The alternate ending that was cut from ‘Ex Machina’
Though he has just three directorial credits to his name, Alex Garland is one of the most exciting filmmakers in contemporary cinema. Through the lens of sci-fi, artificial intelligence, and unexplored worlds, Garland’s films comment on the current state of humanity in all of its anxieties and destructive tendencies.
Garland’s preoccupation with science, tech, and humanity began in his directorial debut – Ex Machina – which starred Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, and Oscar Isaac. The film, which was first released in 2014, considers the relationship between humans and robots as well as the relationship between men and women. For its complex themes and beautiful cinematography, the film garnered Garland a ‘Best Original Screenplay’ nomination and a ‘Best Visual Effects’ win at the Academy Awards.
Almost a decade on from its release, the film has continued to maintain relevance. As our world becomes more and more oriented around artificial intelligence, Ex Machina remains essential watching. Originally, though, Garland lent even further into his commentary on artificial intelligence, with a cut scene which provided viewers with a look at how Ava, the robot, saw the world.
At the end of the final cut of Ex Machina, we see Alicia Vikander’s Ava prevailing over her creator Nathan, played by Isaac, and visitor Caleb, played by Gleeson. Killing Nathan and leaving Caleb trapped inside the isolated mansion, Ava boards a helicopter to start her new life amidst humanity. It’s a conflicting ending – we see a woman prevailing over her captor, but we also see AI’s potential to prevail over humans.
Garland intended to further complicate this by including a scene from Ava’s point of view, which would show audiences that the robot was actually never able to communicate with humans. Vikander explained, Den of Geek, “It was his line [and] it was a very cool thing. You saw his face moving, but from her point of view, it was just like pulses and sounds coming out. That’s what she reads.” The shot would have revealed to audiences that Ava couldn’t understand them throughout the film.
Co-star Isaac further explained the moment: “So in that scene, what used to happen is you’d see her talking, and you wouldn’t hear, but all of a sudden it would cut to her point of view. And her point of view is completely alien to ours. There’s no actual sound; you’d just see pulses and recognitions, and all sorts of crazy stuff, which conceptually is very interesting.”
He continued: “It was that moment where you’d think, ‘Oh, she was lying!’ But maybe not, because even though she still experiences differently, it doesn’t mean that it’s not consciousness.” Isaac recalled that, ultimately, the shot didn’t work in the cut. Still, it would have elevated the complexity of the film’s ending and its commentary on AI.
Garland’s interest in human-like figures persisted into his next film, the psychedelic sci-fi Annihilation, while his commentary on gender relations recurred in his most recent folk horror offering, Men. His upcoming film, Civil War, will see him reunite with Ex Machina’s Sonoya Mizuno and promises yet another dose of futurism and societal commentary.
