Danny Boyle’s ‘stringent security measures’ brought in to guard the 28 Days Later set have left ramblers ‘jumping out their skin.’
The director, 67, is currently filming the third instalment for the post-apocalyptic horror series near Newcastle, but it’s not the zombies that have scared locals.
Residents have been given quite the fright after being ‘shouted at’ by a number of robots, who have been employed to guard the site.
One neighbour told The Sun: ‘Danny and his team had put in really stringent security measures on the site to make sure locals didn’t just walk into view.
‘The area is really eerie and remote, but it’s used by a lot of ramblers.’
Danny Boyle’s ‘stringent security measures’ brought in to guard the 28 Days Later set have left ramblers ‘jumping out their skin’ (pictured in May 2022)
The director is currently filming the third instalment for the post-apocalyptic horror series near Newcastle, but it’s not the zombies that have scared locals (L-R Brendan Gleeson, Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris pictured in 2002’s 28 Days Later)
They added: ‘It’s a vast area to cover and some walking groups were caught out by these censored robots that start shouting. It’s really loud. This group of ramblers jumped out of their skins when it happened.’
Jodie Comer, who will play a Geordie character in the post-apocalyptic flick, has been spotted filming in the Northumberland countryside.
She will be joined by Oscar-winning Cillian Murphy, who will return as Jim, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Erin Kellyman and Jack O’Connell.
Over the weekend, Danny was banned from filming the ‘profane’ zombie movie at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Morpeth.
His application to use the Grade I Listed site to film was refused by a Church court, who said the movie would ‘offend’ Church doctrines and ‘profane’ the house of God.
St Mary’s had previously been used as a set for an episode of ITV crime drama Vera.
The director’s plans were backed by both St Mary’s’ vicar and warden but was refused by ecclesiastical body the Consistory Court of the Diocese of Newcastle.
The film’s producers, DNA films, including supervising location manager Camilla Stephenson, had said the church would be the backdrop to a ‘post-apocalyptic world in which people are largely infected by a ‘rage’ virus which leads them to violence’.
Residents have been given quite the fright after being ‘shouted at’ by a number of robots, who have been employed to guard the site (Danny pictured in October 2022)
The church’s rector, Reverend Simon White supported the proposals, saying he didn’t believe shooting the movie would detriment either the parish or the diocese.
He agreed to submit an application to the diocesan advisory committee along with churchwarden Dr Andrew Mowat.
But they were overruled by the Archdeacon of LIndisfarne, who advised parishes in her area to refuse the requests.
The film had been noted by members of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) to be ‘very violent and gory’ while not promoting or glorifying evil or violence.
The original zombie apocalyptic film debuted in cinemas 22 years earlier in 2002 – with Cillian taking on a leading role.
Over the weekend, Danny was banned from filming the ‘profane’ zombie movie at t he Church of St Mary the Virgin in Morpeth by a Church court, who said it would ‘offend’ doctrines
The film had been noted by members of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) to be ‘very violent and gory’ while not promoting or glorifying evil or violence (Cillian pictured in 2002)
In the 2002 film, the actor played a bicycle courier who wakes up from a coma only to find that an ‘incurable virus had spread throughout the U.K.’ and ‘a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.’
The sequel is slated to be the third instalment in the franchise and the first in an upcoming trilogy.
Danny, who directed 28 Days later, as well as original writer, Alex Garland, are also returning. The pair notably only served as executive producers on the second movie, 28 Weeks Later (2007).
Both Danny and Alex are producing the new project alongside Andrew Macdonald, Peter Rice and Bernie Bellew, while Cillian is an executive producer.