Alex Garland | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Garland atSXSW in 2024 | |
| Born | Alexander Medawar Garland (1970-05-26)26 May 1970 (age 55) |
| Education | University College School |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Spouse | Paloma Baeza |
| Children | 2 |
| Father | Nicholas Garland |
| Relatives | Peter Medawar (maternal grandfather) Jean Medawar (maternal grandmother) |
Alexander Medawar Garland (born 26 May 1970) is an English author, screenwriter, film and television director. He rose to prominence with his novelThe Beach (1996). He received praise for writing theDanny Boyle films28 Days Later (2002) and its sequel,28 Years Later (2025), andSunshine (2007), as well asNever Let Me Go (2010) andDredd (2012). In video games, he co-wroteEnslaved: Odyssey to the West (2010) and was a story supervisor onDmC: Devil May Cry (2013).
Garland made his directorial debut when he wrote and directed the sci-fi thrillerEx Machina (2014). He earned anAcademy Award nomination forBest Original Screenplay, and won threeBritish Independent Film Awards, includingBest Screenplay,Best Director, andBest British Independent Film for the film. His second movie,Annihilation (2018), an adaptation of the2014 novel of the same name, was a critical success. He wrote, directed and executive produced theFX miniseriesDevs (2020) followed by the horror thrillerMen (2022), and the dystopian action thrillerCivil War (2024). He also co-directed the war filmWarfare (2025). The three films were produced byA24.
Alexander Medawar Garland[1] was born inLondon on 26 May 1970,[2][3] the son of psychologist Caroline (née Medawar) and political cartoonistNicholas Garland. Alexander has a younger brother and two older paternal half-siblings. He is the maternal grandson of writerJean Medawar andNobel Prize-winning biologistPeter Medawar.[4]
Alexander Garland was educated atUniversity College School inHampstead, England and later graduated from theUniversity of Manchester inManchester with an art history degree.[5][6]
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 todrug culture, sequences ofhallucinations, and unique depictions of excess andutopia.The Beach was initially met with positive reviews, and with a spreadingword of mouth response, the novel grew in popularity; it led some critics to regard Garland a key voice ofGeneration X.[7] He would later speak of his discomfort with the fameThe Beach brought him.[5]The Beach has been translated into 25 different languages[8] and sold close to 700,000 copies by the start of 1999.[9] It was developed intoa film starringLeonardo DiCaprio. In 2003, the novel was Ranked 103 in BBC'sThe Big Read poll.[10]
Garland'sThe Tesseract (1998) is a non-linear narrative with several interwoven characters, set inManila, Philippines. The novel is characterized by apost-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 afilm.
Throughout his work, Garland has expressed his love of travel (particularlybackpacking) and his love ofManila, much of which influenced his work.[8]
In 2002, Garland wrote the screenplay forDanny Boyle's film28 Days Later, starringCillian Murphy.[11] He has said that the script was influenced by 1970s zombie films and English science fiction likeThe Day of the Triffids.[12] TheResident Evil series also served as an influence for28 Days Later, with Garland crediting thefirst game for revitalizing the zombie genre.[13] Inspiration for the "Rage" virus came from real-world infections such asEbola andfiloviruses.[12] He won a Best Screenplay honor at the 2004Fangoria Chainsaw Awards for his script of the film.
In 2005, Garland wrote a screenplay for a film adaptation ofHalo.[14]D. B. Weiss andJosh Olson rewrote this during 2006 for a 2008 release,[15][16] although the film was later canceled.[16] In 2007, he wrote the screenplay for the filmSunshine, which was his second screenplay to be directed by Danny Boyle and to star Cillian Murphy. Garland served as an executive producer on28 Weeks Later, the sequel of28 Days Later. He wrote the screenplay for the 2010 filmNever Let Me Go, based on thenovel byKazuo Ishiguro. He also wrote the script forDredd, an adaptation of theJudge Dredd comic book series from2000 AD. In 2018,Karl Urban, who played the eponymous role in the film, stated that it was Garland who deserved credit for also directingDredd.[17]
Garland made his directorial debut withEx Machina, a 2014 feature film based on his own story and screenplay, starringDomhnall Gleeson,Alicia Vikander andOscar Isaac. The film won a Jury Prize at the 2015Gerardmer Film Festival, and earned Garland a nomination for anAcademy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Garland's second film,Annihilation (2018), was based onJeff VanderMeer's 2014 science fiction novelof the same name. Garland has described it as "an adaptation [that] was a memory of the book," rather than book-referenced screenwriting, to capture the "dream like nature" and tone of his reading experience.[18][19][20] Production began in 2016,[21] and the film was released in February 2018.[22]
In January 2021, Garland was hired to direct his third film,Men, starringJessie Buckley andRory Kinnear.[23] The film follows a young woman who goes on a solo vacation to the English countryside after the death of her ex-husband.[24] Released in May 2022, it received generally positive reviews, though its narrative approach received some criticism. Film criticJonathan Rosenbaum placedMen on his Best Films of 2022 list.[25]
In April 2022, it was announced that Garland would once again work withA24 for his fourth feature,Civil War, an action epic starringKirsten Dunst,Wagner Moura, and previous collaboratorsStephen McKinley Henderson andCailee Spaeny.[26] The film was released on 12 April 2024. Garland will reunite with Boyle to write28 Years Later, the long-gestating sequel to28 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 bySony.[27]
In February 2024, it was revealed thatCharles 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 forCivil War. The pair wrote and will co-direct the film.[28] The following month,Joseph Quinn,D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai,Kit Connor,Cosmo Jarvis,Will Poulter andFinn Bennett joined the ensemble cast, and the film was revealed to be titledWarfare.[29] The same month, Garland stated that he would not direct any films in the "foreseeable future" after the release ofCivil War and that his co-directorial work onWarfare was "more of a supporting character" to Mendoza's.[30] However, in May 2025, it was announced that Garland's next project would be a film adaptation ofElden Ring.[31]
Garland wrote, served as executive producer, and directed the eight-episodeminiseriesDevs about the "mysterious ongoings at a tech company", forFX. The series was greenlit in August 2018, and premiered 5 March 2020 on FX onHulu.[32] It starsEx Machina andAnnihilation actressSonoya Mizuno, alongsideNick Offerman, Jin Ha,Zach Grenier,Stephen McKinley Henderson,Cailee Spaeny, andAlison Pill.[32] Spaeny, who did not audition for the role as Garland had wanted her specifically for it said thatDevs was short forDevelopment, and the series would explore the idea of themultiverse.[33]
In May 2022, a television series based onNever Let Me Go was optioned at FX, to be executive produced by Garland, who previously wrote the screenplay forthe 2010 film adaptation of the same name.[34][35] It would have premiered on Hulu in the United States,Star in other territories andStar+ in Latin America with Viola Prettejohn,Tracey Ullman andKelly Macdonald starring.[34] However, in February 2023, it was announced that FX had cancelled the series before production began.[36]
Garland andTameem Antoniades co-wrote the video gameEnslaved: Odyssey to the West for thePlayStation 3 andXbox 360. They won a 2011 award from theWriter's Guild of Great Britain. Garland also served as a story supervisor on the gameDmC: Devil May Cry in 2013.
Garland is married to English-Mexican actressPaloma Baeza, with whom he has a son and a daughter.[5] He has described himself as being an atheist.[37]
Garland has described himself as politically left, but has expressed concern over increasing political polarisation, particularly in America. He cited this concern as a core inspiration for his filmCivil War.[38]
Film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 28 Days Later | No | Yes | No | |
| 2007 | Sunshine | No | Yes | No | |
| 28 Weeks Later | No | Uncredited[a] | Executive | ||
| 2010 | Never Let Me Go | No | Yes | Executive | |
| 2012 | Dredd | Uncredited[b] | Yes | Yes | |
| 2014 | Ex Machina | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2018 | Annihilation | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2022 | Men | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2024 | Civil War | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2025 | Warfare | Yes[c] | Yes | No | |
| 28 Years Later | No | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2026 | 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple | No | Yes | Yes | Post-production |
Other credits
Television
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Executive Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Devs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also creator |
| Title | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic |
|---|---|---|
| Ex Machina | 92% (284 ratings)[45] | 78 (42 reviews)[46] |
| Annihilation | 88% (327 ratings)[47] | 79 (51 reviews)[48] |
| Devs | 82% (90 ratings)[49] | 71 (32 reviews)[50] |
| Men | 69% (255 ratings)[51] | 65 (55 reviews)[52] |
| Civil War | 81% (391 ratings)[53] | 75 (60 reviews)[54] |
| Warfare | 93% (223 ratings)[55] | 77 (16 reviews)[56] |
Q. You were born in London, May 26, 1970? Correct? A. Yep, that's right. So I'm told.
A huge part of the success of 'Dredd' is in fact due to Alex Garland and what a lot of people don't realize is that Alex Garland actually directed that movie. ... I just hope when people think of Alex Garland's filmography that 'Dredd' is the first film that he made before Ex Machina.
