EXCLUSIVE
CIVIL WAR Alex Garland looks into a nearfuture where the States are far from united…
God bless America. This sentiment, repeated so liberally it is often rote, elicits genuine chills when it closes the trailer to the new film by Alex Garland (Ex-Machina, Annihilation). Uttered by Nick Offerman’s tyrannical President, it comes after a series of truly disturbing images – tanks, air strikes, automatic weapons in the streets – that show an America torn apart by civil war.
The near-future setting and Garland’s celebrated history in the genre suggest that Civil War might be a work of science-fiction – but the British writer/director isn’t so sure. Working with a $75m budget that’s nose-bleed territory for both himself and production company A24, he’s gone for a level of realism in his new film, and it really doesn’t take much of a leap to envision today’s divided America finding itself in such a terrifying place.
‘There’s a certain kind of action film that plays to contemporary concerns, you know?’ muses Garland. ‘This movie would fit into that bracket. I think if I watched this film, I wouldn’t call it science-fiction. It’s definitely a genre movie. It’s an action movie. In a way, it’s like a certain kind of 70s thriller, maybe, that would speculate something happening in a nuclear power station, or with some sinister cabal – you know, The Parallax View.’
The trailer doesn’t explain how America tipped off the cliff – and nor does Garland as he chats to Total Film in an LA hotel. What we do know is that 19 states have seceded, and the Western Forces, boasting an alliance between California and Texas, are fighting back against POTUS and the US military. The story follows journa
