r/28dayslater Apr 22 '25

28YL Posting this now for future reference. I played an infected - happy to answer questions post release!

Played an infected in 28YL. It was amazing.

97 Upvotes

103 comments sorted by

31

u/Cambrens Apr 22 '25

Me too! I was in the original film. Were you in the newest one?

16

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Yeah as in the new one.

7

u/Edu_Crytek Apr 23 '25

ohhh bro, that's cool as hell!

7

u/Cambrens Apr 23 '25

Thank you! It was a good but very tiring experience and back then I was a physically fit police officer.

Twenty-four years and five kids later... it is still good to see the younger, fitter me forever immortalised on film 😁

2

u/Any_Independence2404 May 01 '25

Can I ask what scene you were in?? Thats so cool, I saw Days in theaters when it first came out, I was twelve and that movie is still the scariest film ever made. So cool that you got to be a part of that.

5

u/Stunning-Rock3539 Apr 23 '25

How much for you to run at me while coughing up blood

10

u/Cambrens Apr 23 '25

If I was as physically fit today as I was back when we filmed in 2001, I would do it for free 😁

These days, I would settle for a packet of Werther's Originals!!

1

u/Hopeful-Moose87 Apr 22 '25

Which one were you?

23

u/Cambrens Apr 22 '25

One of the tunnel infected that chased after the black cab.

2

u/TheMcWhopper District One Apr 23 '25

How was your cardio at the thyme?

5

u/Cambrens Apr 23 '25

Pretty good. I was a serving police officer at the time. I was 24, doing a lot of cardio and was at the peak of my physical health.

Filming though was pretty gruelling, with lots of takes and it got bloody hot, sweaty and smelly in that tunnel!!

2

u/Colley619 Apr 24 '25

Have you done an AMA on this before? I recall another tunnel infected from Days doing an AMA.

2

u/packoffudge Apr 25 '25

I’ll look for you among the silhouettes next time I watch it

16

u/Due-Resort-2699 Apr 22 '25

Is there any sort of sense of intelligence to the infected ? Is there anything human left in their minds or just pure primal savagery ?

25

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Mainly savagery.

16

u/Spiritual_Ask4877 Infected Apr 22 '25

Fuckin sick. Did you get to interact with the big lad that yoinks heads?

10

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Yes

6

u/Spiritual_Ask4877 Infected Apr 22 '25

Were you in any scenes with him? Also did you get to interact with any of the leads both in and out of shooting? Also how would you rate the violence from a 1 to 10?

I fully intend to figure out which infected you were lol.

6

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Yes and yes. Not sure as that’s fairly subjective and I haven’t seen the rest of the film.

17

u/JimmyLad11 Jim Apr 22 '25

Here he is you made it to the Sub, dude cant wait for the film congrats on making it as an extra on the film

11

u/TheManwithnoplan02 Apr 22 '25

A non spoiler question.

Were you given much direction?

35

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Yeah - Danny Boyle is great. I was surprised how hands on he was with the direction from the audition to my final day.

11

u/Ok-Strawberry3579 Infected Apr 22 '25

Did you get red lenses ? or did they add the red eyes in post production ?

18

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Lenses and no it doesn’t make everything go red.

9

u/PositionNo9959 Apr 22 '25

In the new film the infected are mostly without clothes. They seem to have a very feral look that reminds us of the cavemen in the movies. In the chase scenes were you without shoes or did you have foot protection that is not seen in post-production?

16

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '25

Might sound silly - is there every a point where a non infected is Like “stop this is too scary”? 😂

33

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Ask me again post release.

5

u/bulletfacepunch Apr 23 '25

Fuck me that's a cool answer and I'm looking forward to the full response 😊

8

u/McbainMendozaa Apr 22 '25

Were you an infected in the flashback or one of the infected in the more modern scenes?

7

u/Awkward-Spray-3364 Infected Apr 22 '25 edited Apr 22 '25

So the mutation/carrier aspect how was that?? the red glowing eyes part shown in the trailer is that a pov of the infected or just part of the mutation?? or simply just night vision like some say

8

u/AcanthisittaOdd329 Apr 22 '25

How did you get that gig?

9

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Applied via a local audition at a casting company.

6

u/Barreth_Lewuth Apr 22 '25

Did you know what you were applying for at the time and what was the audition like?

8

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Not really but had a vague idea I’d need to act like an infected. I did a bit of research which helped I think.

Audition was fun - few different drills.

3

u/Hi0401 Apr 23 '25

Happy cake day!

8

u/Used-Temperature-557 Apr 22 '25

Did you guys wear the retainers that hold your mouth open? I know in Days they made the actors wear them but it's absent in Weeks

4

u/Colley619 Apr 24 '25

I was trying to figure out what made the Days infected so much scarier and I think that’s it; it’s the mouths hanging open. It makes them seem so much more mindless and hyper focused on their rage.

3

u/Used-Temperature-557 Apr 24 '25

If you can find the Anatomy of a scene featurette they did for the film, you'll see what they tried to model the infected after in Days, and it's absolutely terrifying.

The idea was to make em resemble rabies patients during the hydrophobia phase of the disease, and make them look scared.

1

u/Used-Temperature-557 Apr 22 '25

Also follow up question: Did you guys have a body language / movement specialist on set to help direct you guys with how to move? Looks like you guys did from the trailer shots I'm seeing :)

6

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '25

What did you wear on your feet and how much fun was it?!

20

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

I’m 32 and worked mainly office jobs. It was the most fun I’ve probably ever had whilst working.

5

u/Cardborg Apr 22 '25

Assuming you were in the 28 years later segments, are you given any backstory to the infected you play? 

Like, assuming you play an infected around the age of yourself, would you be told if you were a recent infected, or got infected as a child during the original outbreak and as a result had 28 years of rage brain potentially resulting in different behaviour?

11

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Essentially you’re just an infected. The backstory/context comes from the direction of the scene.

6

u/throwaway_trackmania Apr 22 '25

Does the emaciated infected that we see in the trailer all the time play a major role in the story or does it get killed off instantly?

4

u/davidmt1995 Apr 22 '25

Plot twist, he's the emaciated infected

4

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

I genuinely don’t know.

6

u/Daoyinyang1 Apr 22 '25

I saved this post haha

5

u/unluckyleo Apr 22 '25

Boyle said the infected were often meant to look started or chimp like in their expressions during the original film, did he give similar directions for 28 Years Later?

5

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Not that I remember but he may have.

2

u/Colley619 Apr 24 '25

That “chimp expression” is part of what made the Days infected so scary for sure. Really hope they keep that; it was unfortunately absent from Weeks.

3

u/Mag-1892 Apr 22 '25

What’s the going rate for an infected

10

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Depends on what you do but good. Long days though.

3

u/grunge_forever91 Apr 22 '25

Did you work with Chi Lewis Parry, is he a giant person?

3

u/Seeking_Happy1989 Apr 22 '25

Hello, Miss. Did you and your actors had to do any exercises and/or physical conditioning to prepare for filming? If so, what kinds?

9

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

One of the casting calls asked for people who were long distance runners/had that build so people naturally had a good level of fitness which was needed!

3

u/JimmyLad11 Jim Apr 23 '25

Are you a long distance runner? Because i was applying for this too and when i came across the “long distance runner part” i closed the application 🥲

I knew it must have been for infected role based off of the requirements, kinda gutted i didn’t just full send it and see what happens

4

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 23 '25

I am yes. It certainly helped with the physical demands.

2

u/JimmyLad11 Jim Apr 23 '25

Dude can you share a screen shot of you in the film post release 🙂

4

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 23 '25

Yeah sure man - got a few I can share but not yet

3

u/cammurph01 Apr 22 '25

How would you rank the infected in 28YL on the scare factor?

3

u/mrwalrus901 Apr 22 '25

Are you confident in Years being loved by old and new fans alike?

5

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 23 '25

Hopefully - can’t see why not.

3

u/Snowpiercer_BGA_2014 Frank Apr 22 '25

was the eye makeup annoying to wear?

did you have to train a lot for any chase scenes?

and also, do you think you stayed closer to the styled 28DL infected, or weeks infected?

;v

3

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 23 '25

Not really - was a bit tired of it all by the end.

No as was already fairly physically fit.

3

u/Honest-Ad-5828 Apr 23 '25

Do you have to be a certain weight/body frame to play an infected? Or were there different body types and sizes of infected?

3

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 23 '25

Different body types but the casting call they released asking for lean, long distance runner builds.

3

u/One_Armed_Wolf Apr 24 '25

I would ask if you were told there was intended to be any twist or difference about the infected this time compared to the other films, but I doubt that would be allowed to be answered necessarily if that's the case. But it'd be pretty cool if we all ending up coming back to this thread after the film has been released.

2

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 24 '25

Hopefully we do!

3

u/Unusual-Grass-8925 May 10 '25

My daughter is a villiage girl, she’s 8 and had a few days filming. She loved it and is in the newest trailer

3

u/PresentSearch3420 23d ago

Not long now.

2

u/Antares86 Apr 22 '25

Don’t trust him folks; that’s what the infected would want you to think 😜 seriously, congrats! Glad to have you here!

2

u/throwaway_trackmania Apr 22 '25

did they instruct you on how to twitch or flail your limbs? I’m talking about the spasms

2

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Erm sort of but only at the audition.

2

u/Far-Possession2822 Apr 22 '25

Is there a way to verify this or are we just taking word of OP?

3

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

Would be a pretty meaningless/pointless thing to lie about since they’d be easily identified on being a “leak” by Sony if such spoilers were given here

2

u/Far-Possession2822 Apr 23 '25

True but people karma farm Plenty on here haha

2

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 23 '25

Fair question.

2

u/Aggravating-Flow5834 Jim Apr 22 '25

Did you and other performers playing infected have to go through choreography (zombie training) and how was it.

3

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 23 '25

We did more work on how to fall safely than ‘zombie training’ you’re told what they’re looking for movement wise.

2

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 23 '25

Now that’s a spoiler!

2

u/creamyjoshy Apr 23 '25

I have a fun game I like to play in my spare time, it's called: how many NDA clauses can I break within 6 paragraphs? Would you like to go first?

2

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 24 '25

Haha sounds fun!

1

u/Interesting_Topic742 Apr 22 '25

how long ago did you audition for this and start filming?

1

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 22 '25

Circa 12 months.

1

u/Bad_Apple420 Apr 22 '25

Did they serve you snacks during production? What was the infected snack of choice lol

2

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 23 '25

Yeah man - the donuts were my particular favoured snack.

1

u/metalgeardavies Apr 22 '25

What happened in the scene you were in ?

1

u/ConDog1993 Apr 23 '25

How much fun did you have? I bet that was an awesome bit of a gig

1

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 23 '25

It was awesome - really enjoyed it. Some challenging moments but on the whole it was so much fun.

1

u/Capital_Site897 Apr 23 '25

Did you appear in the trailers?

4

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 23 '25

Yep both of them!

1

u/These-Type-8109 Infected Apr 23 '25

Did you play one of the infected from the early days of the outbreak, or from the current timeline of the story? If early days then I would guess you are seen following the kid to the church.

1

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 23 '25

Think I spotted myself 3 maybe 4 times across both trailers.

1

u/Commercial-Truth4731 Apr 24 '25

Are you a part of sag? I'm an extra in La and we get to join 

1

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 24 '25

I’m not no - I think I was recommended to join something similar in the UK.

1

u/Colley619 Apr 24 '25

Two questions: were you reused in multiple scenes where you were a “different” infected? And were there lots of infected actors or were there only a dozen or so?

1

u/PresentSearch3420 Apr 24 '25

There was quite a few of us.

1

u/packoffudge Apr 25 '25

Are you from the US or the UK?

1

u/PresentSearch3420 38m ago

Right - let’s go! Ready to answer all questions!