Alex Garland Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Never Let Me Go will be Mark Romanek's follow-up to One Hour Photo, the sinister Robin Williams film he directed back in 2002. Romanek, as you may know, is a legendary music video director who has worked with Nine Inch Nails, Michael Jackson, Audioslave and Madonna, among others. You may remember his heartbreaking video for Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt," which was all but hailed as the second coming. Though One Hour Photo was not Romanek's first feature film – that would be Static, the surreal, low-budget 1986 drama he co-wrote with Keith Gordon – but it was supposed to be the beginning of a distinguished film career.

From 2002 to 2008, Romanek became attached to a number of projects, none of which made it out of development hell. He was meant to direct an adaptation of the Philip Gourevitch non-fiction crime drama A Cold Case starring Tom Hanks, but that has thus far gone nowhere. He had decided to tackle James Frey's A Million Little Pieces but that, of course, was before it turned out that James Frey was a honking fraud. In 2008, it looked like Romanek would at last cross the finish line with The Wolf Man – and then he walked out on the eve of filming over creative differences. Journeyman director Joe Johnston will be delivering that finished product this November.

What do you do when you need a pretty actress with limited facial expressions? Well, if Nicole Kidman is busy, I guess you call Keira Knightley (only kidding ... well, maybe not completely kidding). Believe me when I tell you I have nothing personal against the girl, but darn it if I can detect a facial movement in most of her performances other than the example provided to the right. But Knightley's 'reserved' approach to emotion might come in handy now that Variety has announced that the perpetually pouty Ms. Knightley will star as a clone alongside Carey Mulligan in Never Let Me Go, a romantic sci-fi thriller based on the acclaimed novel by Kazuo Ishiguro.

The story centers on three friends who grow up together in a posh boarding school; unfortunately for them, however, this charmed life is a short one and the three learn the disturbing truth that they have been bred for organ donation. Don't worry if this sounds an awful lot like the 2005 stinker, The Island, because unlike Bay's exploration of 'happy organs' and Xbox competitions, Ishiguro's story is much more concerned with existentialism and the meaning of humanity (not exactly Bay country).

Mark Romanek is on board to direct the adaptation, and Alex Garland (28 Days Later) is already at work on a script. Romanek made his name making music videos (even though he didn't make the cut for Monika's list) but has directed only one other feature film: the slightly underwhelming One Hour Photo. But the pressure is on, because unlike The Island, if this flick is a flop we won't be able to blame Michael Bay.

Although my birthday present from Fox Searchlight arrived a bit late, it was well worth the wait -- Cinematical was just informed (via a press release) that Danny Boyle's Sunshine has had its release date pushed up to July 20; a move that put a huge smile on my face as we come to the end of a relatively tame Wednesday. For those slightly out of the loop on this one, Sunshine was originally supposed to be released this past March 16. And although the film arrived in theaters around the world (as planned) Fox Searchlight delayed its release here in the states, subsequently pushing it all the way back to December. To say us Boyle fans were a tad bummed out about that would be an understatement -- as our own Scott Weinberg proclaimed, "That's like walking into a kid's room on 12/15 and saying, 'Oh, we bumped Christmas back to September. Stop crying!'"

Fox provided no reason for either shift; originally, some of us thought that maybe they were prepping the flick for an Oscar run, but it didn't seem like the sort of film (futuristic sci-fi?) that Oscar voters chomp on for breakfast. Was it that bad that Fox wanted to re-tool the thing and hide it amongst a busy Compass-filled December? Not likely; the trailers rock, and the buzz has been pretty good. Nevertheless, I could care less at this point -- I just want to see the damn film as quickly as possible. In the pic, director Boyle and writer Alex Garland once again team up for a story about a group of astronauts (Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Cillian Murphy, Troy Garity, etc ...) who are sent to help re-ignite the sun after the sucker begins to burn out. Mark your calendars people. Sunshine. July 20. Awesome stuff!

We had a good look at the first 28 minutes of this movie a few weeks ago, and it definitely held up to our expectations. There's certainly a lot more gore here than in the first film (and the rest of the movie is a lot bloodier than the first 28 minutes), and there were quite a few pop-out-of-your-seat moments throughout, as evidenced by the number of times that my rear end left the seat. Just to prove I'm not particularly susceptible, the people around me all leapt at the appropriate moments as well.

28 Weeks Later isn't so much a sequel in action as it is in spirit. It is literally 28 weeks after the breakout of the rage virus, and the population of mainland Britain has been wiped out and the country has been declared safe and an America led NATO force is responsible for repopulating the city of London. They've re-established water and power, have operating public transportation, and apparently even the taps are flowing at a local pub that has been re-opened. It's been declared good enough to allow 15,000 people to start repopulating the country, and that number is growing with every new arrival.

What would happen if the sun were eating itself up from the inside out, resulting in its own extinction? More than likely there would be a lot of panicking and an intervention made by the best astronauts this world had to offer. This just happens to be the plot for the upcoming action sci-fi feature Sunshine; Cillian Murphy stars as a member of a heroic team who think they have a plan to save the day. The film is due out stateside this fall and in an effort to satiate U.S. fans, director Danny Boyle -- also responsible for one of my favorites, Trainspotting -- and his production staff have created an online production video diary that documents nearly everything you wanted to know about the film.

It's incredible how true to life Alex Garland (writer) and Boyle wanted the fictitious experience to be. They met with radiologists to understand its effects on the human body, sent the cast to high altitudes to experience zero gravity and studied up on how to recreate the sun's beauty. The most visceral aspect of the diary is interviews with both Boyle and director of photography Alwin Kuchler, who spoke of the necessity to shoot the film with an emphasis on lighting. Boyle explains that the film is "unusual cinematically, the balance between darkness and light." The diary reveals some of the beautiful shots that exemplify just what he's talking about. The characters, he says, are literally, "surrounded in darkness but driven by an internal light." The diaries also include interviews with certain cast members including Troy Garity, who has always been a fan of sci fi but finds it difficult to read a good script in that genre.

There aren't many directors who can go from a straight-up zombie flick to a cute little family tale featuring a couple of kids who stumble upon a bag full of money, and then to a sci-fi thriller about a group of people sent to revive the sun after it burns out. Sure, there are directors that can do it, but I'll bet you the bank they won't produce the high quality we've come to expect from Mr. Danny Boyle ... especially when he decides to team up with writer Alex Garland.

Boyle first teamed up with Garland on an adaptation of Garland's novel The Beach (which I strongly suggest reading instead of watching -- it's my belief that The Beach would have been a much better film had Leo DiCaprio not chosen the role as his Titanic follow-up). Following The Beach, the duo partnered on 28 Days Later -- the sequel to which (featuring Boyle and Garland in producer roles only) is coming out later this year. Now, Boyle and Garland are giving us Sunshine. And, based on the newly released trailer, I think it's safe to say this might wind up being one of the best films this year. The premise kind of reminds me of Michael Bay's Armageddon ... only without Ben Affleck and the cheesy Aerosmith soundtrack. Basically, it's 50 years from now, the sun has burnt out and earth is settling into a nice, long ice age. In an attempt to save the planet, a group of astronauts are sent into space on a mission to turn the sun back on ... so to speak.

As far as cast goes, we're looking at folks like Rose Byrne, Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans (who I couldn't help but think of Johnny Storm when his face popped up in the trailer) and Michelle Yeoh, among others. Definitely let us know what you think about the trailer, and be sure to start counting down the days Boyle fans as Sunshine hits theaters on March 16 ... but there's always a chance it will be moved -- after all, that is a crowded weekend.

Note: Cinematical's Scott Weinberg just IM'd me to say that (and I quote): "The Sunshine trailer gave me goose bumps and a mild but pleasant heart attack." There, I told you it was good! Go watch! Go! Now!

One thing we knew for sure about the (eventually) upcoming Halo movie was that the screenplay was written by Alex Garland, he of frequent (The Beach, 28 Days Later, and the slick-looking Sunshine) Danny Boyle collaborations. Now comes word, however, that novelist-turned-screenwriter D.B. Weiss has been given second draft duty by Halo producer Peter Jackson.

But who, exactly, is D.B. Weiss? According to this interview, he's a writer who's pretty well-versed in video games, which certainly helps when you're adapting something like Halo for the silver screen. Mr. Weiss is also the author of a very well-received novel called Lucky Wander Boy, which deals with a guy obsessed with obscure video games (and is also a book I now plan to read). Plus he's also the umpteenth writer to get a whack at the Ender's Game screenplay, and maybe he'll actually be the one who finishes the job ...

Anyway, if you love movies and video games in equal measure, check out this solid interview with Weiss. Guy seems to be someone I'd trust with a project like Halo. Then again, I thought Pitof would be the perfect guy to direct Catwoman.

(Previous Halo reports can be found here, here, and here.)

Oh yeah, BlackFilm has a first look at Danny Boyle's next film, Sunshine, and I am pumped up for this one. Though there are only two to choose from, one of them includes a nice shot of the entire cast surrounding a table and they all look pretty serious. Yes! I love serious! I'm really looking forward to this one, probably because I'm a huge fan of both Boyle and Alex Garland (who wrote the screenplay). In fact, knowing Garland is also writing the script for Halo is making it seem hard for me to knock the film.

Sunshine tells the story of a group of astronauts sent to re-ignite a section of the sun after the team before them never returned. Um, hello - it's the freaking sun! Who would return? Production has just wrapped with a cast that includes Michelle Yeoh, Rose Byrne and Cillian Murphy. Groovy. Boyle last worked with Garland on the very cool 28 Days Later, however, the two remain as only producers (so far) on the upcoming 28 Weeks Later. If you've never read anything from Alex Garland, may I suggest starting with his fantastic novel, The Beach. Sunshine is set to debut in October, 2006.

[via Twitch]