Jack O’Connell on Going From ‘Sinners’ to ’28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’ and His ‘Amazing Year’ of Villains: ‘It Was Nothing but Sheer Luck’

Less than a year after he jigged terrifyingly into Ryan Coogler’s supernatural horror “Sinners” as an Irish-dancing vampire, Jack O’Connell is back with an even more bonkers baddie. Jack O’Connell alongside Ralph Fiennes in “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” Sir Jimmy Crystal - who the actor admits is the “maddest character” he’s ever seen - may have been first introduced at the very end of Danny Boyle’s zombie sequel “ 28 Years Later .” But that was just a taste of the lunacy to come. In Nia DaCosta’s riotous and bloody sequel to the sequel “ 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple ” (also written by Alex Garland and out Jan. 16), he truly comes into his own as the devil-worshipping, pseudo evangelical cult “lord” of a gang of sadistic murderers called the Jimmies. Clad in a rich purple tracksuit and with an luxuriant head of hair, Crystal is an exceptional role and one O’Connell says he rejoiced in making his own. From Sony Pictures, “The Bone Temple” is also the latest major project for the Brit, currently in the midst of a prolonged purple patch on the big screen, with more significant titles coming up (including a stomp into the MonsterVerse). While he says he’s not getting “analytical now” about his cinematic reignition, which was arguably sparked by “Back to Black” in 2024, he admits he’s enjoying “savouring” the reception his performances have been getting. Popular on Variety Sir Jimmy must have been a delicious character to to sink your teeth into Yeah, it was. It was wild, wild fun. But unbounded. So in a lot of ways, it’s very freeing. What was the description of Jimmy when you were first told about him? I just remember, above all of his dialog, it said ‘Sir Jimmy Crystal,’ which in itself is easily the maddest character I think I’ve ever seen. I’m assuming they came straight to you and there wasn’t an audition process. There was a bit of a procedure, where it involved going around to Danny’s house. Nia was there too. And as a Danny Boyle fan being invited to his house was a monumental day for me. We sat down and chatted, and then I waited to hear back. I understand you hadn’t actually shot “Sinners” at the time. No, the invite to Danny’s house was prior to going to New Orleans to shoot “Sinners.” But I knew it was going to happen, so when I had the meeting for this I thought, if it did go my way, it was going to amount to an amazing year. Sir Jimmy Crystal is introduced right at the end of “28 Years Later” and it’s a really wild tonal shift from the rest of the film. What reaction did you get from people who saw you in that? Yeah, largely it was WTF. Which is great. And there’s an ambiguity as well - don’t know if these guys are to be liked or to be trusted. They seem...

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