Haven’t had enough of the virus that raged in “28 Days Later” and “28 Weeks Later”? You’re in luck, says writer Alex Garland.
The “28 Days” screenwriter and director, whose film “Ex Machina” has been a sleeper hit, told Indiewire that he’s got an idea for a third film in the series.
“I had a sort of weird idea that popped into my head,” he said. “I had this thought, and I suggested it to (producer) Andrew (McDonald) and (director) Danny (Boyle), but I also said I don’t want to work on it. I don’t really want to play a role, and Andrew said, ‘Leave it to me.’ So he’s gone off and is working on it.”
The first film, 2002’s “28 Days Later,” is credited with reinvigorating the zombie genre with its tale of a virus that sparks frenzy in the infected. A sequel, “28 Weeks Later,” came out in 2007.
Though the first two films did well at the box office, Garland said that rights issues — and a lack of interest for him, McDonald and Boyle — kept a third film from being developed.
“After the second one, none of us really wanted to do another,” he said. “(The studio) may or may not have, I don’t know.”
But he has no problem with a film idea that arises out of the blue.
“Don’t you think those are, in a way, better? Because there is no momentum now, and you’ve had an organic, real spark about where I can take this,” he said. “And it just popped into your head, kind of thing. Rather than, ‘OK, I’m going to make a sequel.’ “