Alex Garland

Alexander Medawar Garland (born 26 May 1970) is an English author, screenwriter, and director. He rose to prominence with his novel '' The Beach'' (1996). He received praise for writing the Danny Boyle films '' 28 Days Later'' (2002) and '' Sunshine'' (2007), as well as '' Never Let Me Go'' (2010) and '' Dredd'' (2012). In video games, he co-wrote '' Enslaved: Odyssey to the West'' (2010) and was a story supervisor on '' DmC: Devil May Cry'' (2013).

Garland made his directorial debut when he wrote and directed the sci-fi thriller '' Ex Machina'' (2014). He earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, and won him three British Independent Film Awards, including Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best British Independent Film for the film. His second movie, ''Annihilation'' (2018), an adaptation of the 2014 novel of the same name, was a critical success. He wrote, directed and executive produced the FX miniseries '' Devs'' (2020) followed by the horror thriller ''Men'' (2022), and the dystopian action thriller ''Civil War'' (2024). He also co-directed the war film ''Warfare'' (2025). The three films were produced by A24.

Early life and education

Alexander Medawar Garland was born in London on 26 May 1970, the son of psychologist Caroline (née Medawar) and political cartoonist Nicholas Garland. Alexander has a younger brother and two older paternal half-siblings. He is the maternal grandson of writer Jean Medawar and Nobel Prize-winning biologist Peter Medawar.

Alexander Garland was educated at University College School in Hampstead, England and later graduated from the University of Manchester in Manchester with an art history degree.

Career

Novels

Garland's first novel, '' The Beach'', was published in 1996. Based on his travels across Europe and Thailand, it tells the story of a young English backpacker who discovers an unspoiled seashore 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. ''The Beach'' was initially met with positive reviews, and with a spreading word of mouth response, the novel grew in popularity; it led some critics to regard Garland a key voice of Generation X. He would later speak of his discomfort with the fame ''The Beach'' brought him. ''The Beach'' has been translated into 25 different languages and sold close to 700,000 copies by the start of 1999. It was developed into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2003, the novel was Ranked 103 in BBC's The Big Read poll.

Garland's '' The Tesseract'' (1998) is a non-linear narrative with several interwoven characters, set in Manila, Philippines. The novel is characterized by a post-modernist narrative style 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'' was not a critical or commercial success, but it too was adapted into a film.

Throughout his work, Garland has expressed his love of travel (particularly backpacking) and his love of Manila, much of which influenced his work.

Film

In 2002, Garland wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's film '' 28 Days Later'', starring Cillian Murphy. He has said that the script was influenced by 1970s zombie films and English science fiction like '' The Day of the Triffids''. The '' Resident Evil'' series also served as an influence for ''28 Days Later'', with Garland crediting the first game for revitalizing the zombie genre. Inspiration for the "Rage" virus came from real-world infections such as Ebola and filoviruses. He won a Best Screenplay honor at the 2004 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards for his script of the film.

In 2005, Garland wrote a screenplay for a film adaptation of '' Halo''. D. B. Weiss and Josh Olson rewrote this during 2006 for a 2008 release, although the film was later canceled. In 2007, he wrote the screenplay for the film '' Sunshine'', which was 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 of ''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''. In 2018, Karl Urban, who played the eponymous role in the film, stated that it was Garland who deserved credit for also directing ''Dredd''.

Garland made his directorial debut with '' Ex Machina'', a 2014 feature film based on his own story and screenplay, starring Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac. The film won a Jury Prize at the 2015 Gerardmer Film Festival, and earned Garland a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Garland's second film, ''Annihilation'' (2018), was based on Jeff VanderMeer's 2014 science fiction novel of the same name. Garland has described it as "an adaptation hatwas a memory of the book," rather than book-referenced screenwriting, to capture the "dream like nature" and tone of his reading experience. Production began in 2016, and the film was released in February 2018.

In January 2021, Garland was hired to direct his third film, ''Men'', starring Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear. The film follows a young woman who goes on a solo vacation to the English countryside after the death of her ex-husband. Released in May 2022, it received generally positive reviews, though its narrative approach received some criticism. Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum placed ''Men'' on his Best Films of 2022 list.

In April 2022, it was announced that Garland would once again work with A24 for his fourth feature, ''Civil War'', an action epic starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, and previous collaborators Stephen McKinley Henderson and Cailee Spaeny. The film was released on 12 April 2024. Garland will reunite with Boyle to write '' 28 Years Later'', the long-gestating sequel to ''28 Days Later'', which is intended to launch a new trilogy of zombie films. Murphy will serve as an executive producer. The film is set to be released by Sony.

In February 2024, it was revealed that Charles Melton was in talks to star in Garland's upcoming untitled war film with A24. This project marks the second collaboration between Garland and Ray Mendoza, who served as the military supervisor for ''Civil War''. The pair wrote and will co-direct the film. The following month, Joseph Quinn, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Kit Connor, Cosmo Jarvis, Will Poulter and Finn Bennett joined the ensemble cast, and the film was revealed to be titled ''Warfare''. The same month, Garland stated that he would not direct any films in the "foreseeable future" after the release of ''Civil War'' and that his co-directorial work on ''Warfare'' was "more of a supporting character" to Mendoza's. In May 2025, it was announced that Garland's next project as a writer-director would be a film adaptation of '' Elden Ring''.

Television

Garland wrote, served as executive producer, and directed the eight-episode miniseries '' Devs'' about the "mysterious ongoings at a tech company", for FX. The series was greenlit in August 2018, and premiered 5 March 2020 on FX on Hulu. It stars ''Ex Machina'' and ''Annihilation'' actress Sonoya Mizuno, alongside Nick Offerman, Jin Ha, Zach Grenier, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, and Alison Pill. Spaeny, who did not audition for the role as Garland had wanted her specifically for it said that ''Devs'' was short for ''Development'', and the series would explore the idea of the multiverse.

In May 2022, a television series based on '' Never Let Me Go'' was optioned at FX, to be executive produced by Garland, who previously wrote the screenplay for the 2010 film adaptation of the same name. It would have premiered on Hulu in the United States, Star in other territories and Star+ in Latin America with Viola Prettejohn, Tracey Ullman and Kelly Macdonald starring. However in February 2023, it was announced that FX had cancelled the series before production began.

Video games

Garland and Tameem Antoniades co-wrote the video game '' Enslaved: Odyssey to the West'' for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. They won a 2011 award from the Writer's Guild of Great Britain. Garland also served as a story supervisor on the game '' DmC: Devil May Cry'' in 2013.

Personal life

Garland is married to English- Mexican actress Paloma Baeza, with whom he has a son and a daughter. He has described himself as being an atheist.

Bibliography

* '' The Beach'' (1996)
* '' The Tesseract'' (1998)
* '' The Coma'' (2004)

Filmography

Film

Other credits
* '' The Beach'' (2000), cartographer, based on his novel of the same name
* '' The Tesseract'' (2003), based on his novel of the same name
* '' Big Game'' (2014), executive producer

Television

Video games

* '' Enslaved: Odyssey to the West'' (2010), co-writer
* '' DmC: Devil May Cry'' (2013), story supervisor

Theatre

* '' The Coma'' ( Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2006), based on his novel of the same name

Critical reception

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

*

Backpacker Blues: Spike Magazine interview with Alex Garland

Beach Boy: Salon interview with Alex Garland

"Alex Garland is writing Judge Dredd"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garland, Alex
1970 births
Alumni of the University of Manchester
20th-century English novelists
21st-century English novelists
English screenwriters
English male screenwriters
Living people
People educated at University College School
British postmodern writers
Film directors from London
Writers from London
British science fiction film directors
English people of Lebanese descent
British video game writers
English male novelists
Directors Guild of America Award winners
20th-century English male writers
21st-century English male writers
English atheists
British atheists