While ‘Ex Machina’ wasn’t a pain for Alex Garland to create, it sounds as if ‘Annihilation’ was both “unpleasant” and “tough” to complete. That isn’t too surprising as the movie did end up leaning heavily on practical effects and was shot throughout the British countryside near Windsor.
The movie itself follows Natalie Portman who is ex-military and a biologist who is leading a five-person team into “the Shimmer” which is an area that has been taken over by what appears to be an extraterrestrial presence. The world inside of the Shimmer isn’t the Earth as we know and is almost dream-like in nature.
Making the movie was an exhausting experience for the director. In fact, he was so tired at the end of each day he doesn’t believe that he was dreaming of the Shimmer saying, “I can’t even remember what I was dreaming. I think I was just out like a light!”
As to the movie being difficult? Garland was happy to complain about that:
“It was unpleasant because it was so difficult. It was just so difficult. Ex Machina, for example, was a much cheaper film, it was $15 million, instead of $40 million. But on a day-by-day level, we had more time and more resources. Annihilation, was trying to do a film 10 times as complicated with two-and-a-half times the budget. And that was tough. It was just tough.”
While Garland may have ended up creating a beautiful film, it isn’t one that he wants to return for a sequel. He also hasn’t been thrilled with the movie’s Netflix release and it increasingly sounds as if the entire experience may have been a wash for him.
What are your thoughts on the look of ‘Annihilation’? With what you’ve seen of the movie can you imagine it being shot outdoors with practical effects to be a nightmare? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Entertainment Weekly
