There’s been only one topic of conversation for zombie fans over the past couple of days: is Oscar winner Cillian Murphy playing a zombie in 28 Years Later? It makes sense, right? It’s been a long time since 28 Days Later in 2004 but when we last saw his character, Jim, he was still in zombie-infested Britain. And that zombie in the trailer looks a lot like him. Poor Jim has been infected, right? Right…?
Well, actually, maybe not. The Guardian has done some digging and turns out the zombie everyone’s pointing at is a different actor altogether. The newspaper names him as Angus Neill, an art dealer and model who director Danny Boyle personally picked to play “Emaciated Zombie.” Neill was on hand to discuss his role with the paper and said, “Danny told me he’d always had me in mind for the role. So we met up, hit it off, and I agreed to take part. On set he has an extraordinary ability to hypnotize you, and working with him on the film was a very, very intense experience.”
Neill is signed to Ugly, an agency which specializes in finding unique people for character parts, and the Ugly Instagram indicates he also had a role in a Katie Gregson-MacLeod music video last year. 28 Years Later will hopefully be a big boost for his career—he’ll be acting alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes in what’s set to be one of the most talked-about movies of 2025.
So, definitely no Cillian Murphy in this film, then? Well, don’t be too sure about that. In 2023, Murphy told Collider that he would “love” to do 28 Years Later if the opportunity arose, and there’s some intriguing photos flying around that indicate yes, he’s in it, his appearance is just being kept quiet. The Whitehaven News, based in Cumbria, England, snapped some photographs of Murphy filming in a field back in September and, according to them, the project he was filming for was 28 Years Later. Will he have a brief cameo or a substantial role? We don’t know, but rest assured: Jim is probably not a zombie.
Published: Dec 11, 2024 04:47 pm