Alex Garland first came to prominence in 1998 with the publication of The Beach. The book was embraced by outsider culture and became a staple of the backpacking crowd. After the critical and commercial failure of the movie adaptation Garland retreated with his Beach cohorts, director Danny Boyle and producer Andrew Macdonald, to develop the screenplay for 28 Days Later. They emerged with one of the scariest zombie movies I've seen. The title confused me until the first 10 minutes of the film when...
when i first saw the preview i thought it was a remake of The Omega Man. then while reading the interview i had to laugh because i remembered a movie called Night Of The Comet which had to be my sisters favorite movie during the 80's. i recommend seeing that if you can find it!
Wow, I've been giddy about this film ever since a friend told me about it after seeing it at (I think) the Toronto Film Festival.
The Beach is one of my favorite films, (minus that obligatory subplot of Lenny DiCaprio being in love with the French girl) and I'm still meaning to read the book. I've lived in ludditey commune situations, and in forest camps, and I laugh with recognition when the beach dwellers make out their shopping lists of batteries, hair bleach, and tampons.
I adore Danny Boyle films because they seem to follow a path that has been true in my own life, whereas the good times never last forever, but if you're smart, you'll get away with a laugh or a lesson. Seeing as 28 Days Later is already on foreign DVD, and there is no movie theatre in my smallish town, I've been shopping for region-free players.
Cheers to SG for the Alex Garland article!
The only thing I would add is in reference to the idea that George Romero films having no politics. Zombie flicks "Dawn" & "Day" kinda beat you over the head with their simple social analysis, but the commentary was there. (The former being about consumerism, the latter about education versus the miltary.)
Sean
STAFF
Los Angeles, CA
JUN 18, 2003 05:00 PM