Ex Machina Director Steps Down After His Upcoming Epic Dystopia
The filmmaker quits directing and limits his zone of interest only to screenwriting.
Summary:
- Alex Garland is known for his partnership with the renowned director Danny Boyle and his own inventive films, such as Ex Machina and Annihilation.
- He has recently stated he decided to finish directing movies after the release of his upcoming project Civil War, which is scheduled this month.
Some filmmakers often try to take different roles all at once - the ones of director, screenwriter, producer and even actor, which can result in emotional burnout or in the loss of understanding whether they can handle it. Alex Garland, who is famous mostly as a screenwriter, was in a number of those who tried directing films on his own.
Famous mostly for his scripts for Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later ( 2002) and Sunshine (2007), he debuted as a director with the sci-fi thriller Ex Machina in 2014, which received huge critical acclaim.
The following projects of Garland, Annihilation (2018) and Men (2022), gained quite a divisive reception, which obviously spoiled the ground for his upcoming dystopian action film titled Civil War, coming in theaters soon.
Despite some controversial decisions made by him as a director, public interest in his movies has been only growing. However, in a recent interview he stated he’s “not planning to direct again in the foreseeable future” and going to focus mostly on writing.
“I do actually love film, but film-making doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It exists in a life and also in a broader context,” assures Garland of his tiredness of managing the shooting process, which has no deal with his despise of this art.
It can seem that the Ex Machina filmmaker got miserable distributing Hollywood finances and of the fact that his creative ideas “lose a bit of their nuance once the big money rolls in,” as voiced by Redditor @RushIsABadBand.
However, he states that it isn't a money issue, but rather a question of making people trust you and your concepts.
The public opinion on Garland’s retirement as a director has been divided. Some people critically admitted that it’s a fair decision, if we take his directorial works into account.
“He was simply far more succesful as a writer than as a director. I think he would be the first person to admit that,” bitingly claims @Potential_Farmer_305.
The more optimistic part of Redditors started calling out other cases when filmmakers stated they’d quit directing and then eventually returned, hoping the same would happen with Garland.
“Remember when Steven Soderbergh announced his retirement? That didn't last very long and good thing he didn't mean it,” recalls @B_L_Zbub.
Not making any loud conclusions, let’s just wait for the new director’s movie, as Civil War is coming to theaters already on April 12, and for the sequel of Boyle’s acclaimed zombie horror, 28 Years Later, where Garland is involved as a screenwriter.
Source: The Guardian