Next summer’s highly anticipated horror blockbuster, 28 Years Later, directed by Danny Boyle, is making waves as the largest film yet to be shot entirely on iPhones—using a model that’s not even Apple’s latest, Cape {town} Etc reports.
Also read: Did you know these movies were filmed in and around Cape Town?
With a $75 million budget, 28 Years Later is set to become the largest Hollywood thriller ever filmed on smartphones, reports WIRED.
Starring Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer, James Bond frontrunner Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes, 28 Years Later—slated for a June 2025 release—is the long-awaited sequel to the genre-defining 28 Days Later (2002), which revolutionised the portrayal of zombies by making them terrifyingly fast, and 2007’s 28 Weeks Later.
There’s a compelling tech story behind Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle’s decision to shoot 28 Years Later with Apple’s log-profile powerhouse.
Their groundbreaking 2002 film, 28 Days Later, was filmed using the innovative Canon XL-1, one of the first digital cameras used for a Hollywood feature.
This lust-worthy $4,000 prosumer camcorder featured interchangeable lenses and recorded data onto MiniDV tapes, setting the stage for a new era in filmmaking.
Principal filming for 28 Years Later wrapped at the end of August, and the production kept its smartphone filming under wraps, requiring staff to sign NDAs.
However, a clue emerged months earlier: a paparazzi photo from July shows Jodie Comer near what initially appears to be a high-end camera from German manufacturer Arri, a favourite among professional cinematographers.
iphone 15 max with “some attachments” https://t.co/QUBLWEwp1K pic.twitter.com/YKpCWpdRBU
— Chris Fallsikkan (@AlsikkanTV) September 20, 2024
Zooming in reveals that the long lens isn’t attached to a standard camera body or a high-end modular system.
Instead, it’s connected to a protective cage that appears to hold an iPhone, according to a professional camera operator not involved with the film.
The use of Apple smartphones as the primary camera for 28 Years Later was confirmed to WIRED by multiple sources, specifying the model as the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Filming occurred too early for Boyle and Mantle to access the iPhone 16 series.
While several arthouse films, like Sean Baker’s Tangerine (2015) and Steven Soderbergh’s Unsane (2018), have been shot on iPhones, they were low-budget and limited-release compared to 28 Years Later.
Many are hopeful that the use of the iPhone 15 will capture the same grit and intimacy reminiscent of a CCTV feed that defined the original film.
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Picture: 28 Days Later / Facebook
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