Former MMA fighter Chi Lewis-Parry, who plays the terrifying Alpha in “28 Years Later,” on whether or not his massive prosthetic was proportional to reality:
“Well, I’m 6′ 8″. I’ll say no more!”https://t.co/akHyZNfQck pic.twitter.com/IZ95BZSQJq
— Variety (@Variety) June 22, 2025
Chi Lewis-Parry, a 6-foot-8-inch actor and former MMA fighter, plays Samson, an ‘Alpha’ infected in 28 Years Later.
The character of Samson has gone viral on social media and with critics for his large prosthetic penis (all the infected have prosthetics due to the child actor on set per law) which the film does not shy away from showing. Variety asked Lewis-Parry if it was proportionate and he responded ‘Well, I’m 6′ 8″. I’ll say no more!”
On Samson: ‘I suppose you could don him as the “King of the Infected,” especially how I played him. There are things that didn’t make the cut, but he’s very much in charge of everything. You get to see that with the interactions that the other infected have when they’re around him. They’re like hyenas, and he’s the lion. He will have his feed and you will have what is left!’
‘I created a backstory. I’ve actually got a little notebook. In my head, what I did to help visualize his intentions and for him to be an Alpha, is have him saving others. He sacrificed himself to protect others and thus he became an infected. It made him less of a monster for me.’
He also described being friends with co-star Ralph Fiennes: ‘I was actually a stand-in for Hagrid on “Harry Potter.” And Ralph was there in character and I remember standing next to him and just admiring and watching how he worked. And I shared this story with him while working on this and it brought us close. He’s a very special man and I love him dearly. And I truly mean that he’s done so much for me just by being present in any moment. He asks how you are, he supports you if you need something.’
