Ex Machina Director’s New Sci-Fi Movie Finds Cast, Studio: Report

Alex Garland — the writer-director best known for Ex Machina and Netflix’s Annihilation — has reportedly set his next sci-fi movie: Men. It will likely star Jessie Buckley, the lead in Charlie Kaufman’s Netflix film I’m Thinking of Ending Things, and Rory Kinnear, whose latest role was in the Showtime series Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (available on Disney+ Hotstar in India). Men is about a young woman (Buckley) who goes on a solo holiday to the English countryside after the death of her former husband.

Deadline brings word of Garland’s next movie. As he has on all previous occasions, Garland will both write — the script is already ready — and direct Men, which is being produced by the Oscar-winning studio A24, where Garland got his start with Ex Machina. Garland’s frequent collaborator Scott Rudin will return as producer, alongside Eli Bush and DNA’s Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich.

Garland most recently delivered the sci-fi thriller miniseries Devs (on Hulu in the US, and Disney+ Hotstar in India). Men will be his first feature-length project since 2018’s Annihilation, which was sold by Paramount Pictures to Netflix (in all markets except the US, Canada, and China) because the studio was worried about its commercial success. Predictably, Annihilation bombed at the box office. Garland was disappointed by the Netflix sale, noting that they “made the film for cinema”.

Garland should have a more sympathetic partner in A24, which gave Ex Machina a global theatrical release, though it’s worth noting that A24 does have a deal in place with Apple TV+. But the Deadline report makes no mention of Apple being involved with Men, which suggests that Garland’s next movie will (most likely) be in theatres, if they are still around once COVID-19 is under control.

Buckley had a packed 2020 with five releases, including the aforementioned I’m Thinking of Ending Things. She was most recently seen in Fargo season 4 (available on Amazon Prime Video in India). Buckley will be next seen in National Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet for PBS and Sky Arts, per Deadline, and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut The Lost Daughter based on Elena Ferrante’s novel of the same name.

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels was the only 2020 release for Kinnear, who will be next seen in the Bond film No Time to Die — slated for April 2021 — reprising his role as M’s chief of staff Bill Tanner.