shit. But pre-9\/11 makes slightly more sense just because the world was so different after that. Again, that\u2019s me making fan fiction, which is weird to say as someone who just made this [sequel to 28 Days Later]. [Writer\u2019s Note: The filming of 28 Days Later overlapped with 9\/11, and Boyle has stated several times over the years that they wouldn\u2019t have been able to capture the opening\u2019s empty London streets post-9\/11. That stretch of the shoot was accomplished over four days in July 2001.]<\/p>\n

\n\tAs mentioned, Jim appears to be a single father at the same Cumbria cottage we saw at the end of 28 Days Later. Does this arrangement spell doom for Naomie Harris\u2019 Selena and Megan Burns\u2019 Hannah?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHe is definitely a father to a girl named Sam, and all those other questions will be answered in the next film.<\/p>\n

\n\tUpon noticing that the Infected are in pursuit of two strangers we know to be Spike and Kelly, I love how Jim doesn\u2019t question the idea of helping them. He hasn\u2019t forgotten that the only reason he\u2019s still alive is because two strangers saved his life twice. Do you actually know the particulars of what comes next?<\/p>\n

\n\tI know things. I literally cornered Alex last night at the premiere. I was like, \u201cSo what\u2019s going on? But I\u2019m really excited about it. That\u2019s all I can say.<\/p>\n

\n\tIs the scene you filmed fairly close to the scene you first read?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt got shorter. We cut some of the history lesson. I love the scene because I love that Alex chose to reintroduce Cillian\u2019s character as a dad teaching his daughter about history. And he\u2019s giving her tea and toast, as opposed to him machine-gunning down zombies. I thought, \u201cOh, this is what this franchise is doing. Let me honor that.\u201d That\u2019s why I basically shot it like a drama. So, yeah, the scene is more or less the same from the script.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhere did it fall on the schedule?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was right in the middle. We did all of the Bone Temple stuff first, and then we ended with all of the stuff with Cathy\u2019s family and the Jimmies: the barn, the house, the lunch.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid Danny show up given how special it was to recreate the 28 Days set with Cillian?<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, he\u2019s seen enough of that guy. (Laughs.)<\/p>\n

\n\tSam Raimi has Bruce Campbell; you have Tessa Thompson. Did you ever ponder the possibility of inserting her into the background or anything like that?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) No, I only ever call on Tessa when I know it\u2019s going to be worth her time. It really has to be something that she can sink her teeth into. I did have her come play Valkyrie for one day on The Marvels, so stuff like that is really fun when it happens. But the next thing we do together will be another lead performance for her.<\/p>\n

\n\tDecades from now, when you look back on your Bone Temple experience, what day will you likely recall first?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOoh, that\u2019s a great question, and no one has ever asked me that about anything. It would probably be the last day of the shoot. We more or less had the whole cast there because we had all the Jimmies. We didn\u2019t have Ralph and Chi, but Chi was there that day in the morning. It was just such an electric scene because it was raining at night, and we had to collapse the fucking barn, which was dangerous. But it was the best of every department, and the actors were so great. Then it ended, and we were all just so in love with each other after a really hard day. We were just like, \u201cWow, we had such fun, and we did such a great job.\u201d The last day on set is always so wonderful because you get to run around and acknowledge everyone before you go. I gave everyone champagne, or non-alcoholic cider, and a little thank-you note.<\/p>\n

\n\t***
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