They seem to have heightened senses, or at least there's definitely an olfactory component to the infection.
Totally. Actually that came up in the research with Jane [McGrath] that we did. That part of this was the olfactory bulb would spread and it would give them the senses of a dog. That everything was so heightened and repulsive. Rather than wanting to eat brains it's almost as if the smell of humans is so repulsive that the only way to get rid of it is by ingesting it. That was part of the idea of why they act like they do. And then the idea that they would behave and act like wolves. And that they would have that pack mentality.
They have a distinctive look your zombies...
We had a really great makeup designer, Julie-Ann Ryan, who created a brilliant look. Again it was a very heightened human infection. So it didn't feel supernatural or otherworldly. It was blue veins and skin and that kind of strange saliva-type look around the mouth. She did a great job to enhance that. I think the combination of the movement and the makeup really helped bring them to life.
Did you look to other work as inspiration?
Yes absolutely. It is in the zombie genre, so of course you are going to look to what people had done before. And look to see what you can do that it different. I think the big thing for us was that the infection had that wolfpack mentality and heightened intelligence. Of course you look at things, but you don't want to repeat what somebody else has done, while still playing a sort of homage to Romero. It was about creating our own style, our own creature, that would be synonymous with The Cured. It is a tricky balance. You want to make sure that it is somewhat familiar, because you can't do the zombie film that begins when others end if what is there is not in any way familiar to what has gone before. So you need to find what is familiar from those films while elevating it to make it distinct and have your own style. So we absolutely paid homage to the masters.
So there was no desire then to go full Romero and set it at Phibsborough Shopping Centre?
I would have if i could have got the permission! We got really lucky with the locations. One of the locations that I really wanted, and that I didn't get, was that the quarantine centre was supposed to be set at Mosney. But obviously that's where we have a lot of asylum seekers and people in direct provision. That has its own horror story going on there. It would have been so apt, but unfortunately we couldn't shoot there. So that was the one location that I wanted and couldn't get. I had that idea...I had this big image of having a doctor's examination room in an abandoned pool. Which we did find and had painted. Our incredible production designer [Conor Dennison] had painted all of that childhood stuff. It was an image that I had. I like the idea of taking a resort or a hotel where there are happy memories and turning it into a military facility.
Some of our hotels have become a bit like that with the housing crisis, and that's something that you hit on a bit with this. That idea of people with nowhere to go due to circumstances beyond their control.
I wanted to make sure that it was a complicated picture. Which it would be. That's why we open with these two characters who are being let out of quarantine. Senan, Sam's character, is being accepted back by his remaining family, Abbie, Ellen Page, his sister-in-law. And then have Conor, Tom's character, who is rejected by his. And the idea is that it is a complicated picture. There are those who are of course accepted by their loved ones, and then those that just can't forgive them for what they have done or are frightened by them, and then those that don't have any family left to take them home. It is very much a divided society. It's not a blanket hate or blanket open arms. We are trying to ensure that it is all shades of grey and a complicated picture. Which I think it would be.
You wrote the part of Senan with Sam in mind...
Yeah, when I had it written I thought that he would be great at that! I think with all of the actors you have to be open-minded but we were really lucky