28 Days Later writer Alex Garland has revealed that his first directing job was not Ex Machina, but a 2012 sci-fi movie that he ghost directed. Garland rose to fame with his 1996 novel The Beach, which was adapted into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and directed by Danny Boyle. Garland also achieved prominence through his collaboration with the latter, writing two of Boyle’s best movies, 28 Days Later and Sunshine. He has also scripted the movie Never Let Me Go, and re-teamed with Boyle for the upcoming 28 Years Later, and its sequel.

Garland made his directorial debut with 2014’s science-fiction film Ex Machina, starring Alicia Vikander and Domhnall Gleeson. He also wrote and directed the science-fiction horror Annihilation, the folk horror movie Men, and the two acclaimed war moviesWarfare and Civil War. However, Garland had directing experience prior to Ex Machina, when it was revealed that he ghost directed a critically acclaimed $41.5 million 2012 sci-fi action movie for which he also wrote the screenplay.

Garland Cut His Directing Teeth With Dredd

The Karl Urban Comic Book Adaptation Was Plagued With Post-Production Problems

Dredd was the second movie adaptation of the Judge Dredd comics, following the much-maligned 1995 Sylvester Stallone movie Judge Dredd. Dredd starred The Boys‘ Karl Urban in the тιтular role, and was directed by Pete Travis, from a screenplay by Garland. However, post-production was a fraught process, with Travis reportedly frozen out of the editing process, following alleged disagreements with the producers.

In an interview with GQ, Garland reveals that he ghost directed on Dredd, taking over from Travis, and discusses how the influence of showrunners in TV was impacting filmmaking at that time. While this was an important experience for Garland, he was weary of the chaotic process that came from switching directors, calling it “ridiculous.” He praises Travis, who he says was put in an “impossible situation.” Check out Garland’s comments below.

In truth, what happened, just to be candid about it, look, a lot of time has pᴀssed, I did end up on some films essentially doing ghost-directing. In TV, the writer/showrunner has the kind of authorship ʙuттon handed to them, and in film, it’s the director who has that. They can’t both be true simultaneously.

Television is not so much different from film that magically it’s the writer/showrunner and now magically it’s the director, and some people I’m working with, their principle was ‘Well, why don’t we take that concept from television and use it in film.’ For complicated reasons that just didn’t work. It just created a bloody mess.

Within this is a disservice to Pete Travis, who is the credited director, who did some fundamental/crucial things, and he deserves that тιтle. He was put in an absolutely impossible situation, and retrospectively, the longer I’ve worked, the more ridiculous I think it was. After the experience of making ‘Dredd’, what I said is I’m not doing that again. Just let me do that job, let’s simplify this.

What This Means For Garland’s Future Filmography

The Experience Paved The Way For Garland To Become A Writer-Director

The chaotic and muddled process of Dredd could well be what inspired Garland to become a writer-director. Since his work on that movie, he has directed every film he has written to this point, and Garland’s strong filmography shows that his decision to move into directing his own scripts was the right one. The experience with ghost directing on Dredd probably showed Garland that he could protect himself creatively by directing his own scripts, and helped ensure that he wouldn’t find himself in a similar situation to Dredd again.

Source: GQ