“I think he’s scarily good”: the director George Clooney is dying to work with
After his dazzling directorial debut with Ex Machina in 2015, Alex Garland proved that he had the talent for being behind the camera and behind the page. Following on from the success of his post-modern fable about artificial intelligence and misogyny, Garland then made Annihilation, Men and Civil War, showing himself to be a layered and insightful filmmaker who always has a pulse on the most pressing issues in a contemporary world, highlighting the dangers posed to us through technology, journalism and humanity itself,
George Clooney, meanwhile, has consistently gravitated toward roles that delve into moral ambiguity and the limits of human potential, as seen in Solaris, Michael Clayton, and Gravity. He excels at portraying characters who oscillate between warmth and charisma or cool detachment, all while preserving an enigmatic quality. This unpredictability adds a layer of intrigue, leaving audiences continually uncertain of his next move.
Given that he is drawn to similar themes as Garland, it isn’t surprising that he has said he would love to work with the director, saying, “I love that guy who did Ex Machina, Alex Garland. I think he’s scarily good”. You can imagine someone like Clooney slotting perfectly into the world of Civil War, with a rugged and harrowed look that would match the level of apocalyptic despair in his imagining of a future civil war.
After starting out as a novelist, Alex Garland had an interesting journey into the film industry, beginning his career with the colossal success of his screenplay, 28 Days Later. After earning a name for himself on such a huge production, elevating the careers of both Cillian Murphy and Danny Boyle, he continued his work as a screenwriter with the likes of Sunshine and Never Let Me Go, growing his own personal style of sharing dystopian stories about near-future problems. Since then, he has been praised for his cerebral and thought-provoking stories, with a dark yet optimistic undertone that perhaps reflects the way he feels about the world we live in now.
However, despite Clooney’s desire to collaborate with the director, some of the cast for his next project have already been announced, with Charles Melton, Joseph Quinn and Will Poulter allegedly being in conversation with the director to star in his next film, Warfare. However, Garland is only a co-director on the project with Ray Mendoza, saying that his role is a ‘supporting character’.
After the release of Civil War, Garland went on to state that he didn’t have any solo directorial projects lined up but had collaborated with Danny Boyle on the screenplay for 28 Years Later, a follow-up to the initial film released in 2002.
Clooney is hot off the press for his recent film with Brad Pitt, Wolfs, which was controversially scrapped for a theatrical release and instead distributed on Apple TV, with many viewers questioning why a film starring two actors of such high calibre and fame was not shared in cinemas. However, now that Clooney has wrapped on the press for this project, maybe he’ll have time to work with Garland, which might just well be a match made in heaven.
