As we anticipate his upcoming “Civil War,” Alex Garland is not, contrary to rumors, retiring from directing and will, in fact, remain in the battlefield for his next film.
Last month, a report from Deadline stated that Garland was again teaming up with A24 on an “untitled war movie.” We had no plot details to work with, and the announcement came with the peculiarly added detail that Garland would be “co-directing” this one with Ray Mendoza.
Judging by his past work, Mendoza is a war expert having collaborated with the History Channel as a producer on the documentary series “The Warfighters.” His IMDb doesn’t show any directing credits to his name, so this film with Garland will be his feature directing debut.
I can now exclusively report that the film is titled “Warfare” and will be an ensemble drama set in 2007 during the Iraq war. Production on the film is set to begin this coming May.
Charles Melton is also set to star in the film, and he’s coming off his critically lauded performance in last year’s “May December” which many believe deserved an Oscar nod in the Supporting Actor category. The rest of the cast includes Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, Kit Connor, Cosmo Jarvis and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai.
As mentioned, Garland has “Civil War” coming up on April 12. This next project of his is set to be his fifth collaboration with A24. They can’t seem to let go of each other. Hopefully, “Civil War” turns out to be great, it’s the most expensive A24 film ever produced, with a budget of around $50 million.
Garland is the sci-fi filmmaker behind such films as “Ex-Machina,” “Annihilation,” “Dredd” and “Men.”