Iron Maiden News, Links, and Interviews

From the New York Times, captured ahead of the paywall:


By Esther Zuckerman

Jan. 21, 2026

This article contains spoilers for “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.”

In “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” the most thrilling set piece does not involve any hordes of undead. Instead, it’s the moment when Ralph Fiennes, as a mild-mannered doctor, puts on a showstopping performance to Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast.”

“I wanted it to be the best ‘Lip Sync for Your Life’ that had ever happened,” the director Nia DaCosta said in a video interview, referring to the challenge from the reality competition show “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

And indeed Fiennes’s Dr. Kelson is quite literally lip syncing for his life. He needs to convince the Jimmys, members of the cult led by the menacing Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), that he is indeed Old Nick, otherwise known as Satan. So against the backdrop of a memorial he constructed out of human bones, he blasts some heavy metal, puts on some leather and wields a lot of fire to make his case. He also uses some powder from his medicine cabinet to drug the Jimmys, heightening the rock concert effect.

It’s a savvy measure that is telegraphed earlier in the movie when the audience learns that Kelson has maintained his record collection despite living in postapocalyptic Britain, grooving to Duran Duran.

“I think he was a big live music person,” DaCosta said. “I think he was that dude who was the oldest guy at the concert. He just likes good music. He would have loved Olivia Rodrigo.”

For the Jimmys, however, many of whom were born into this world with few creature comforts, DaCosta wanted to capture their first time hearing projected music. While Alex Garland’s screenplay referenced the specific Iron Maiden track, DaCosta was on her own to stage it as she saw fit. To work with Fiennes, DaCosta brought on the choreographer Shelley Maxwell, with whom she also collaborated on “Hedda” (2025). Maxwell came armed with references from which to pull.

“I looked at Butoh, which is the Japanese contemporary art form, just because it’s slow and it’s expressive and it’s very kind of folding inward and outward with the body, which I thought might be good for that beginning moment,” Maxwell said in a separate video interview. She also wanted to incorporate “something that would be quite outwardly expressive” and would be perceived almost as threatening to the Jimmys.

For that sensation she turned to the Maori haka dance. She thought Fiennes would like the idea of how “fierce and challenging it is,” and he did throw his whole body into the effort of filming.

“He’s so tapped into his physicality that he’s able to give his body the freedom to move from the top of his head straight down to the bottom of his foot in such a way that he can access, in totality, his spinal structure,” Maxwe
 
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Helmuth Von Moltke said:
From the New York Times, captured ahead of the paywall:


By Esther Zuckerman

Jan. 21, 2026

This article contains spoilers for “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.”

In “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” the most thrilling set piece does not involve any hordes of undead. Instead, it’s the moment when Ralph Fiennes, as a mild-mannered doctor, puts on a showstopping performance to Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast.”

“I wanted it to be the best ‘Lip Sync for Your Life’ that had ever happened,” the director Nia DaCosta said in a video interview, referring to the challenge from the reality competition show “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

And indeed Fiennes’s Dr. Kelson is quite literally lip syncing for his life. He needs to convince the Jimmys, members of the cult led by the menacing Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), that he is indeed Old Nick, otherwise known as Satan. So against the backdrop of a memorial he constructed out of human bones, he blasts some heavy metal, puts on some leather and wields a lot of fire to make his case. He also uses some powder from his medicine cabinet to drug the Jimmys, heightening the rock concert effect.

It’s a savvy measure that is telegraphed earlier in the movie when the audience learns that Kelson has maintained his record collection despite living in postapocalyptic Britain, grooving to Duran Duran.

“I think he was a big live music person,” DaCosta said. “I think he was that dude who was the oldest guy at the concert. He just likes good music. He would have loved Olivia Rodrigo.”

For the Jimmys, however, many of whom were born into this world with few creature comforts, DaCosta wanted to capture their first time hearing projected music. While Alex Garland’s screenplay referenced the specific Iron Maiden track, DaCosta was on her own to stage it as she saw fit. To work with Fiennes, DaCosta brought on the choreographer Shelley Maxwell, with whom she also collaborated on “Hedda” (2025). Maxwell came armed with references from which to pull.

“I looked at Butoh, which is the Japanese contemporary art form, just because it’s slow and it’s expressive and it’s very kind of folding inward and outward with the body, which I thought might be good for that beginning moment,” Maxwell said in a separate video interview. She also wanted to incorporate “something that would be quite outwardly expressive” and would be perceived almost as threatening to the Jimmys.

For that sensation she turned to the Maori haka dance. She thought Fiennes would like the idea of how “fierce and challenging it is,” and he did throw his whole body into the effort of filming.

“He’s so tapped into his physicality that he’s able to give his body the freedom to move from the top of his head straight down to the bottom of his foot in such a way that he can access, in totality, his spinal structure,” Maxwe
Click to expand...
And here's Voldemort lip-syncing to The Number of the Beast:

 
Nomadd said:
Documentary dedicated to Paul Di'Anno is coming this Summer via Cleopatra Records!
www.spin.com

New Doc Spotlights Original Iron Maiden Singer Paul Di'Anno - SPIN

The extraordinary life of original Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di'Anno is chronicled in the upcoming documentary... The extraordinary life of original Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di'Anno is chronicled in the upcoming documentary...
www.spin.com www.spin.com
Click to expand...
Mixed views about this. Even with Paul's consent this seems exploitative of his suffering.
Awful sound quality in that trailer, makes me wonder whether it will look amateurish.
I'm sure Stjepan Juras feels validated however (which is a questionable metric).
 
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