Mild spoilers below for those who haven’t yet wrapped their eyes around 28 Years Later, so be warned!
One of the most anticipated movies hitting theaters this year, Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later is also proving to be one of the most polarizing, thanks in part to Jack O’Connell’s captivating late-stage cameo as Sir Jimmy Crystal. But long before that madcap cult shows up, audiences are treated to some full-frontal male nudity by way of the behemoth Alpha dubbed Samson. Granted, it’s not his genuine birthday suit, but that hasn’t stopped fans from obsessing over the rage-infected creature’s dangling prosthetic penis.
While Alpha presumably wouldn’t be sentient enough to clock all of the attention aimed at his naughty bits, 28 Days Later actor Chi-Lewis Parry is possibly too aware that his character’s most prominent physical attribute is pulling as much focus as anything else in the Alex Garland-scripted sequel. Speaking with GQ, he was asked about his reaction to first trying on that particular piece of the costume, and if he expected over-the-top reactions. According to the actor:
I can't recall definitively yes, but I think there must have been a time where I was surprised by it, and that would've been when I first saw it. . . . We did a test in makeup, but that was without [it]. I think the first time I actually saw it would've been when we were putting it on. And you go, ‘Wow. That's a lot. That's gonna be out, just walking around.’
Indeed. There was a moment or two during the movie where I probably wouldn't have been that surprised had Samson's dick grown arms and legs and detached itself. That rage virus can get mighty unpredictable.
While Parry couldn't have known at the time just how many fandom conversations and comments his faux phallus would incite within the fandom itself, the MMA fighter learned first hand just how much of an attention-grabber the prosthetic was as evidenced by those working alongside him. (Or "them," as it were.) As he put it:
And it's more the reactions of the people, there were a lot of crew who never saw me outside of costume.There was new crew coming in week to week, and they'd just be like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ They didn't know where to look. So it was always a good moment to break the ice, I'm a bit of a prankster like that. I would just call people out. I'd say, ‘Where were your eyes just then?’
Gotta love that Chi-Lewis Parry was able to keep a sense of humor about it, since that kind of constant attention might have been a major distraction for other actors. (And not just from feeling it thump against their kneecaps.)
Obviously 28 Years Later has far more for horror fans to lock onto than just genitalia — read our review — and Parry noted that once the initial surprise and novelty wore off, bringing Samson to life involved far more than worrying about what was beteween his legs. Per the actor:
But it's done now, and everybody knows that yeah, okay, cool, there's a big monstrous penis flying around everywhere. To be honest, I was so involved in that character, that it wasn't anything I was really thinking about. That big swinging dong just happened to be a byproduct of Samson.
I can't imagine that the next upcoming horror movie from this franchise, Nia DeCosta's 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, will get quite as much attention for its on-screen penises. But I guess it wouldn't take much of a tweak to get my imagination on that level. We'll have to find out when the sequel hits the 2026 movie schedule on January 16.
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