Acclaimed filmmaker Alex Garland has made a shocking decision. Before his latest A24 film, Civil War, releases in theaters, the filmmaker announced his next steps.
Speaking to The Guardian, Garland told the outlet that he's “not planning to direct again in the foreseeable future.” This could be due to a loss of passion.
Later in the interview, he elaborated. “I do actually love film, but filmmaking doesn't exist in a vacuum. It exists in a life and also in a broader context. I have to interact, in a way — without being rude — like this…” he said as he gestured toward the journalist.
While he may not give up filmmaking forever, it does seem that Garland will take a break after Civil War comes out. To be fair, the time between his last two films was shorter (a little under two years) than the break between his first two films (over three years). Perhaps Garland just needs a reset after his latest film is released in theaters.
Who is Alex Garland?
Alex Garland first gained notoriety for writing the 1996 novel, The Beach. He has since gone into the film and video game mediums.
In 2002, Garland wrote Danny Boyle's post-apocalyptic film 28 Days Later. A few years later, he served as an executive producer of the sequel film, 28 Weeks Later. Garland would subsequently work on Never Let Me Go and Dredd as a writer (and producer in the latter film's case).
He made his directorial debut with Ex Machina in 2014. The A24 sci-fi film starred Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, and Oscar Isaac. It follows a programmer who is personally invited to run tests on an intelligent robot. Ex Machina won Best Visual Effects at the Oscars, and Garland's script was up for Best Original Screenplay.
For his next film, Garland moved over to Paramount to direct Annihilation. Garland wrote the script and directed the film based on Jeff VanderMeer's 2014 novel of the same name. It follows scientists who enter “The Shimmer.”
Four years later, Garland returned to A24. He directed Men, a folk horror film. Men followed a widowed woman, played by Jessie Buckley, who is tormented by several men in the local village. All of the men are played by Rory Kinnear.
Garland also co-wrote and served as a Story Supervisor of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and DmC: Devil May Cry, respectively.
What is Civil War?
Civil War is Garland's latest directorial feature. It follows a group of journalists who travel across the United States covering the Second American Civil War. There are the “Western Forces,” which are led by Texas and California, and then the American government.
Kirsten Dunst stars in the film as a renowned photojournalist. Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson are three of Lee's colleagues. Nick Offerman, Jesse Plemons, and Sonoya Mizuno also starred in the film.
Civil War had its world premiere on March 14, 2024, at SXSW (South by Southwest film festival). A24 will release the film in theaters on April 12.
Civil War will be released on April 12.
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