Allon Reich Interview, Producer of 28 Weeks Later

We had a chance to talk to Allon Reich the producer of 28 weeks later in London on the set. He spillls the beans on 28 weeks later, as well as a potential 28 Months Later! Allon has been production partner to Andrew Macdonald at DNA since November 2002. DNA Films is a joint venture with Fox Searchlight, the specialist distributor of Twentieth Century Fox. The company finances and produces British films and provides access to an international distribution network. Recent projects include The History Boys, The Last King of Scotland, Notes on a Scandal and the forthcoming 28 Weeks Later, sequel to 28 Days Later.

Previously, Allon was at Miramax, where he had been the Head of Film UK. At Miramax, Reich executive producedShekhar Kapur’s "Four Feathers”, Damien O’Donnells’ "Heartlands” & Stephen Frears’ "Dirty Pretty Things”. Previously, Reich worked for 8 years in both development and production at Film Four.There he worked on many productions including ”Four Weddings and a Funeral”, "Shallow Grave”, "The Madness of King George”, "Brassed Off” and "Trainspotting”. Here is what he had to tell us:

MoviesOnline: When did you decide you wanted to do a sequel to 28 Days Later?

A. After the first film did so well, we started thinking "wow, maybe there’s an appetite for this sort of thing”, and the first step was to see about getting Danny and Alex Garland involved for more, though not as writer and director. Once they agreed to help produce, it was then a matter of finding the director and the story, but we really wanted to make sure we had the story before we found the filmmaker. We were very clear that we wanted it to be a stand-alone movie. If the "franchise”, which still at the moment is only one movie (laughs) were to have any value, we’d have to make sure the story had enough value to attract a good filmmaker.

MoviesOnline: How did the concept behind the story of 28 Weeks Later evolve?

A. The first idea was 29 Days Later, which would have taken place right as Cillian Murphy’s character was leaving London. I think at one point it involved U.S. Marines arriving to get a hold of the virus as a kind of weapon. In that one we had a great scene at Buckingham Palace with The Queen, with her legs being dragged away from off screen and guards running all around acting crazed. But that just didn’t seem right, so we moved on.

So then we tried the idea for 28 Weeks Later, which sees London having been quarantined for six months and you’re coming in as the quarantine is being lifted and you’re coming in with someone or something that will bring it into a new country. SO we like that idea and started to run with it a bit.

Of course one of the key things in that idea was that we had to reintroduce the virus in a different way. With Alien and Aliens, which we’re sort of like in a "we’re not worthy” sort of way, you can’t have the alien be a surprise in the second film. So the infected can’t be a surprise for the same reasons and we were looking at how we were going to make that all work.

MoviesOnline: When was it decided to bring Juan Carlos aboard to direct?

A. So we got the story, we got a writer, we got a script that we were pleased with, then it was just a matter of trying to find a filmmaker. Danny Boyle was the first to bring us Intacto, with a recommendation to consider its director for 28 Weeks, so we said "let’s try this”. So we went to Madrid to discuss the screenplay with Juan Carlos and after some discussion they were certainly key to try it out, so we just got it together and got it working.

MoviesOnline: Was Juan Carlos excited about the opportunity?

I would say his first reaction would be "why would I want to do a sequel?”, but I think he was all right with the idea after a while. His producing partner, Enrique (Lopez Lavigne), is a big horror fan. So yeah, his first reaction was "why”, but the stand along nature of it instead of and the fact that it wasn’t just what happened to Cillian Murphy’s character is what convinced him.

MoviesOnline: What was the main point of moving away from a sequel that followed 28 Days Later?

A. It’s a very stand-alone world. This world doesn’t exist in the first film at all. We lost our 29 Days Later story for a lot of reasons, and one of them was so we could say to the director "here, create your own world, as long as it’s got infected in it”.

No one had heard of Cillian Murphy when the first film came out, so I’m hoping that the idea of the world and the infected and what might happen there will keep the fans interested as much as "what happens next to Cillian Murphy”.

MoviesOnline: How much does the current US/UK military operation in Iraq play into the story?

Though I would say the political commentary is not overt, you’ve still got the UK effectively being occupied by the US, granted for a very good reason, but the US army is effectively giving Britain back to the British, that’s where we come into the story. I think the very fact of the US army in the streets of London keeping order does have parallels to what’s going on in IraMoviesOnline: There’s no commentary, but I’m sure the image of it will call up the US army in other hostile environments. If people can get anything extra from that kind of imagery but it’s not overt. No characters stop and go, "Hey, this is like that time in Iraq” (laughs). And again, the army is there for a very good reason so there’s no suggestion that there’s a malign force or anything.

MoviesOnline: How does the violence compare with 28 Days? (SPOILER WARNING)

A. There are some great gore sequences, but in terms of comparing it to the first it’s hard because my mind is so into the second film right now. There’s a great sequence we did last week after the infection breaks out. Our heroes are being hunted by infected, basically, and by the authorities because the authorities just want to wipe everyone out. So our renegade US Delta force manages to contact his mate, who is a helicopter pilot. So his friend Flynn (Harold Perrineau) shows up in his helicopter in the middle of a London park and he sees his friend with all these other civilians and effectively refuses to pick them all up. Meanwhile the infected have seen our guys, drawn by the sound of the helicopter, so one of our guys panics and jumps on the runner of the helicopter. So as they’re trying to right the helicopter and get it back up in the air, the helicopter basically plows into the infected and slices them all to pieces! So that scenes going to have some great gore, which you’ve got to have.

MoviesOnline: Do we see a lot of the city of London in this film?

A. The first film has become a bit iconic for the scenes of London deserted, but for the sequel we really didn’t want to see the same thing all over again, though we wanted to have a nod to the first film, but the city really is more of character in the second film than it was in the first.

MoviesOnline: Where does the story take place within the city?

A. So as the quarantine is lifted they have coordinated off a section of London called the Isle of Dogs that’s more or less an archipelago, as it’s bound on three sides by water, so you could use it very easily as a safe zone as there’s only one way in or out. It’s a very modern area of London, a bit financial district, so it’s very un-like London. So the idea is that the repopulated London is a very modern London, not the classic Victorian London that you’re used to seeing.

There are kids at the center of the story desperate to get back to their family home, however, which the journey to is through a much more recognizable London. The Victorian London is a much more dangerous place. Effectively District 1, or the Isle of Dogs, is safe, but the rest off London is chaos. So they’re journey to their home is through a much more dangerous and recognizable part of the city, and for those we’ve done a lot of day for night shooting.

So they go through Trafalgar Square or past Big Ben, but rather the morning shot like it was in the first, we have it at night and we see that is much creepier. So we do show more of iconic London but we try to show it in a different way.

MoviesOnline: Is the focus of this film on central characters, or on the struggle for survival of the whole group?

A. The cast was very important for this film, as well. The first one had characters who gave a real sense of reality and I think on of the reasons for that was because these characters looked and reacted like how you would think someone might in such a situation. You have to care about the characters and what they’re going through, so we had to make sure to have a cast who everyone could really care about. The more they care the more they’re going to hate it when bad things happen.

MoviesOnline: A lot of films use computers to replace the handmade effects, which can compromise the quality at times in horror. How much did this production depend upon CG?

A. We’ve got some fanatic effects throughout the film, as well, with all sorts of great things being realized on screen. As an example there’s one scene where we needed to show a body sliced in half, so they made up this great way to make it realistic so we didn’t have to us CG. The best way to do effects these days is to have the good stuff in camera and just use CG to enhance it as much as you can, that’s what really works. So for this half-body thing the way they made it up, it looks completely real. You want people to see it in theaters and go "holy shit, that was real!”

MoviesOnline: What will it take to get a third film?

A. The most important thing to get people into the theaters is how you sell it, so the question is can Fox Atomic do just as good this time as Fox Searchlight did last time? We’ve to to make sure we have the value and material in the trailer and promotional stuff to make people say "oh, that was cool”. You’ve got to have characters the people really believe in these situations again, but way beyond that you just have to have a good story and images the really make people want to get out and see the film.

The success of the first film certainly makes a follow-up sort of like the family jewels, of course, and you really don’t want to screw this one up. It’s especially tough for a British film to be as popular as the first one was, so if you can deliver something to them the fans, if there’s an audience for this kind of film, you have to really go as far as you can to follow it up right.

MoviesOnline: Due to the success of 28 Days, on a relatively small budget, was there more money for the production this time around?

The budget on both films really made us be sure to think hard about how things were going to be done, make sure they were done really well. Though we do have a bit more money than we did on the first film, so it’s what we’re used to and I wouldn’t know any other way having not made hugely expensive movies yet!

MoviesOnline: This franchise is pretty important to horror in the UK. Do you plan on shooting the next film in London?

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