Ralph Fiennes and Chi Lewis-Parry on Their Characters’ Unique Connection in ’28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’
While deranged cult leader Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) wreaks havoc in sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) continues his experimentation with the infected Alpha he dubbed Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). The unusual connection between the empathetic doctor and his unlikely Rage-infected patient leads to potentially world-changing consequences in the second installment […]
While deranged cult leader Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) wreaks havoc in sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) continues his experimentation with the infected Alpha he dubbed Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry).
The unusual connection between the empathetic doctor and his unlikely Rage-infected patient leads to potentially world-changing consequences in the second installment of the trilogy, with Nia DaCosta (Candyman 2021, The Marvels) taking the directorial reins from Danny Boyle, from a script by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, 28 Years Later).
Dr. Kelson instantly intrigued in 28 Years Later for his compassion and empathy in an unforgiving world that’s largely written him off, and that continues in a sequel that immediately picks up from the events of the previous film.
Fiennes, when speaking to Bloody Disgusting ahead of the film’s release on January 16, reflected on Dr. Kelson’s mindset and unwavering empathy. “I think he’s written as empathetic, he’s essentially a man who’s, he’s a doctor, he cares. He has no agenda. He’s got this task of honoring the dead. I think he’s a combination, isn’t he, of sort of doctor and a mortician, and I think he must have unusual psychological stamina, that within the small amount of possessions he’s retained, books and records, he’s been able to keep some rationale alive. He hasn’t gone mad. Some people would’ve gone violent, or gone mad, or committed suicide, he’s got some strong interior.“
Kelson’s connection with Samson helps keep him sane, Fiennes suggests. “I think his project gives him meaning, gives life meaning for him, and he recognizes he might die, but he’s unusual. He’s something of a medieval figure who survives in a sort of landscape of plague. They’re odd, I think they’re odd, he’s almost a sort of priest-like as well. Yeah. I can only think he’s held on to something. There are people, I think, with extraordinary psychological stamina, who will hold on, and keep by reading and listening to music, and just keep connected to a sense of the rational.“
Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) in Columbia Pictures’ 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE.
That connection, in many ways, becomes the film’s beating heart. It’s a bond that came naturally for the actors, according to Lewis-Parry.
He explains, “I think the connection is so strong in the film because our connection in real life is strong, sturdy. We’d already established that whilst filming the first film, towards the end of it, with our brief interaction in that. But it’s easy when you like who you’re around, and I like absolutely everybody on that set. To get to share the screen with Ralph, as much as I do in The Bone Temple, what you are seeing there is two people who genuinely like each other. So, it never felt like work. It felt like, ‘Hey, I’m going to try this, and I’m going to trust you,‘ and that developed into what you see. Some of the scenes that you see, I believe, were improvised. So, it’s just what we came up with in that moment, and it obviously reads because it’s been used in the final cut.”
The Bone Temple gives us an even closer look at Samson and the world of the infected than 28 Years Later. Considering the character’s nonverbal, imposing frame, Lewis-Parry gives insight into Samon’s perspective in the second installment. “I believe that Samson is seeking help; he doesn’t want to be what he is anymore. He sees that opportunity in Kelson and Kelson’s kindness. Kelson hasn’t given up on himself, and he’s been able to survive this long and maintain a level of intellectual competence with the reading and the music, but Samson is seeing an opportunity to survive beyond what he is, which is a grotesque monster.”
Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) in Columbia Pictures’ 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE.
