’28 Years Later’ director Danny Boyle talks iPhone filmmaking

Apple has released a video of director Danny Boyle praising the benefits of using an iPhone to film “28 Years Later.”

The horror sequel “28 Years Later” was filmed entirely on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, a creative decision by director Danny Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle. To promote the movie appearing in the Apple TV app, Apple has posted a video to YouTube of the director discussing filming on the iPhone.

The brief video starts out explaining that the original films used hardware that was widely available at the time. However, technology has moved on so much that smartphones can film at a standard perfect for a cinema release.

Boyle believes that iPhone filmmaking lets productions take place very quickly and “very lightly.” As he wanted the scenes and landscape to look like it hadn’t been touched for 28 years, the lightness of the setup meant the production itself didn’t make as much of an impact as it normally would.

He adds that the compact nature of the iPhone meant that rigs could be created with up to 20 iPhones. These light rigs could be easily moved around, constructed off-site then brought on-site for capturing the shots.

These rigs were initially shown in images released in May 2025, while one from 2024 showed star Jodie Cromer near an unusual camera rig. One that combined a cinema camera lens with a protective case capable of holding an iPhone.

This allowed filmmakers to use a wider array of focal lengths, as well as the more refined control systems cinema lenses use.

This is far from the first time that the iPhone has been the unseen star of video productions. It has previously been used in “Unsane” from 2018, as well as regional election coverage in the UK.

For Apple’s own purposes, it has filmed some Apple Events using iPhones, while iPhone parts were used to make a custom camera for the Apple Original Film “F1: The Movie.”