For whom the femme tolls

The furiously kinetic opening sequence of 28 Weeks Later features Robert Carlyle opting to leave wife Catherine McCormack in swarm of super-charged undead cannibals. Fortunately, this is not the last time we see the 36 year-old actress in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s exhilarating sequel to Danny Boyle’s 2003 hit.

Sitting delicately in London’s Soho Hotel, Catherine, a performer more accustomed to the restrained drama of The Weight Of Water or Dangerous Beauty, admits to being pleasantly surprised by the quality of this latest zombie flick.
“I was interested because Juan Carlos was involved,” she explains. “Because I’m an actress and have nothing better to do than sit around the Curzon cinema every afternoon, I had seen his previous film Intacto and loved it. I’m not a big fan of horror but when I saw the final film I really enjoyed it. And I had a great time, except for the scene where I’m naked and hosed down and screaming. Oh, and the bits with the infected. They’re all dancers and mimes and things, so they come at you really fast.”
As 28 Weeks Later kicks off, survivors of the RAGE plague are attempting to get back to normality on a colony on the Isle Of Dogs. American troops appear to have the situation under control, but when the disease reoccurs, the local population come under fire.
“It’s definitely a political drama of sorts,” says Catherine. “But you can take it or leave it as that. First and foremost, it’s a very exciting dystopian thriller. There are other layers of meaning should you choose to look.”
Since making her feature film debut in Braveheart, Catherine has always preferred such projects to the avalanche of dolly-bird roles she was offered during the early ‘90s.
“It never appealed to me,” she says. “I come from drama school and I’ve always had this great love of theatre and films. I mean, we all need money sometimes. I did play a scientist once in a terrible film.”
Was it Sound Of Thunder?
“Oh no,” she cries. “You’ve seen it. I was supposed to be a dolly-bird in that and when I saw it again recently, I was slouching about like Mrs. Overall. Let’s just say I’m more of a character actor.”
In recent years, Ms. McCormack has decided to move to the other side of the camera.
“I’ve directed three short films and right now I’m working on a feature with William Boyd. When you’ve watched lots of different directors at work and you’re an actor yourself, then you know how highly strung we are and how to get around it.”
28 Weeks Later is released May 11.