We’ve touched upon much of your past work and talked ‘Machina’ before. So we might as well squeeze in “Dredd.” There was some sequel talk there too, no?
Yeah, with “Dredd” there was a thought of sequels. I had a whole plan, an idea, and a rough storyline. But what I never thought about would be, the reality of actually having to make one another one.
Here’s the thing: by the time you finish a film, you’ve been focused on one thing for somewhere between two and a half and three years. In some respects, the last thing you want to do is even contemplate going back to the same movie. I find it truly mystifying, these directors [who can]. Fine, good for them. Returning to whatever — “Harry Potter,” or “Transformers.” I think, “Wow. Isn’t that, aside from anything else, isn’t it just a head fuck? How do you deal with that? What happens when you wake up in the morning and think ‘Harry Potter’ again? What happens at that beat?”
It could be the creative equivalent of eating the same meal every day for several years.
I can’t get my head around it. I talk about the sequels, but the reality of making them … If I ever actually entertained that, I’d feel like I was falling off a cliff.
So the “Dredd” sequel thing [laughs]. I have reached a point now where I sort of understand it would be great if it happened. It needs to be with other people, anyway, because we dropped the ball. If you drop the ball like that in film, you don’t get the right to pick it up again. I really believe that, actually. I’ve made my peace with it. It took me a while to make my peace with it. I felt really fucking furious with myself for a long time, but I’m done now.
What’s next?
Scott Rudin, getting towards the end of post-production on “Ex Machina,” says, “There’s this book you ought to read. It’s by this guy Jeff Vandermeer, it’s called ‘Annihilation.’ ” It’s one of those bits of timing where something you’ve been thinking about, a vehicle for it just arrives. It’s a beautifully written book. It pushes a whole bunch of things in me to do with stuff I read when I was a kid.
What’s it about?
It’s a group of women who enter into an area of America that has been sealed off, by the government, by an organization. It’s a surrealist science fiction novel, where these things are not really locked down or fully explained. They enter into this area, and what they find is some extremely strange landscape with some very strange things going on with it. It exists in a kind of surrealist dream state for a lot of it. It reminded me of J.G. Ballard and also felt like its own thing. I sort of think, “Right. Yeah, I’ve got a handle on how to make this. It’s kind of weird. Are you sure you want to make this film, because I would be into making it. But do you really want to make it, because it is very strange.”
This has got more in common, in some respects, with “Dredd,” but it actually has lots of thoughtful and reflective qualities in other ways too.
“Ex Machina” is out on Blu-Ray/ DVD, iTunes, GooglePlay and more Digital outlets.
