Nia DaCosta and Jack O'Connell dive into '28 Years Later: The Bone Temple'

So really excited to have you both here because for one, we're coming off 2025

Hedda was amazing. Love talking to you about that. Sinners was outstanding. Love talking to you about that. And then I talked to Dani before I even knew that you were in 28

years later. So what an exciting surprise. And now like Bone Temple, like, oh my God, you guys

you're starting off this year so, so strong. I'd love to hear a little bit about like how you came

to the project and what it was like working together. I got a call from my agent who was

like listen I know you don't have time for this you're busy you're making a movie I was in post

on Hedda and he's like but they're they're making the 28 years later trilogy and they need a director

for the second one and I was like I couldn't possibly then the next day Alex Garland called

me he's like hey this is happening and I was like and so then I read the script and I was like can I

please please do it did you have a previous relationship with Alex yeah I've known Alex for

a few years um and and so I knew there was like something percolating but I was like is it

happening who knows um and in my heart of hearts i secretly was like i want to direct that and then

it happened which is cool but when i walked into my first meeting with them like your face was

already on the board and on like the casting door yeah yeah yeah that fills me with joy yeah

so how did they approach you with it yeah so um yeah there was a bit of information floating around about the projects happening and then it was a case of yeah please uh if i can shoehorn my way in that be great And then it was a case of yeah please if I can shoehorn my way in that be great And then there was a call to meet Nia at Danny Boyle house

Yeah. Somewhere in London. And so I went. And this is a phenomenal experience, right

Because I'm at Danny Boyle's house. And I'm there, which is even more exciting

Nia DaCosta's hair. and then I get all shooed up the stairs

Oh, yeah. I didn't see the area. Yeah. So I get all shooed up the stairs

and it's like a room. It's a bit of a library in there

All his vinyl collection is out. Oh, my God. Also, I'm just in there like making tea in the kitchen

I'm like, my life's crazy. Sifting through Danny Boyle's vinyl. Oh, my God

I didn't know this. I love this. Yeah, I was just left alone in his upstairs library

You just got squirky. Yeah, exactly. he's like anyway uh thanks for this and then daddy comes up and then the meeting starts and

and we sat down and and and talked about it a little bit and shared some views and then and then

i left and just hoped for the best and the call came through and it was a good one so we had daddy

by it was so it was so cool talking about him because i think probably similarly like i grew up watching his movies and then like having him in person it was like oh he the person i thought made these movies like did you have that experience or were there like discoveries for you and working with him no 100 because you just like watch him talk and think about things and explain things and he just

like it's like galaxy brain all the time and I was like oh this makes sense like it makes sense

why they're like 80 cuts a second in your movies because he's just like literally like the way his brain works it's amazing so it's I mean it's so great to like just talk to him and I I've heard

you say that like when you pitch to be a part of this you were like look I'm not going to make a Danny Boyle movie. I can't. That's what you do. So I'm curious for you when you were like

I want to make my kind of movie. How are you describing what that would look like

Well, I was more describing what the movie I wanted to make would look like. And also just expressing like, I don't want to make a movie in the style of

It's going to be like what I think it should be. And here's what I think it should be. And I was really clear about that in the beginning. And because I think I came in with like a clear

idea of what it was and not just like theoretically, I want to do what I want. It was like, no, here's what I want to do

and they bought into that so it made it like a like a good smooth process was this at danny

boyle's house no this was at the studio where your picture was on the wall okay yeah but we

looked at lovingly and for you finding the character of jimmy like i'm curious what that

was like because you're having this meeting so are they saying like we're going to introduce you in

this movie are you getting like a background are you getting like everything that you were going

to do across these films uh yeah the the scripts both scripts uh came to me at the same time so I could understand from when we meet in to where we go

And, yeah, quite a lot of it is there on the page. And I don't know, there is just something a little bit more liberating

about playing in pure depravity, darkness. You know, it's a little bit more limitless

so and and i i guess i suppose a way as well there was like without making him 2d just that

um because i i think what what they've proven themselves to be is very efficient in this sort

of apocalyptic uh post society um you know collapse yeah they've obviously survived so

why is that um just taking clues uh from that that kind of uh within the writing and then

room for invention which nia was great at cultivating and um it's a joy it's the best

that like it's it's a lovely uh it's it's a lovely sort of arena to work within