Alex Garland

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Alex Garland
File:Alex-garland.jpg
Born Alexander Medawar Garland
(1970-05-26) 26 May 1970 (age 54)
London, England
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • filmmaker
Years active 1996–present
Spouse(s) Paloma Baeza
Children 2
Relatives Nicholas Garland (father)
Peter Medawar (maternal grandfather)
Jean Medawar (maternal grandmother)

Alexander Medawar Garland (born 26 May 1970) is an English novelist and filmmaker. 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 (Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best British Independent Film). His second film, Annihilation (2018), was an adaptation of the 2014 novel and was also a critical success. He wrote and directed the miniseries Devs (2020) and the horror film Men (2022).

Early life

Alexander Medawar Garland[1] was born in London on 26 May 1970,[2][3] the son of psychologist Caroline (née Medawar) and political cartoonist Nicholas Garland. He has a younger brother and two older paternal half-siblings. He is the maternal grandson of writer Jean Medawar and biologist Peter Medawar, the latter of whom was born in Brazil to an English mother and Lebanese father.[4] He was educated at University College School in Hampstead and later graduated from the University of Manchester with an Art History degree.[5][6]

Career

Novels

Garland's first novel, The Beach, was published in 1996. Based upon his travels across Europe and Thailand, it tells the story of a young English backpacker who discovers an unspoiled seashore occupied by a community of like-minded backpackers. The novel is noted for its references to drug culture, sequences of hallucinations, and unique depictions of excess and utopia. The Beach was initially met with positive reviews, and with a spreading word of mouth response, the novel grew in popularity; it led some critics to regard Garland a key voice of Generation X.[7] He would later speak of his discomfort with the fame The Beach brought him.[5] The Beach has been translated into 25 different languages[8] and sold close to 700,000 copies by the start of 1999.[9] It was developed into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2003, the novel was Ranked 103 in BBC's The Big Read poll.[10]

Garland's The Tesseract (1998) is a non-linear narrative with several interwoven characters, set in Manila, Philippines. The novel is characterized by a post-modernist narrative style and structure. It explores several themes such as love and violence through each character's circumstance and context of surroundings as well as seemingly inconsequential actions and the repercussions of those actions on other characters. The Tesseract did not enjoy the critical or commercial success of The Beach, but it too has a film adaptation.

Throughout his career and work, Garland has expressed his love of travel (particularly backpacking) and his love of Manila, much of which influenced his work.[8]

Film

In 2002, Garland wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's film 28 Days Later, starring Cillian Murphy.[11] He has said that the script was influenced by 1970s zombie films and English science fiction like The Day of the Triffids.[12] 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.[13] Inspiration for the "Rage" virus came from real-world infections such as Ebola and filoviruses.[12] 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.[14] D. B. Weiss and Josh Olson rewrote this during 2006 for a 2008 release,[15][16] although the film was later canceled.[16] 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.[17]

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.

Garland's second film, Annihilation (2018), was based on Jeff VanderMeer's 2014 science fiction novel of the same name. Garland has described it as "an adaptation [that] was a memory of the book," rather than book-referenced screenwriting, to capture the "dream like nature" and tone of his reading experience.[18][19][20] Production began in 2016,[21] and the film was released in February 2018.[22]

In January 2021, Garland was hired to direct his third film, Men, which stars Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear.[23] The film follows a young woman who goes on a solo vacation to the English countryside after the death of her ex-husband.[24] The following year, it was announced that Garland was reteaming with A24 for his fourth feature, Civil War, an action epic starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, and previous collaborators Stephen McKinley Henderson and Cailee Spaeny.[25]

Television

Garland wrote, served as executive producer, and directed the eight-episode miniseries Devs, about the "mysterious ongoings at a tech company", for FX; the series was greenlit in August 2018, and premiered 5 March 2020 on FX on Hulu.[26] It stars Ex Machina and Annihilation actress Sonoya Mizuno, alongside Nick Offerman, Jin Ha, Zach Grenier, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, and Alison Pill.[26] Spaeny, who did not audition for the role as Garland had wanted her specifically for it, stated that Devs was short for Development, and that the series would explore the idea of the multiverse.[27]

Video games

Garland and Tameem Antoniades co-wrote the video game Enslaved: Odyssey to the West for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. They won a 2011 award from the Writer's Guild of Great Britain. Garland also served as a story supervisor on the game DmC: Devil May Cry in 2013.

Personal life

Garland is married to English-Mexican actress Paloma Baeza, with whom he has a son named Milo and a daughter named Eva.[5]

Bibliography

Filmography

Feature films

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
2002 28 Days Later No Yes No
2007 Sunshine No Yes No
28 Weeks Later No Uncredited Executive Rewrites[28]
2010 Never Let Me Go No Yes Executive
2012 Dredd Uncredited Yes Yes [29][30]
2015 Ex Machina Yes Yes No
2018 Annihilation Yes Yes No
2022 Men Yes Yes No
2024 Civil War Yes Yes No Post-production

Executive producer

Television

Year Title Director Writer Executive
Producer		 Notes
2020 Devs Yes Yes Yes Also creator

Video games

Year Title Role
2010 Enslaved: Odyssey to the West Co-writer
2013 DmC: Devil May Cry Story supervisor

Collaborators

Since he made his directorial debut, Garland has worked with several actors multiple times.

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Work
Actor
 2014 2018 2020 2022 2024
Karl Glusman NoN NoN
Stephen McKinley Henderson NoN NoN
Oscar Isaac NoN NoN
Corey Johnson NoN NoN
Sonoya Mizuno NoN NoN NoN NoN NoN
Nick Offerman NoN NoN
Cailee Spaeny NoN NoN

Critical reception

Title Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic
Ex Machina 92% (284 ratings)[31] 78 (42 reviews)[32]
Annihilation 88% (327 ratings)[33] 79 (51 reviews)[34]
Devs 82% (90 ratings)[35] 71 (32 reviews)[36]
Men 69% (255 ratings)[37] 65 (55 reviews)[38]

Awards and nominations

Year Film Award Category Result
2002 28 Days Later Fangoria Chainsaw Awards Best Screenplay Nominated
Hugo Awards Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form Nominated
Saturn Award Best Writing Nominated
2010 Never Let Me Go British Independent Film Awards Best Screenplay Nominated
Evening Standard British Film Awards Best Screenplay Nominated
Saturn Award Best Writing Nominated
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West Writers' Guild of Great Britain Best Continuing Drama Won
2015 Ex Machina Academy Awards Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Writing, Original Screenplay Nominated
Austin Film Critics Association Best Original Screenplay Nominated
AACTA International Awards Best Screenplay Nominated
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Best New Filmmaker Nominated
British Independent Film Awards Best British Independent Film Won
Best Director Won
Best Screenplay Won
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Screenplay Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Most Promising Filmmaker Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Directors Guild of America Award Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film Won
European Film Awards Best European Screenwriter Nominated
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards Best Screenplay Nominated
Gérardmer Film Festival Jury Prize Won
Silver Scream Award Won
London Critics Circle Film Awards Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker Nominated
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Original Screenplay Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society Best Original Screenplay Nominated
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards Best First Feature Won
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Director Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Saturn Awards Best Director Nominated
Best Writing Nominated

References

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External links

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