Without a permit, local authorities will shut down your production for the day and cause a major upset in your shooting schedule. Unfortunately, filming in most locations requires a city permit today. Fingers crossed that we don’t experience another time like that again in our lives, so what’s the solution to filming on location as they did in 28 Days Later ? The only time filmmakers would have been able to film on the empty city streets would be in the rare chance that a stay-at-home order gets placed during a worldwide pandemic. One of them was my daughter who was 19 at the time and they’d say, ‘Would you just mind waiting here? We’re making a film…’ It’s just bizarre the way it worked.”

He adds, “We hired all these girls to be traffic marshals. “That changed with the millennia and we benefited from deciding to shoot those early mornings in July.” “The central city security was almost unrecognizably relaxed compared to what you will understand as city center security now,” Boyle said. '28 Days Later' Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures Shot before the September 11 terrorist attack, the film crew was easily able to close off sections of streets for minutes at a time, usually early in the morning before sunrise on Sundays and 45 minutes after dawn, to shoot the location devoid of traffic and passers-by. We complain how overcrowded are and about the stress, and then in an instant, life as we know it in many, many different forms can empty them.”įilming scenes on Westminster Bridge that are supposed to show a desolate London is an incredible challenge since the bridge is situated right in the center of the city and is one of the busiest areas due to its proximity to the House of Parliament and the South Bank. In an interview with NME, Boyle recounted his first impressions of the story, saying, “ wanders around London on his own and you just thought ‘Oh my God!’ What an amazing idea: a deserted London. Accessing the Empty Streets of a Busy Cityīoyle knew that 28 Days Later would be a special film after reading the first 10 pages of Alex Garland’s script.

28 days later