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Total Film
Total Film
Entertainment
Nick Staniforth

28 Years Later director Danny Boyle on why he skipped the Alien franchise: "I didn’t do Alien and I went and made this flop for them instead."

Danny Boyle directing Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Alfie Williams on the set of 28 Years Later.

It's widely documented that the chest-bursting alien is a tricky beast to tame, but one that Danny Boyle came very close to handling. Back when 20th Century Fox was trying to figure out a way of bringing Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) back from the dead in Alien: Resurrection, the Trainspotting director was at the top of their list to helm the acid-soaked nightmare that also starred Winona Ryder and Ron Perlman. Boyle told The Hollywood Reporter just how close he got, even going as far as meeting the film's stars before having second thoughts.

"I met Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder, who were attached to it. So obviously it was pretty serious. They were wonderful. But it was the early days of the CG crossover. That moment where it was transitioning. And I couldn’t handle the CG," Boyle recalled.

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