All the talk around Civil War is still around Alex Garland’s very deliberate effort to make it non-partisan. Whereas everyone assumed it would just be standard red state vs. blue state or MAGA vs. “Woke”, all who have seen it since the premiere at SXSW draw attention to the movie completely avoiding this, remaining neutral, and instead looking at the dangers of polarization.
Hilariously, this has made some commentators even more angry, feeling it missed an opportunity to say something about the other side.
In a recent interview with EW Garland appeared to address these people directly:
“The viewer is required to make their own interpretation. The film is actually being opaque. It’s forcing the viewer to ask questions. Now, I know there are some people out there who don’t like that, who want films to answer every question. They don’t like being confused about the intentions of the people making the film. They want to be reassured.
But as I see it, film is a broad church. There’s lots of different people making lots of different sorts of films. I want to make them like this. I put my own opinion into things, but I don’t put them front and center because I don’t want to shut down a conversation.
The point of a conversation is that you’re not shouting, ‘This is what I think, and this is what you should think too!’ Then it’s something completely different. And to be honest, there’s enough people doing that shouting, and they’re welcome to it. They’ve got Twitter or X or whatever the hell it’s called, where they can knock themselves out all day and all night.”
The movie is said to have a budget of around $50 million and is tracking to potentially be the biggest earner for distributor A24.
This isn’t the biggest bombshell Garland dropped while out doing promotion. In a new piece in The Guardian he said he’s done with directing. While making Civil War he had hinted at this. The interviewer asked him if he was serious and he confirmed:
“Nothing’s changed. I’m in a very similar state. I’m not planning to direct again in the foreseeable future.”
His plan is to return to just writing. His credits as a writer include 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Never Let Me Go, and Dredd.
Before he does exit the big chair, he is still to co-direct Warfare with his Civil War military advisor Ray Mendoza.
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