Is 'Civil War' Alex Garland's Last Movie?

Around two years ago, Alex Garland began preparing the public for his possible retirement from directing. Now, before his release of Civil War, Garland is saying he's done with film, for now.

Garland told The Guardian. “I’m in a very similar state. I’m not planning to direct again in the foreseeable future.”

Why is this happening?

Well, Garland has fallen out of love with filmmaking. “I do actually love film, but filmmaking doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It exists in a life and also in a broader context. I have to interact, in a way—without being rude.”

And there's a ton of pressure and trust that goes into making movies that have become burdensome to Garland.

He told The Guardian, “The pressure doesn’t come from the money. It comes from the fact that you’re asking people to trust something that, on the face of it, doesn’t look very trustworthy.”

This comes with the example of shooting blue screen on Civil War and getting actors to react to planes and mortars that are not there.

And he also goes into detail on Ex Machina, where “Alicia [Vikander] and Sonoya [Mizuno] are trusting that nudity is going to be dealt with thoughtfully and respectfully … [when] cinema leans towards not doing that.”

He says all of this “literally keeps me awake at night”.

While Civil War may wind up being his final film directing on his own, he's co-directing another movie for A24 called Warfare with Ray Mendoza, who is a first-time filmmaker.

And he's also set to write the long-awaited sequel to 28 Days Later called28 Years Laterfor Danny Boyle.

Let me know what you think in the comments.