Alex Garland
| Alex Garland | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Alexander Medawar Garland 1970 (age 45–46) London, England, United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester (B.A., History of Art, 1992) |
| Occupation | Novelist, Screenwriter, Director |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Spouse(s) | Paloma Baeza[1] |
| Children | 2 |
Alexander "Alex" Medawar Garland[2] (born 1970) is an English novelist, screenwriter, film producer and director, best known for his work as the screenwriter of 28 Days Later (2002), Sunshine (2007), Never Let Me Go (2011) and Dredd (2012). Garland first rose to prominence in the late 90s with his novel The Beach which went on to receive universal acclaim with many critics lauding Garland as a key voice of Generation X.[3]
In 2015, Garland made his directorial debut with Ex Machina, a science fiction thriller which explored the relationship between mankind and the evolving intricacies of artificial intelligence.[4] Garland’s screenplay received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Early life
Alexander Garland was born on January 1, 1970 in London, England, the son of psychoanalyst Caroline (née Medawar) and political cartoonist Nicholas Garland, who has published cartoon for newspapers such as The Daily Telegraph and The Independent. His maternal grandparents were Peter Medawar and author Jean Medawar. Garland’s early aspiration was to become a journalist, noting “I didn’t intend to be anything. I thought I’d be a journalist. I grew up around journalists; for whatever reasons, a lot of my dad’s friends were foreign correspondents. I kind of thought that would be my job; hoped it would be my job.” He attended the University of Manchester and received his B.A. in History of Art in 1992. Throughout his career and work, Garland has expressed his love of travel (particularly backpacking) and his love of Manila, Philippines, much of which would influence his work.[5]
Career
Mainstream success: The Beach, The Tesseract
In 1996, Garland's first novel, The Beach was published. The Beach is based upon Garland’s own travels across Europe and the Philippines, it tells the story of a young English backpacker who discovers an unspoiled sea shore occupied by a community of like-minded backpackers. The novel is noted for its references to drug culture, sequences of hallucinations and unique depictions of excess and utopia, which have been commended by critics. The Beach was initially met with positive reviews, and with a spreading word of mouth response the novel to grow into a cult classic. Garland would later speak of the overwhelming discomfort with the fame The Beach had allowed him to achieve, “I never felt comfortable with it (the novel).”[6] The Beach has been translated into 25 different languages[5] and sold close to 700,000 copies by the start of 1999.[7]
In 1999, Garland followed up The Beach with The Tesseract, a non-linear narrative with several interwoven characters set in Manila, Philippines. The novel carries a distinct post-modernist style of storytelling and structure. It explores several themes such as love and violence through each character’s circumstance and context of surroundings as well as seemingly inconsequential actions and the repercussions of those actions on other characters. The Tesseract did not enjoy the critical or commercial success of The Beach. However, it was later developed into a film starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
Screenplays and directing
In 2002, he wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, starring Cillian Murphy.[8] He won a Best Screenplay honor at the 2004 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards for his script of the film. In 2005, Garland wrote a script for a film adaptation of Halo; he was paid $1 million. D. B. Weiss and Josh Olson rewrote this during 2006 for a 2008 release, though the film was later cancelled. In 2007, he wrote the screenplay for the film Sunshine – his second screenplay to be directed by Danny Boyle and to star Cillian Murphy. Garland served as an executive producer on 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to 28 Days Later. He wrote the screenplay for the 2010 film Never Let Me Go, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. He also wrote the script for Dredd, an adaptation of the Judge Dredd comic book series from 2000 AD.
Garland made his directorial debut with Ex Machina, a 2015 feature film based on his own story and screenplay. The film stars Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander. The film won a Jury Prize at the 2015 Gerardmer Film Festival. The film's lead actress, Alicia Vikander, was nominated for a Best Actress award at the Empire Awards.[9]
Garland's next film will be an adaption of Jeff VanderMeer’s 2014 science fiction novel Annihilation. It is due out in 2017.[10]
Video games
Garland is the co-writer on the video game Enslaved: Odyssey to the West for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. For his writing work on the game, he won a 2011 award from the Writer's Guild of Great Britain (along with co-writer Tameem Antoniades). Garland also served as a Story Supervisor on the game DmC: Devil May Cry in 2013.
Themes and influences
Though Garland explores numerous themes throughout his work, science remains his most prominent and explored theme. Garland pays particular attention in questioning social normality and existentialism in his narratives through the exploration of science: “I began getting interested in science in my early 20s,” says Garland. “There’s this idea that scientists state they have the answers and present them in this inflexible, unblinking, rather non-fluid and non-creative way, while artists float between subject matters and work in this intuitive way. That I just think is literally incorrect. Good scientists of the sort I am lucky every now and again to encounter have very open minds in my experience, much more open-minded than the average artist you encounter.”[11]
A key example of Garland’s science influence is apparent in not the screenplay for Never Let Me Go, but the book itself (Garland being neighbour and friend of author Kazou Ishiguro). This influence is clearly illustrated in key areas of Garland’s interest such as art (which serves an important plot device as well as serving a commentary on individualism) and science itself with Garland having stated his own interest in the politics behind cloning and subsequent result of what that means. This commentary also ties into Garland’s own distinctively stylistic trait of subversive dissonance in representing the status quo. Romanek continue by stating how these character cannot understand their own worth beyond helping others, alluding to the a social discontentment in the mundane.
Elements of Garland’s work have been compared to the writings of Mary Shelley, particularly in Ex Machina which critic Mike Scott of the New Orleans Times-Picayune negatively states serves a parable to Shelley’s Frankenstein and stating the premise lacks originality beyond a modern update.[12] Though not new to the zombie movie, 28 Days Later in a similar manner draws upon Shelley’s ‘’The Last Man’’, particularly through Cillian Murphy's character Jim and his journey through empty London.
Personal life
Garland is married to the actress Paloma Baeza. The couple have two children.
Novels
| Year | Novel | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | The Beach | Ranked 103 in BBC's 2003 The Big Read poll.[13] |
| 1998 | The Tesseract | |
| 2004 | The Coma |
Filmography
Video games
| Year | Game | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Enslaved: Odyssey to the West | Co-Writer
Writers Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Continuing Drama (Shared with Tameem Antoniades) |
| 2013 | DmC: Devil May Cry | Story-Supervisor |
References
- ↑ "Alex Garland on Ex Machina: ‘I feel more attached to this film than to anything before'", The Guardian, January 11, 2015
- ↑ Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.; at ancestry.com
- ↑ http://www.amazon.in/The-Beach-Alex-Garland/dp/1567403549
- ↑ http://oscar.go.com/nominees/writing-original-screenplay
- 1 2 http://www.gluckman.com/BeachGarland.html
- ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/jan/11/alex-garland-ex-machina-interview-the-beach-28-days-later
- ↑ http://www.thebookseller.com/feature/alex-hamiltons-paperback-fastsellers-1999
- ↑ "Movie Review - 28 Days Later - FILM REVIEW; Spared by a Virus But Not by Mankind - NYTimes.com". Retrieved 31 January 2016.
- ↑ Leo Barraclough, "‘The Imitation Game’ Leads Race for Empire Awards," Variety, February 24, 2015.
- ↑ Robinson, Joanna. "Oscar Isaac Re-unites with Ex Machina Director to Join the All-Female Cast of Annihilation". Vanity Fair. Conde Nast. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
- ↑ "Alex Garland on Ex Machina: ‘I feel more attached to this film than to anything before'", The Guardian, January 11, 2015
- ↑ "Alex Garland on Ex Machina: ‘I feel more attached to this film than to anything before'", The Guardian, January 11, 2015
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top200.shtml
- ↑ http://ie.ign.com/articles/2012/09/20/alex-garland-discusses-his-halo-movie
External links
- Alex Garland at the Internet Movie Database
- Backpacker Blues: Spike Magazine interview with Alex Garland
- Beach Boy: Salon interview with Alex Garland
- "Alex Garland is writing Judge Dredd"
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