28 Years Later's Ralph Fiennes Reveals If Voldemort Influenced Bone Temple Look

Ralph Fiennes was channeling Nigel Tufnel more than Tom Riddle in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.

The Oscar-nominated actor gave a showstopping yet unexpected performance during the film’s climactic finale, with his Dr. Ian Kelson—who invoked Nigel’s iconic “goes to 11” quote from This Is Spinal Tap—dancing and lip synching along to Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast.”

Kelson also fashioned a heavy metal-inspired look with a bald head, chalky white skin and darkened eyes—but it seems any visual similarities to Harry Potter’s He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were coincidental. 

“I don't know that I was channeling Voldemort at all,” Fiennes revealed to the Associated Press. “I think I was channeling a bit of me that doesn't get permission to do that s--t much."

Fiennes’ third-act musical number was part of a ruse at the behest of Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), who needed Kelson to portray “Old Nick,” a.k.a the devil, in order to keep his band of Teletubbies-inspired “fingers” in check. 

"The stamina this man has is insane,” director Nia DaCosta said of Fiennes shooting the sequence. “We did it like all night, I think. Over and over again. It was freezing. He's shirtless. It was crazy. And then we have these like kids there who are like, 'What is happening?'"

Photo: Sony Pictures

Filming the psychedelic nightmare inside Kelson’s titular monument to the Latin adage "memento mori"—"remember we must die”—went on to earn adulation from cast and crew behind the scenes.

“Every take was just so spectacular. Every take, everyone's like (applauds). It was amazing,” the Marvels director recalled. “It's absolute madness, but it was fantastic."

As for the UK’s celebrated heavy metal band, they were ready for the track off their 1982 album of the same name to become The Bone Temple’s epic needle drop moment.

“We were delighted to be offered this placement prior to the shooting of the last two (28 Years Later) movies,” Iron Maiden explained in a statement to Planet Rock, “and whilst we knew it was a pivotal scene, we couldn’t have foreseen just how incredible it was going to be.”

“We don’t let many people use our music but with the British vibe of this series,” they continued, “and the knowledge that Danny Boyle, Alex Garland and director Nia DaCosta (made it) we felt it was a calculated risk!!”

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is in theaters worldwide.