“28 Years Later: Temple of Bones,” director Nia DaCosta’s impromptu follow-up to last year’s return to the horror franchise “28 Years Later,” has a scene that will probably elicit more than a few laughs in theaters.
On a forested English hilltop and potential danger, skull collector Dr. Ian Kelson, smeared with Ralph Fiennes’ blood and iodine, dances hand-in-hand with Samson, the film’s hulking, mutated, naked alpha zombie protagonist, singing Duran Duran’s sun-soaked 80s smash hit “Rio.”
It’s a strange sight, not to mention a strange sight, especially for a gory genre film. But for anyone who’s seen Sony Pictures’ 28 Years Later, this scene will mark the remarkable growth of Samson, played by 6-foot-8 actor and former MMA fighter Chi Lewis Parry, best remembered as the “King of the Infected” in the first film, a ferocious monster with a habit of tearing off heads with spines attached (and swinging them like flails). DaCosta’s film (opening January 16th) features an entirely new set of characters and storylines that are completely different from Danny Boyle’s film, but Samson’s personal growth and budding bromance with Dr. Kelson is one of the film’s main talking points.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how people react to that relationship, because that’s not what you usually expect from these movies,” said Parry, noting that he and Fiennes were “already buddies” by the time filming began on The Bone Temple, as they shot both films back-to-back.
For the 42-year-old, who also starred in Running Man this year, The Bone Temple has allowed him to flex his acting muscles even more than before. Whereas in “28 Years Later,” Samson was all about rage viruses and excessive violence, this time he’s mostly seen sitting quietly, contemplating things at intervals (thanks in large part to Dr. Kelson’s frequent injections of morphine).
“I’ve always been a physical athlete, but this was the first time I’d had the opportunity to do something this deep. I knew it was a big responsibility, but it was also a big opportunity,” he says. “We wanted to be able to turn on the Rage side, but also be able to turn it off quickly. So we’re happy that the two are merging so well, but both energies are there. We knew we had to tap into something.”
Unfortunately for Lewis-Parry, next to him was one of Britain’s most famous actors.
“You sit there and you have nothing to say, and Ralph Fiennes is there doing Ralph Fiennes,” he recalls. “And you get carried away with his performance. I was watching him and found myself thinking, ‘Actually, I should be doing something – I need to step up!'”
The dance scene in Duran Duran was actually not scripted and was improvised by Fiennes.
“There was a take where he took my hand and looked at me and was like, ‘Okay, here we go,’ and I just went with it,” says Louis Parry. “The whole performance was Ralph’s and it was just a part of that moment. We could have taken it or not, but we chose to take it and it went with it. And I think that shows the connection between me and him.”
It was “the most fun I’ve ever had naked,” he admits.
That brings us to the subject of nudity. Samson is undoubtedly one of the most talked-about characters in 28 Years Later, but it’s not just because of his bulk, monstrous roar, and brutal way he chases humans in his path. There was also his masculinity. With a prosthetic leg of rather impressive size, the camera was unavoidable and caught the eye of many online commentators.
“It was as expected,” Lewis Parry admits. “I’m not mad about that. I still am not. But I don’t want to take any of the credibility away from the enormous amount of work that everyone has put into these movies. Everyone is great, and I don’t want Samson’s prosthetic leg to steal any of the shine.”
There are plenty of exciting new additions to The Bone Temple, especially Jack O’Connell’s performance as the sadistic cult leader (particularly in his scenes with Fiennes), but Samson’s prosthetic leg is once again on very prominent display. But director Louis Parry hopes that whatever comedic irritation he stirred up last time will subside as he now focuses on filmmaking and technique.
It took seven people about six to eight hours each time to create Samson’s fully synthetic bodysuit (with appendages attached). “So you might start around 2 a.m., go through a 10-hour day with possible overtime, and finish around 9 p.m.” 28 Years Later had a larger prosthetic section, while Temple of Bones had more close-up shots of Samson (heavily sedated), “with more veins and more detail,” he says.
He says the entire process of fitting and painting Samson’s prosthetic limbs was a “tremendous amount of work” that had to be done more than 25 times over several days, requiring full body shots (effectively each suit attached to Samson was a one-time use). However, there were scenes where only Samson’s upper body was visible. “It was a great day,” says Parry, given the fairly cold temperatures filming in the north of England.
A third “28 Years Later” movie was recently given the green light by Sony, and will reportedly be written by Alex Garland once again, with Cillian Murphy set to star. Lewis Parry has little idea whether Samson will return – “I want to know as much as you want to know!” – but he says he’s thrilled to be playing a role that provokes such a reaction, even if he doesn’t have time to play one of horror’s scariest newcomers.
“You play a lot of characters, but you never reprise them. But this is a character that I relate to. So I care about how he is perceived,” he says. “It might seem silly, but I care about the character and what I put into it. I really wanted him to get good reviews, so I’m overjoyed that he accepted.”
