The Oscar-nominated ‘Lost Daughter’ actress reflects on the heady horrors she portrayed in Charlie Kaufman’s ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’.
After directing the intoxicating FX sci-fi series “Devs,” Alex Garland returns to the realm of auteur horror with his latest film, “Men.” It stars new Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”) in a role that bears an uncanny resemblance to the woman she played in Charlie Kaufman’s “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”: she’s in a sort of a nightmarish vacation trip to the countryside, where something haunting swirls in its present, and it has to do with men. Watch the first trailer for the A24 movie below.
Joining Jessie Buckley are Rory Kinnear (most recently seen as MI6 employee Bill Tanner in the Daniel Craig James Bond films) and Paapa Essiedu (the ‘I May Destroy You’ escape that earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for best supporting actor playing Wade). “Men” features cinematography from Rob Hardy, who filmed Alex Garland’s Oscar-nominated directorial debut “Ex Machina,” as well as his sci-fi horror flick “Annihilation” and all episodes of “Devs “. Hardy announced that production had ended in the UK on May 22, 2021.
“Men” is written and directed by Garland, working from an original screenplay and produced by Eli Bush, Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich.
A24 previously released Garland’s ‘Ex Machina’, which tackled elements of gothic horror with its isolated setting (a Garland favorite) and the story of a mad scientist (Oscar Isaac) maniacally constructing female robots under contract in his lair. Garland earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for “Ex Machina,” which earned him a surprise Oscar win for Best Visual Effects. “Annihilation,” released and virtually discontinued by Paramount before being unloaded on Netflix in foreign territories in 2018, was also a psychedelic horror film with sci-fi roots. While a box office flop grossed $43 million against a production budget slightly above that, the film, starring Natalie Portman on her own existential journey through a nightmarish shifting landscape of monstrous flora and fauna , is now considered somewhat of a new cult classic.
Next, Alex Garland directs Kirsten Dunst in A24’s ‘Civil War,’ an equally top-secret action epic that for the first time pairs the British writer and director with the now Oscar-nominated ‘Power of the Dog’ star. . Dunst is attached to star, along with Wagner Moura (“Narcos”), Stephen McKinley Henderson (“Dune”) and Cailee Spaeny (“Mare of Easttown”). Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich and Gregory Goodman will produce the film with A24.
“Men” will be released in theaters on May 20, 2022.
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