Jack O’Connell Discusses His ’28 Years Later’ Character: “He’s a gas cunt”

Jack O’Connell is back, and this time, he’s heading into the apocalypse. Best known for playing bad boys and rebels, the British actor is taking on a totally new kind of role in 28 Years Later, the next chapter in the iconic zombie horror series.

You might remember O’Connell from his early days on Skins, or from films like Unbroken and ’71. Now 34, the BAFTA winner is stepping into darker territory. In 28 Years Later, he plays a strange and powerful man known as Sir Jimmy Crystal, or, as he joked, “Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal” — a character he calls a “gas cunt” with a laugh.

We don’t know much about Sir Jimmy yet, but from O’Connell’s hints, he sounds like a creepy, possibly dangerous figure. Rumors suggest he’s a cult leader, someone who might twist hope into something terrifying in a world full of the infected. O’Connell says this role is very different from anything he’s done before, and he seems excited by the challenge.

“I don’t quite know how to describe him yet,” O’Connell admitted in a recent interview. “But he was thrilling to portray.”

The 28 Days Later franchise began with the 2002 original directed by Danny Boyle, followed by 28 Weeks Later in 2007. Now, after nearly two decades, 28 Years Later is bringing the story back. It brings back the original team from the first film, director Danny Boyle, writer Alex Garland, and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle. Cillian Murphy, who starred in the first movie, is now one of the producers.

The story happens 28 years after the Rage virus first spread. Some people have survived and live safely on a small island. The only way to reach the island is by a well-guarded road.

The movie follows a father and his son who leave the island and go into the dangerous world beyond. What they find is a mix of secrets, strange places, and terrifying things.

The film was made at the same time as its sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which will come out later.

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