Screenwriter's Series: Alex Garland
The Screenwriters Series will examine the filmography of a screenwriter with the hope of finding out what helped them break into the industry or continue to find success. "Story By" credits will not be used: only films with official WGA Screenplay credit per IMDb will be used. This includes screenplays with multiple writers that may or may not have collaborated.
THIS MONTH'S SCREENWRITER: Alex Garland
After the Halo movie based on his script was scrapped, Garland settled on an adaptation of good friend Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, his first adaptation, as his next project.
MOVIE: Never Let Me Go (2010)
Starring:
Carey Mulligan as Kathy
Andrew Garfield as Tommy
Keira Knightley as Ruth
Charlotte Rampling as Miss Emily
Sally Hawkins as Miss Lucy
Andrea Riseborough as Chrissie
Domhnall Gleeson as Rodney
Director: Mark Romanek
Budget: $15 Million
Box Office:
Opened: $111,734
Final: $2.4M
Plot:
Young Kathy and Ruth attend the Hailsham School, carefully watched over by "Guardians" like Miss Emily. Their friendship changes when Tommy enters the scene, leading to the girls becoming romantic rivals for his affection. Despite he and Kathy having strong feelings for each other, Kathy choses to not pursue her feelings which leads to Ruth and Tommy ending up together. After the arrival of new Guardian Miss Lucy, the harsh reality behind their existence is revealed. They are clones designed with the purpose to be organ donors to their "original", never expected to live past their 20's or four donations. As they graduate from Hailsham and move to "The Cottages" to wait until they are needed, Tommy and Kathy's deeply harbored feelings resurface as they attempt to come to terms with their own mortality.
The Script:
The version of the script I was able to get my hands on was the shooting draft, so there isn't much different from page to screen. One thing that I found interesting was there were notations of scenes that were deleted. The scene headings were still there but underneath it would say "Scene Deleted". I haven't seen that ever in a draft before as it is usually completely deleted.
My Review:
I honestly couldn't remember if I had seen this movie before, which would have made it the only Alex Garland movie I hadn't previously seen. If I had seen it, it definitely fell back into the deep recesses of my memory. Regardless, this dystopian sci-fi romance is at the same time beautiful and a major downer.
Garland loves tackling the complex theme of humanity, mortality and death. His career so far has been built on examining these themes through many different lenses (28 Days Later through horror and Sunshine through science fiction). It's very easy to see why he was attracted to the tragedy of the source material and wanted to examine these themes through the lens of a romance (with some sci-fi mixed in).
Knightly and Mulligan are fantastic in the movie, especially Knightly late in the film when her character is coming to terms with the little time she has remaining. I had a hard time investing because I honestly couldn't understand their fascination with Tommy, especially the older version played by Andrew Garfield. It undercut the impact of the honest and heartbreaking story that was unfolding around it. I felt the emotion when Knightly and Mulligan were on screen, not so much with Garfield.
Critical reception:
70% on Rotten Tomatoes
Saturn Award Nominee- Best Writing
British Independent Film Award Nominee- Best Screenplay
Evening Standard British Film Award Nominee- Best Screenplay
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award Nominee- Best Adapted Screenplay
Trivia:
Alex Garland asked the book's author Kazuo Ishiguro for the rights before he finished reading it. He even had a script written before the books publication in 2005.
Up Next: Dredd (2012)