Alex Garland Stands by His Vision for ‘Annihilation’
After ‘Ex Machina,’ the author-turned-director returns with a cerebral fever-dream. Will it be his most celebrated film or his undoing?
RISING FROM HIS SEAT in the screening room of a London post-production facility, Alex Garland casts a shadow over the projection of his new movie, Annihilation. The 47-year-old filmmaker jumps up to point at a patch of hazy daylight. “I reckon we’ve got too much blue in the sky,” he says to the digital colorist stationed behind a control board. “We could put a bit of dark gray up top.”
This is the last week of post-production on his second directorial effort, a tortured three-year process following his successful debut, 2015’s...