Hollywood and horror have been baked into Chi Lewis-Parry’s brain ever since he saw The Thing for the first time.
“I was way too young, terrified watching it in a dark corner behind a chair at my cousin’s house,” he recalled, before waxing lyrical about his love for John Carpenter. “I even have my little collector’s stash of VHS tapes!”
It’s only fitting then that the former MMA fighter exploded into a horror franchise himself, stunning audiences as the monstrous man-mountain Alpha, Samson, in Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later. The cast and crew shot the sequel, The Bone Temple, back-to-back with the first movie with Candyman director Nia DaCosta at the helm.
Lewis-Parry opened up to Dexerto about what fans can expect from The Bone Temple, his bromance with Ralph Fiennes, and his grand plan for James Bond in 2026…
Chi Lewis-Parry hints Samson’s bizarre dynamic with Dr. Kelson in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Eyebrows were raised when the first images and footage from the sequel seemed to show Samson in a more docile state with Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes). This dangerous new dynamic relied on Lewis-Parry being able to periodically turn off his intimidating performance as the Alpha.
But switching energy is something he’s more than used to, since he towers above most people at 6 feet 9 inches tall. “Being self-aware is obviously important. I would always break the ice with people because one, I’m running around with not much on…
“Two, I’m covered in blood, I’m screaming, and I’m doing violent things. So I had to counter that, and it was always just fun energy. I was laughing and joking, I’d talk to everybody, but being able to turn it on was important to be impactful.”
That energy came in handy with DaCosta when she took over the reins. Although Boyle has a “childlike enthusiasm where he gets really excited because he knows what he wants,” DaCosta gave Lewis-Parry “complete freedom” while being laser-focused. “Nia’s more like, ‘Right let’s get to work. This is what I want, this is what I’m thinking…’ And you can just see her working it out. She said, ‘I trust you, you know what you want to do.’”
In fact, Lewis-Parry and his co-star, Fiennes, improvised one truly unique moment in the sequel that audiences will undoubtedly be obsessed with… We won’t spoil anything in case Sony sends a horde of the infected after us, but you’ll know it when you see it.
“Ralph was trying something and I was just going along with it. We’d done a bunch of takes where it was just Samson sitting. But we knew we were out of earshot, no one could hear us. We were kind of mumbling to each other, and he took my hand, and we just tried this thing and I hope it’s received well because it came out of pure experimentation!”
The sequel’s trailer hinted that Kelson has been “developing an idea about the nature of the infection.” Although Lewis-Parry was careful not to reveal spoilers, he teased that Samson’s approach to Kelson has drastically changed as a result of the drugs that the doctor was using to stop the Alpha in the first film.
“Samson sort of becomes more of a sigma than an Alpha… He’s sort of looking for guidance from Kelson, but he’s still got that animal in him. He’s very much like ‘I’m here and you’ll do nothing because I’m the Alpha.’”
Bromance blossomed between Ralph Fiennes and Chi Lewis-Parry
But it seems like Samson isn’t the only person with an animal in him. Both Lewis-Parry and Fiennes trained together to stay in shape for post-apocalyptic Britain, and Fiennes is also a machine in the gym as well as being an acting icon.
“When you think of someone above the age of 50, you assume that they’re not as strong in the gym or they’re not as athletic or whatever… He completely obliterates that theory. He’s insanely strong, and he’s really modest about it.
“He’s just like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that, let’s just do it.’ And you’re thinking, ‘Do you know how much of a weight jump that is?!’”
While reflecting on his life and the path that led him here, Lewis-Parry remains humble, yet driven to succeed. In the last few years, that drive has seen him dish out brutality and carnage in Gladiator II, Kraven the Hunter, and The Running Man.
But when it comes to levelling up his career and working with other huge stars, he’s moved on from looking at people like Fiennes, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Mescal, and Glen Powell as a fan – to working with them as a colleague.
“I’m kind of expectant of myself, like I expect myself to come out trumps in a situation, because otherwise why would I go for it? What’s the point, right? I admire them. I think they’re unbelievable. But it gets to a point where you have to say, ‘OK, am I a fan now, or do I recognize you as a peer?’
“I’m always gonna be a fan, because that’s my introduction to them. But at the same time, respectfully, let’s collaborate, let’s work, and let me give you the best version of myself.”
Horror fans may not know that Lewis-Parry started his career as an MMA fighter, something he got into for a “quick fix money situation” and the “flexibility” to pursue his real dream of being on screen.
“I grew up in a pretty relatively difficult area and fighting was just part of your daily defense going to school. Sometimes people would pass on the opposite bus and they didn’t like you, they’d get off, there’d be gangs chasing buses! I make it sound like Escape From LA, it wasn’t quite like that… But it had its obstacles and I just translated that into sport.”
Again, his love for John Carpenter bleeds through at any given opportunity.
Chi Lewis-Parry has a bold plan to reinvent a classic James Bond villain
It’s unclear whether Lewis-Parry’s time is over in the broken world of 28 Years Later, but he’s got his sights set on one of the biggest movie franchises of all time: James Bond. However, the star has something a little more interesting in mind than just playing 007… The iconic henchman, Jaws.
“I envision 2026 Jaws as an enforcer. He’s athletic, he’s aggressive, he’s an assassin by brute force. He doesn’t open the door, he goes through the door. He’d rip the door off the hinges and then throw it down. I feel like he’s a tactical technician and I’ve got a whole idea as to why he’s got a metal jaw and there’s a real thick backstory to him.
“The original Jaws in 1977, apart from his size, wasn’t necessarily scary by today’s cinematic climate. Whereas somebody who can move faster than the small guy, and once he gets hold of you’re pretty much done… That’s physical and devastating.”
Bond might be the goal for the future, but it’s the horror genre that Lewis-Parry always comes back to. In fact, while growing up it quickly became a comfort for the star.
“Even now I’ll put something on my phone to go to sleep, and it’ll be The Thing, or it’ll be Prince of Darkness…”
Blissful.
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