Cinema's Most Unnerving Voice: The Legacy of Alex Garland

For the past 20 years, Alex Garland has brought to life some uniquely strange and interesting worlds that have both been entertaining to watch and challenging to view. In my eyes, he is a filmmaker and storyteller who seems to enjoy riding this line of division between entertainment and discomfort, making us feel both excited to have watched his new body of work while also being fearful of what actually happens.
But it seems like the Alex Garland era is coming to an end and for what it’s worth, I feel like it’s important to reflect upon his entire body of work and what made his writing so special. This is a man who has written stories that have explored dystopian settings and life-threatening situations, questions what it means to be who we are and what happens at the very edge of new frontiers that are not of human nature.
With what looks to be his final film called Civil War, Alex Garland looks to be leaving a legacy of stories that challenge the existing narrative both by providing outlooks to future scenarios that are not too hard to imagine, but that are incredibly creative and fascinatingly brutal to watch. The world of cinema won’t feel the same without him, but at the same time, I am glad that he has given us some thoughtful pieces of art to date, and I am hopeful that he will continue to work in some form or capacity on other works of different mediums in the future.
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Who is Alex Garland?
Alexander Medawar Garland (born 26 May 1970) is an English novelist, screenwriter, and director. He rose to prominence with his novel The Beach (1996). He subsequently received praise for writing the Danny Boyle films 28 Days Later (2002) and Sunshine (2007), as well as Never Let Me Go (2010) and Dredd (2012). In video games, he co-wrote Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (2010) and served as a story supervisor on DmC: Devil May Cry (2013).
Garland made his directorial debut when he wrote and directed the sci-fi thriller Ex Machina (2014). The film earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, and won him three British Independent Film Awards, including Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best British Independent Film. His second film, Annihilation (2018), an adaptation of the 2014 novel of the same name, was also a critical success. This was followed by the horror thriller Men (2022) and action epic Civil War (2024), both produced by A24. In television, Garland served as a writer, director and executive producer for the FX miniseries Devs (2020).
In 2002, Garland wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's film 28 Days Later, starring Cillian Murphy. He has said that the script was influenced by 1970s zombie films and English science fiction like The Day of the Triffids. Video games such as the Resident Evil series also served as an influence for 28 Days Later, with Garland crediting the first game for revitalizing the zombie genre. Inspiration for the "Rage" virus came from real-world infections such as Ebola and filoviruses. He won a Best Screenplay honor at the 2004 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards for his script of the film.
In 2005, Garland wrote a screenplay for a film adaptation of Halo. D. B. Weiss and Josh Olson rewrote this during 2006 for a 2008 release, although the film was later canceled. In 2007, he wrote the screenplay for the film Sunshine, which was his second screenplay to be directed by Danny Boyle and to star Cillian Murphy. Garland served as an executive producer on 28 Weeks Later, the sequel of 28 Days Later. He wrote the screenplay for the 2010 film Never Let Me Go, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. He also wrote the script for Dredd, an adaptation of the Judge Dredd comic book series from 2000 AD. In 2018, Karl Urban, who played the eponymous role in the film, stated that it was Garland who deserved credit for also directing Dredd.
Garland made his directorial debut with Ex Machina, a 2014 feature film based on his own story and screenplay, starring Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac. The film won a Jury Prize at the 2015 Gerardmer Film Festival, and earned Garland a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
And if you’re still reading this - hello.
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[@cinemilking]

Sunshine is my top 3 favorite movies. I see it is a story about preserving the goodness and humanity in the darkest situations when people know for sure they won't survive and they are alone against evil

[@motioninart]

I really like this interpretation.

[@Mr_Case_Time]

I highly recommend DEVS, which is Garland’s show on HULU.

[@motioninart]

watched the first episode. looks very underrated. can't wait to finish it.

[@albacore1629]

Garland has stated that the comment was taken out of context... he said he will be taking a haitus from Directing not movies/screenwriting.

[@motioninart]

Great news

[@Flitalidapouet]

Sunshine is a FANTASTIC movie, minus 10 last minutes. Not sure Civil War right in 2024 election has good intention's behind it.

[@motioninart]

I have a feeling that's why they chose to release Civil Wars this year. Did you enjoy the movie?