Alex Garland reveals how Civil War is partly autobiographical
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- čas přidán 14. 04. 2024
- Alex Garland’s latest film Civil War is unsettling even in its premise - maybe because of how real it feels. Set in a dystopian future America, the film follows a team of journalists who travel across the country during a rapidly escalating Second American Civil War. Alex sits down with Tom Power in studio for a conversation about what inspired the film, his feelings on journalism and media, and why Civil War is not just a warning about conflict, but the loss of a collective truth.
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FINALLY. A real interview with Alex Garland. Tom Power, you are the man.
my mom loves him lol she had a lot to say about his interview with Denis Villeneuve even though she's never seen any of his films 🤣
Also checkout The Big Picture podcast, interview with Sean Fennessey. Incredibly personal & in depth conversation around Civil War and related issues.
What an absolute pleasure, the best Alex Garland interview I've seen. The film was incredibly powerful. Like all of his work it makes an unforgettable impression and just sticks with you.
I've seen quite a few interviews with Alex Garland and while he's always incredibly interesting to listen to I don't think I've ever seen him look so comfy. well done!
What I like about Tom ( besides the terrific questions) is that he always looks totally engaged. I tend to find Alex Garland seems initially quite poker faced in interviews but then he always turns out to be effusive and generous. This was a good match.
Brilliant interview. Alex Garland is one of the most visionary directors of all-time - and it’s solidified by the fact that he would never agree with that. Thanks for sharing!
I love that it wasn’t explicitly stated it made it such a better film. Such a complex, brilliant film.
Brilliant interview. Alex Garland is absolutely right about journalism. I'm glad he made this movie.
Damn this interview was awesome
The desensitization depicted, the scenarios are so well depicted they all stall rent free in the back of my mind…believe me this movie will remain as a CLASSIC✨
Kristin Dunst did a great job underplaying PTSD.
I am so grateful for cinema that recognises that the audience is intelligent enough to understand and extrapolate or query the whys and not have everything spelt out. Oppenheimer was an incredible piece of cinema that had an implicit understanding that the audience would understand or investigate to extrapolate for themselves.
Best interview so far
Best interview I've listened to about the film. I really need to dig into Garland's filmography. I was very moved by Civil War.
Ex Machina is excellent if you’ve not seen it yet.
@@atreidesN I second Ex-Machina. Brilliant film - it shines even more than this one, IMO.
@@atreidesNFor sure, Ex Machina is the next film I'm gonna watch
Devs is my favorite of his, check it out
I deeply appreciated that there was no clear definition to why California and Texas were allies. also, war crimes that were enacted by rogue, individuals and groups, that US Americans associate with other countries. There was a point where I was so emotionally moved that I leaned forward and hugged the empty seat in front of me while the scene played out. I watched this film with my Air Force veteran gen-z son and I found a conversation spectacular. I can’t wait to buy it on Prime.
One thing to mention about a lot of the animosity toward legacy media these days is that much of it is well founded. Garland talks a lot about the very valid position of journalists as those who speak truth to power. But the distrust and hostility toward the news today is because they simply aren't doing that. Instead, they trade flattery of politicians and business leaders for access. They get bigger business if they actively support those with money and power. In America in particular, legacy media are private businesses run by wealthy moguls for whom profit is more important than content. As such, the public is presented not with an informative view of the world, but a false image tainted by so-called "journalists" uncritically parroting the talking points of the very people they should be holding accountable.
Ok, but that was the case almost always, with very few exceptions. Media was always a propaganda-tool of the wealthy and of the suppressors, who wanted to form public opinion. With the endless campaign against whistleblowers like Edward Snowden or Julian Assange, who is actively tortured and killed by the in-justice system, and how almost none of the so-called media-platforms are informing us about it, shows, that they are part of the problem and they always were, besides of very few brave, real journalists. They were always a rarity and always hunted and despised. Hated by their own fellow "colleagues" and by the powerful. Nothing has changed. (The only change is maybe that almost nobody buys newspapers anymore, because of the internet and online media, but I honestly can't feel any sympathy towards them. They dug their own graves and fully deserve their fate. Of course now they are even more power-conform and defensive regarding the status quo, because their complete lack of criticism and independent thinking is the only guarantee for their funding. A vicious circle.)
@@adambazso9207 No it's not a few exceptions if you've been paying attention. You clearly haven't.
I really love watching Alex Garland interview. So smart and interesting dude. Well spoken, calm and very talented filmmaker
Excellent interview! Thanks to both!
Great Interview. Best interview with Alex Garland I have seen. His comments on polarization (and the extremists responsible) at the end of the interview put into words exactly how I have been feeling recently.
Thank you for this incredible interview!
Fascinating interview, thank you so much!!
Gotta admit that Civil War might match the bar set with Ex Machina.
Awesome film. Quite an original way to address a subject like that one.
Props to Alex Garland and his team.
Peace from Spain🌿
incredible interview and insights, thank you!
Thank you for this! Just met Alex Georges from A24 who worked on this film. Incredible.
Tom's openness and how comfortable he seems to make his guests feel are all on display in full force, here. We literally get brand new insights into Garland because of it and it is so worthwhile and edifying to get his perspective
This was a fantastic interview! You're a great host
Best interview and I love how they open up in the process. The best reflections .
Incredible interview 👏🏻
Such a good interview!
Terrific movie. I felt there were many parallels to Apocalypse Now throughout the movie but everything was done in it's own unique way told through its own scope on a different topic.
Yeah definitely in between another Heart of Darkness-like and a bit of Dante's inferno...but fortunately not too explicitly derivative.
@@Dridgeism I haven't been lucky enough to read either yet but of course I know apocalypse now was based off of hearts of darkness. What similarities did you see between Dante's Inferno and Civil War?
Loved Civil War. Saw it yesterday on imax. Will be seeing it again today. The trailer was right: this movie was made for imax. The sound in this movie was really intense.
I definitely got those vibes too!
Thank you for this interview, what a fascinating person
Fantastic interview.
i've only seen a few interviews by tom but every one i see is ace - he matches the guests energy so well like a sparring partner and is always on his toes ready to follow any switch ups or something that can be explored and seeing what path the guest is up for exploring - must be a student of psychology
Q is the most underrated talk show
Outstanding interview & listen; well done!
great interview and love the Fleet Foxes t shirt
yes always appreciated
Thanks so much for making this film. As I watched I was reminded of the stories my godfather, who was a correspondent during the Vietnam War, told me. It was spot on and believable.
Excellent job.
Garland is a fiercely intelligent introspective individual, & it both gladdens me & saddens me many still quite don't get or understand his projects or his works.
Great job Tom
I didn't come away from this film with the same satisfaction as other garland films, but I have to remind myself I felt pretty confused after most of them- thrilled and intoxicated with the visual (and audial) and emotional journey of his films.. but this one left me puzzled and contemplating, still impressed but in a less clear way. I don't think I could bring myself to see the film a second time- but I hope some healthy dissent comes from it.
Amazing!!! And think the actor Wagner Moura fantastic. Congratulations.
I just came home from the movie theater and I loved the movie. I get that a movie especially like this, needs to be loud, but man, I should’ve brought some ear plugs 😵💫
As Peruvian, I agree 100% with Garland. Most of my friends are more worried and aware about US politics than our national politics (that is useless with most aspects of our life).
Not sure i believe Alex's statement @15:15 about the purpose of the Western Forces.
To me, the beauty of this film being released in our current historical moment, is that having a scenario where Texas and California are allies instantly breaks-down whatever partisan lens the viewer is bringing into the theater. That only works, precisely because it seems so implausible, from our current polarization. And by breaking the viewer out of that partisan dynamic, you enable them to see the ensuing violence for the tragedy & horror that it truly is.
I thought that it was a genius choice, and as a result this film is able reach so many more people than if Alex had portrayed a more 'plausible' political scenario. I find it hard to believe this effect is not completely intentional, from the get-go.
From what I see in the discourse about this film, a lot of viewers checked out mentally when they see that TA and CA joined forces and dismissed the film as nonsense, so his implicit message about a "litmus test" for partisanship is pretty valid.
@@mhawang8204 i have seen that attitude from folks as well... about the film's trailer. Havent seen anyone say that who has actually viewed the film.
Which is a shame, because its precisely those people who need this message most.
@@roymc1866 cringe
Perfect.
It seems like Michael Herr's Dispatches and Loyd's My War Gone by, I Miss It So influenced this . . . .
I loved the film, absolutely loved it.
How are people misreading this film?
It's almost as the film itself provides an answer to this question.
A solid film of consequence is hard to find...like cheap popcorn these inflationary spring days🎉
What terrifies me the most about Civil War is that given how America is now, it should have already happened in real life.
It was a very fast and very realistic movie.
This was an incredible movie, it brought to the foreground the recognition that the media really does not portray the reality of war to the extent that the general public are almost anaesthetised to the barbarism that is going on on in the world today. We are constantly fed ambient noise of war but nothing of the horrors.
Garland is right that you really don't want to be associated with the extremes of either party and really the idea that politics is two-party is dumb. You don't want to be agreeing with AOC often, like you don't want to be agreeing with Alex Jones or Nick Fuentes often.
This guy wrote enslaved odyssey to the west best game ever
I grew up in the late fifties and sixties and served as a medical corpsman in Vietnam. And things were much worse back then. There was an undeclared civil war over the actual war when I came back to the world after my tour of duty. But I think there will be a civil war in America. But I do think we are marching toward a Third World War given events in Ukraine or Gaza or this saber rattling in the South China Sea over Taiwan rather than a civil war in America.
32:30
Surprised to hear Alex actually laugh a bit. I thought he didn't have a humorous bone in his body.
It seems like Garland had a detailed backstory in mind and got advice from military analysts, but I'm not certain about this . . . .
My thought was more that both TX and CA have military formations that went with the States against the Feds and the decision is utilitarian rather than idealistic . . . . (settle this with the Feds then deal with the other state).
Pissing off the extremes means you are probably doing something right. The answer is moderation in everything. Garland seems to understand that even though he mentions he is left leaning.
Min 31:42
i absolutely love this : the world is absolutely and deranged going fascist - far right and people being like : oh, honestly i am a centrist ... i find that slightly chilling
This movie is what happens when truth and trust disappear. At that point you better be on the correct side in the right place at the right time. We take truth and trust for granted, like it's steady as oxygen or gravity. But look what happen in only the past 5 years.
It's a really good film, is it imperfect, yes, no film is perfect
Why are his glasses on his head the entire time?
You’ll understand soon youngling
I LOVE this! God is now clearly working through filmmakers in order to keep things as He wishes. America is not meant to be a fascist state. We were established with a shared recognition that no matter what we may call "God" be it Allah, God, the Universe or whatever, we are all his equally beloved children during the era of enlightenment! But oh how we have fallen from that enlightenment into a place of becoming a godless and nihilistic society whose "god" has become money and most people are unconsciously being enslaved by their own egos by way of advertising in America and elsewhere world-wide. This godless, fear-based, fascist threat is spreading all the time slowly too like a frog slowly being boiled alive in a pot of hat started with it being cold water on the stove. God is love. Love is in direct opposition to fear. Love is the answer. Alex Garland knows this and that's why he did not take a side on the left or the right, but instead stood up for a peaceful world and brotherly love amongst all humankind.
I believe we would all do well to listen to what Alex Garland and other wise centrists who support brotherly love and unity amongst all humankind, just as I do as well. Stop caring about what the extremists on the left and the right have to say and Come Together as one human family through brotherly love.
I'm just starting out on my film making career. Yet listening to this interview I can sense a kinship with Alex Garland. Alex Garland clearly listens to his conscience over all the propaganda being fed to us all in the world and I salute him for this! I sincerely pray that God will use me as His instrument to help make this world a better place through the films and TV series He inspires me to write and direct, just like our Heavenly Father so clearly has done and continues to do for our beloved brother, Alex Garland. May God bless Alex indeed and keep him putting such amazing and much needed films into the world. Amen.
Quintessentially, unapologetically British. ❤
All you need to know is the filmmaker thinks Texas and California are United
I'm confused. The movie did not make me appreciate journalism at all. It made me see the journalists as the prime example of what is wrong with humans that will lead to civil war. These war photographers have to shut off their empathy for non journalists, laughing and being aroused by the rush of the action after having watched random people die, while still being able to see the humanity of other journalists after these die later in the movie. It made me feel like that is exactly the psychological process that leads to civil war. We have well-meaning motivations that make us become just as blind to the humanity of "the other side".
Garland supremacy.
theres 666 likes
the ending is so cynical regarding the world of mass-media and journalism ...
"Division" is a problem??? Um so we should all just politely agree? lol This is a pretty milk toast take from Garland. I wish he would make some stronger statements, and less bland platitudes. His points don't land when he's wishy washy.
"Who is undermining trust in journalism?" That's easy: Journalists.
Trying to remove bias, is both impossible, but also leaves you in a bland, fence sitting, middle ground. Not a rational centrist position. So, basically, nonsense.
Regarding national divorce, it's not only necessary, it's successfully been done before elsewhere.
It's not necessary. We're more alike than we are different.
How is this movie more intelligent than like The Purge series? I hope it is, but if it's wishy washy, platitudes and "both sides" nonsense, it will be LESS effective than the Purge series.
Basically a 2 hour advert for the Military Industrial Complex .
Whoosh
He’s just capitalizing on Americas political angst. No matter how he dresses it up that’s all he’s doing.
this movie was somehow less powerful than Disney's Captain America.
No. Not really.
But have fun rousing the shallow and incurious rabble.
Journalists heroes? LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
you sound unhinged. just a friendly tip.
@@LeslieDugger No, the person who made a Trump Derangement Syndrome film sounds unhinged. Just a tip.
@@InlandDiscoEmpire deflection and whataboutism.. Classic.
@@LeslieDugger WHAT? LOL. Where was the whataboutism? lol. There is no whataboutism, I don't think one side is doing anything bad AT ALL lol. I'm just coming at you leftists lol. Whataboutism is when you say "They're doing something bad, but what about you!?" I'm not doing that, I think one side objectively good and the other evil lol keep up. And there was not deflection, you didn't say expose or asking me anything LOL! You just said I sound unhinged lol. I don't care and disagree, though that was clear lol. Is English your first language or something? lol.
@@LeslieDugger See what YOU attempted to do there was gas-light me and failed, classic lol.
Alan, Texas is voting is Trump. Cry more lol. And keep freaking out about a "fascist president" lol.
Trump said he'd be a dictator on day one. He stirs up political violence. He incited an insurrection because he's a sore loser. He said he would encourage Putin to attach other countries. Take your head out of the sand.
This is gonna be a very unpopular opinion/hot take, but there's nothing groundbreaking about remaking/plagiarizing Apocalypse Now, and Heart of Darkness, to make Civil War. I saw the film, and it's beat for beat the same, with a number of changes, the biggest one is reducing any backstory of any of the characters, and reducing any and all context for how we as the audience arrive to the CW already in progress.
AG's interviews ring hollow compared to Coppola's masterpiece, the making of masterpiece, and subsequent interviews about the experience of the Vietnam war, American and Franco Colonialism/Imperialism, and the immorality of war.
By giving minimal to no context to what led to the war in CW, and therefore what anyone's motives are, AG just plays it safe with the politics of a potential CW, and his own politics or lack thereof.
EDIT:
• Following President Nick Offerman's speech, both films open on our main characters in a hotel room, emotionally vacant but disturbed. Willard drunkenly suffering PTSD in Saigon, Lee in NYC editing while in the distance explosions breakout in the night sky
• Lee, Joel, and Sammy discuss a harrowing suicide trip to DC. This parallels Willard's briefing, mission, and receival of the Kurtz dossier
• Willard's mission is assassinating a rogue decorated Green Beret Colonel in enemy occupied Cambodia; Lee and Joel's mission is a character assassination of the President of the United States. Rather than physically kill the President, their mission is publicly kill his character for his role in the ongoing CW, his policies, and the atrocities he and his administration have committed
• Sammy is meant to be Chief, the older wiser sailor who captained/piloted the PBR. Joel and Lee can both interchangeably be Willard. There's no Lance, although Lee's fame as a photojournalist could substitute for Lance's fame as a surfer. Joel later substitutes for Chef, the PBR crewman, following Sammy's death, just as Chef became distraught after Chief's death, and upon learning Willard's true mission, once Chef has to pilot the PBR.
• The Ford truck is the river patrol boat (PBR)
• After they meet Jessie, and welcome her aboard their journey, she's our analogue for Clean, the youngest member of both crews.
• The American country roads and interstate are the Nung River
• Both films have scenes where their vessels come upon a precarious stop for fuel. The PBR stops for fuel, and Willard negotiates with the Playboy Bunny manager for the crew to sleep with them. Lee and the gang negotiates with the country folk militiamen for fuel in exchange for Canadian currency.
• Both crews are horrified by the hanging bodies/corpses in the area. In AN, this is closer to when the crew reach Kurtz's compound, as part of the setting. In CW, it's at the gas station.
• The crews continue their journey. The stop by the crashed helicopter, and how "you don't see that everyday" is not unlike the AN crew coming across the tail of a downed B52
• The raid and aftermath between the Western Front sided Militiamen plays out kinda like one of the sniper battles in Full Metal Jacket, but mostly like Kilgore's cavalry beach raid once the militiamen storm the building, and execute the surrendered loyalist force.
• Both crews continue their journey, the refugee camp at the stadium is our stand in for Kilgore's campfire, but especially their journey into town with the rooftop snipers plays off the campfire peace, and the peace the PBR crew find with the French colonists who refuse to give up their land to the Vietnamese. The townsfolk refuse to engage with war.
• As the crews continue their journey until they come upon a raucous environment. For the PBR crew, it's the Do Lung Bridge, with all the music and explosions. For the journalists, it's the Christmas display that turns out to be a sniper battle. The sniper who's calm, collected, and demands silence, is our analogue for Roach, the grenadier who kills the lone Vietnamese terrorizing the Americans at the Do Lung Bridge outpost.
• Both Joel and Captain Willard ask their respective soldier, who it is they're fighting. Both soldiers scoff at our protagonists, for asking such a dumb question, before elaborating. AN says it's a lone Vietnamese soldier. CW says whoever is shooting at them. AN Willard asks who's in charge, CW Joel asks along the lines, whose side are you on; both "snipers" retort that they either know or elaborate about being on the side shooting back at whoever is shooting them in the first place
• Both "snipers" make their kill successfully after getting the silence they demand
• Both crews try to unwind on their vessels to unsuccessful ends. On the PBR, they drop LSD, smoke, and light a smoke grenade. On the truck, they exchange passengers while driving side by side with the Hong Kong journalists
• Both crews come under attack. The PBR by the Montagnards, the journalists by the militiamen who stop Jessie and one of the Hong Kong journalists.
• The Jesse Plemons scene plays out not unlike the scene in AN where they stop another riverboat and murder the crew, including an innocent woman. Jesse Plemons is making a mass grave, and subsequently murders the Hong Kong journalists. The PBR killed the woman just hiding her puppy and livestock.
• Sammy rescues the journalists, Chief pilots the PBR and orders an attack on the Montagnards. Both are hit by stray gunfire/arrows
• Chef loses it after Chief dies, and upon learning about the real mission into Cambodia. Jessie doesn't physically die like Clean does, but emotionally she's not as naive or inexperienced as when she started the journey.
• Both crews reach their final destination, DC and Cambodia. If the building raid didn't have the energy of Kilgore's beach raid, the whole helicopter sequence in DC did.
• Both crews reach their respective antagonist compound, Kurtz's compound and the White House. Both crews reach their antagonist, Kurtz and President Nick Offerman. Kurtz is murdered not unlike the water buffalo ritual. The President's character is murdered by his final quote/plea to Joel. You could argue that Joel's weapon, his pen, recorder, or keyboard are mightier or as mighty as the swords of the Western Front forces. Willard's is the machete.
Watching Apocalypse Now you might get an impression that that war was cool. watching Civil War you won't get the war is cool feeling.
Making an anti-war movie = plagiarizing Apocalypse Now is a wildly bad take
I love Apocalypse Now and I enjoyed this. Didn't bother me in the slightest.
Did you watch the same movie? Cause I didn't get a whole lot of apocalypse now out of civil war
@@stephenericwalsh I enjoyed both, but CW strikes me as emotionally hollow in comparison, and the marketing interviews make the hollowness worse, because there's way more emotional and intelligent discourse in the interviews rather than what was depicted on screen for CW.
Civil War - Horrible movie I was fooled by the title. I will never see a movie again without reviewing. Waste of time and money. I don't even want to hear ever again about this man.
Sounds like you got triggered! What did the film do to hurt your poor little feelings so much?
What superficial drivel.
Because?
@@Sharvalgon His talking points are propaganda zero depth.
@@pinecone9045 Can you give me some examples of why?
@@Sharvalgon His use of the term fascism is that of a proper 12 year old.
@@pinecone9045 What's your definition of it?
Alex Garland, based on this interview, is obviously a naive fool.
Because?
@@Sharvalgon People hate modern journalists because they are corrupt sycophants controlled by political factions, spending most of their time trying to censor or imprison their political rivals. Fascism isn't just a slur; it has a meaning. A fascist president would imply the concentration of political and military power in Washington, meaning an expansion, politicization and weaponization of the FBI rather its disbanding. Modern Texans and Californians would eagerly slaughter each other over their differences and then be ruled by a dictator, rather than work together under any circumstances. The current population of America, including the hyper-polarized traditional American nation and the enormous mishmash of paper citizen foreigners from all four corners of the Earth, has nothing in common binding it together. Economically, culturally, demographically, militarily and politically America is in terminal decline vis-a-vis the rest of the world. That kind of a country will inevitably fragment or become an autocracy.
@@Sharvalgonhe is british, he doesnt know anything about america
And yes the great Jan 6ht lol. The ONE day people stood around and were GUIDED THROUGH a building by security lol. Meanwhile 4 straight months of riots over a guy overdosing on fentanyl lol.
It’s a crap film😂😂😂😂
When DT was campaigning before being elected, I saw all the makings of a civil war developing as a consequence. It’s pretty obvious how divided we became and become increasingly each day. A very sad state of affairs in our country.
Insufferably smug.
How is he smug?
Garland had disappointed ever since Ex Machina. Civil war was just cliche character on top of Chiche character on top of cliche with an ending you can see coming from miles away. Zero internal logic and just plain missed opportunities everywhere . Smart guy but he sucks. And so much politically correct Bs here I’m done w him he’s had so many chances. Duck him
The miniseries Devs was very good in my opinion. The Kenton-character was a bit unbelievable, how strong, terrifying and efficient he was, but otherwise it was a terrific show, with lots of great performances. Contemplative and thought-provoking. I didn't like Annihilation or Men. Annihilation felt mostly hollow and forced to me (although the scene where Natalie Portman meets the mimicking- alien was frightening and good), Men too. But in both films there was some really strange and interesting imagery. I didn't see Civil War yet, it seems to be a bit similar to "Leave the World Behind", but much better or just more detailed regarding the actual unrest which unfolds.
@@adambazso9207 haven’t seen devs. Yeah I agree w the rest of your comments. CZcams just flagged my same critique of civil war as cliche on another CZcams channel as “Hate Speech” lol!! So I guess criticizing a movie is now political too?
What is he politically wrong about? You sound disappointed because you think he owes you something?