Exclusive: Alex Garland and Cailee Spaeny discuss their provocative dystopian epic, Civil War.
Its just complete bullshit, Garland says.
But those are two completely different things… Garland hopesCivil Warcan spark a reaction from folks who feel that way.
Theyre intending to have a conversation primarily with people that already agree with their position.
But I would hope [the movie is] conversational.
It certainly triggers a visceral reaction, even for the cast members who were there on the set.
Cailee Spaeny, for one, is no stranger to Garlands penchant for ambitious, big swing storytelling.
She even laughs while recalling her reaction to receiving a screenplay with the words Civil War on the cover.
Oh boy, this is very Alex Garland to take this on, she thought at the time.
So this is the one that he chose.
Not exactly the effusive superlative a director immediately wants to hear.
But I really mean that, Spaeny explains now.
Like I think it did what it set out to do.
And at the same time, its highly entertaining and it shakes you up.
Im so, so proud of it.
I think for me, fascism is not a distant prospect.
Its something that people can drift towards.
Its not distant, Garland says.
[Those men] are real people that came out of different sorts of contexts.
So for that reason, the threat they pose is shared.
