Doomsday is an upcoming science fiction film written and directed by Neil Marshall. The film stars Rhona Mitra and Bob Hoskins. Doomsday is set to be released March 14, 2008 in the USA.

Doomsday takes place three decades after a lethal virus called the Reaper nearly wipes out Scotland and causes the rest of the world to wall off the country. When the Reaper begins to emerge in another country 25 years later, an elite team and their leader (Rhona Mitra) are sent to the contaminated landscape of Scotland to find a cure.

Director Neil Marshall originally came up with the idea of Doomsday by having a vision of “a futuristic action warrior fighting a knight in armor”. The story was inspired by post-apocalyptic thriller films that Marshall had grown up watching. He cited as influences the films Mad Max (1979), The Road Warrior (1981), Escape from New York (1981), Metalstorm (1983), The Warriors (1979), Excalibur (1981), and works of director Terry Gilliam like The Fisher King (1991). Rogue Pictures signed Marshall to direct Doomsday in October 2005, and in November 2006, actress Rhona Mitra was signed to star in Doomsday as the leader of the elite team. Production began on February 9, 2007 in South Africa.

On May 1, 2007, filming in the UK commenced at Scotland’s Blackness Castle for a ten-day shoot. Filming also took place in Cape Town and Glasgow. The majority of filming took place in South Africa, with several scenes filmed outside the country in Glasgow.

A massive car chase scene was also filmed for Doomsday, described by Marshall to be one part Mad Max, one part Bullitt (1968), and one part “something else entirely different”. The film also contains the director’s trademark gore and violence from previous films, including a scene where a character is cooked alive and eaten. Paul Hyett, the prosthetic make-up designer who worked on Marshall’s previous film The Descent, contributed to the production, researching diseases including sexually transmitted diseases to design the make-up for victims of the Reaper virus.

Cast:

  • Rhona Mitra as Eden Sinclair, the leader of the elite team sent to find a cure. The heroine was inspired by the character Snake Plissken.Mitra worked out and trained in fighting for eleven weeks for the film. Marshall described Mitra’s character as a soldier who has been rendered cold from her military indoctrination, and her journey to find the cure for the virus is one of redemption.
  • Bob Hoskins as Bill Nelson, a policeman who nominates Sinclair for the mission and monitors her progress.
  • Malcolm McDowell as Kane, a former scientist who found the cure for the virus and now lives as a feudal lord in an abandoned castle. McDowell described his character as a King Lear. According to Marshall, Kane is based on Kurtz from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The director originally sought to bring Sean Connery out of retirement to play Kane but was unsuccessful.
  • Craig Conway as Sol, the son of Kane and the leader of the Marauders, a renegade gang that was left behind in Scotland.
  • Alexander Siddig in an unnamed role.
  • Adrian Lester as McNaughton, The DSS Sergeant assigned to be Sinclair’s right arm.
    Rick Warden as Chandler, A DSS Corporal. He is the member of the armoured division and designated APC driver.
  • Nora-Jane Noone as Read, A DSS soldier, she is the team mechanic and a designated APC driver.
  • Leslie Simpson as Carpenter, DSS Rifleman, his job is to protect the team from whatever lies beyond the walls.
  • Chris Robson as Miller, DSS Rifleman. His job is to protect the team from whatever lies beyond the wall.
  • Sean Pertwee as Doctor Talbot, part of the task force set up to study the reaper virus. He will do whatever it takes to find a cure, even if it means a journey into the heart of “no man’s land”.

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