A24 revealed its provocative action drama Civil War at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival on Thursday night.
Screening to a packed audience at Austin’s Paramount Theater, Civil War was revealed to be a tribute to war journalism that veers away from explaining the politics that led to its central conflict. The movie instead depicts the practicalities and horrors of a civil war in modern-day America. The first-blush audience reactions are raves, with viewers calling the film a riveting and haunting movie.
The film from acclaimed writer-director Alex Garland (Ex Machina) imagines a near-future dystopia where the United States has been torn apart under the authoritarian rule of a three-term president (Nick Offerman). The story follows a journalist (Kirsten Dunst) and her colleagues as they make their way across a hostile and divided states of America with the hope of interviewing the president. Much of the road trip adventure feels a bit like Garland’s breakout 28 Days Later — only with murderous civilian soldiers touting assault rifles lurking around every turn instead of zombies.
Civil War has raised eyebrows for its timing, coming amid a contentious election year in which President Joe Biden has claimed “democracy is at stake” given his opponent Donald Trump’s history of attempts to subvert election laws. While the idea of a modern-day civil war might seem far-fetched, a 2022 poll by YouGov and the Economist found that 40 percent of Americans believe a new civil war is “at least somewhat likely in the next 10 years.”
When asked about when he wrote the film, Garland said, “It was four years ago. I wrote it back then and sent it to A24 and they just said, ‘Yup, all good,” which was surprising. This is a brave film to finance, so it was super appreciated.” Garland has long been in business with A24, dating back to his directorial debut, Ex Machina. The action film is reportedly the indie studio’s biggest swing to date.
Civil War doesn’t offer much explanation about how the country gets to its perilous state (audiences do learn that the president disbanded the FBI), which the director said was intentional. Said Garland, “The film is intended to be a conversation. It is not asserting things. You want to leave space for people to bring themselves to the conversation. It’s important that it was a two way street.”
Civil War also stars Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Sonoya Mizuno, and much of the cast was seeing the film for the first time at the Austin premiere. “I need a second,” said Dunst to laughs from the audience. “I had never read a script like this and I had never seen a film like this.”
Civil War will be released in theaters and IMAX on April 12.
Well you don’t really need to be told who would start it, only the right wing fascists want fascism and a single party country.
I want to know what MAGA thinks of this film
This looks terrifying considering how many people throw that phrase around over the past handful of years.
Yeah, I think I’m good.
Stressed enough over life currently, and don’t need a reminder in film form letting me know of a possibility in the near future.
Nice that it’s an actual decent movie. Not that gung-ho to see it.
Oh. Great. Exactly what we needed right now.
I don’t hate on the people that made this, but I hope this movie flops. I don’t want to have a civil war conversation and how it somehow compares to today.
Folks who think there will be a civil war have never opened a history book.
This isn’t going to happen again in the US. We are too fat, too mentally sick, too disconnected, too apathetic, not enough leaders to organize the various militias and factions, and any group that gets enough momentum, would be quickly infiltrated and shut down by elements within our gov. And really, let’s face it. Despite a small faction that got shut down on Jan 6th. Most people do not actually hate our government and the ignorant people that would love this to happen enough to want to start killing each other in the streets. Would other countries love this to happen?? Fuck ya! But fuck them.
This movie should have never been made, it’s only going to serve as a call to arms for Trump worshippers and conservative terrorists.
That headline is as much as I need to hear, so excited to see this thing. I’ve been incredibly curious what a real world war movie from *Alex Garland* of all people would look like.
Can’t wait for the memes
So? What do you call the battle of Athens in 1946?
Might happen I guess
Saw the previews and got a deep uneasy feeling that the timing of the release will serve as fuel for extremists and the media. I uttered quietly “oh great, do we really need this right now?” and overheard similar comments in the audience.
13 comments
A24 revealed its provocative action drama Civil War at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival on Thursday night.
Screening to a packed audience at Austin’s Paramount Theater, Civil War was revealed to be a tribute to war journalism that veers away from explaining the politics that led to its central conflict. The movie instead depicts the practicalities and horrors of a civil war in modern-day America. The first-blush audience reactions are raves, with viewers calling the film a riveting and haunting movie.
The film from acclaimed writer-director Alex Garland (Ex Machina) imagines a near-future dystopia where the United States has been torn apart under the authoritarian rule of a three-term president (Nick Offerman). The story follows a journalist (Kirsten Dunst) and her colleagues as they make their way across a hostile and divided states of America with the hope of interviewing the president. Much of the road trip adventure feels a bit like Garland’s breakout 28 Days Later — only with murderous civilian soldiers touting assault rifles lurking around every turn instead of zombies.
Civil War has raised eyebrows for its timing, coming amid a contentious election year in which President Joe Biden has claimed “democracy is at stake” given his opponent Donald Trump’s history of attempts to subvert election laws. While the idea of a modern-day civil war might seem far-fetched, a 2022 poll by YouGov and the Economist found that 40 percent of Americans believe a new civil war is “at least somewhat likely in the next 10 years.”
When asked about when he wrote the film, Garland said, “It was four years ago. I wrote it back then and sent it to A24 and they just said, ‘Yup, all good,” which was surprising. This is a brave film to finance, so it was super appreciated.” Garland has long been in business with A24, dating back to his directorial debut, Ex Machina. The action film is reportedly the indie studio’s biggest swing to date.
Civil War doesn’t offer much explanation about how the country gets to its perilous state (audiences do learn that the president disbanded the FBI), which the director said was intentional. Said Garland, “The film is intended to be a conversation. It is not asserting things. You want to leave space for people to bring themselves to the conversation. It’s important that it was a two way street.”
Civil War also stars Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Sonoya Mizuno, and much of the cast was seeing the film for the first time at the Austin premiere. “I need a second,” said Dunst to laughs from the audience. “I had never read a script like this and I had never seen a film like this.”
Civil War will be released in theaters and IMAX on April 12.
Well you don’t really need to be told who would start it, only the right wing fascists want fascism and a single party country.
I want to know what MAGA thinks of this film
This looks terrifying considering how many people throw that phrase around over the past handful of years.
Yeah, I think I’m good.
Stressed enough over life currently, and don’t need a reminder in film form letting me know of a possibility in the near future.
Nice that it’s an actual decent movie. Not that gung-ho to see it.
Oh. Great. Exactly what we needed right now.
I don’t hate on the people that made this, but I hope this movie flops. I don’t want to have a civil war conversation and how it somehow compares to today.
Folks who think there will be a civil war have never opened a history book.
This isn’t going to happen again in the US. We are too fat, too mentally sick, too disconnected, too apathetic, not enough leaders to organize the various militias and factions, and any group that gets enough momentum, would be quickly infiltrated and shut down by elements within our gov. And really, let’s face it. Despite a small faction that got shut down on Jan 6th. Most people do not actually hate our government and the ignorant people that would love this to happen enough to want to start killing each other in the streets. Would other countries love this to happen?? Fuck ya! But fuck them.
This movie should have never been made, it’s only going to serve as a call to arms for Trump worshippers and conservative terrorists.
That headline is as much as I need to hear, so excited to see this thing. I’ve been incredibly curious what a real world war movie from *Alex Garland* of all people would look like.
Can’t wait for the memes
So? What do you call the battle of Athens in 1946?
Might happen I guess
Saw the previews and got a deep uneasy feeling that the timing of the release will serve as fuel for extremists and the media. I uttered quietly “oh great, do we really need this right now?” and overheard similar comments in the audience.