Reel life: Writer wanted to get 'Machina' science right

<b>'Ex' director, sci-fi guy</b>

British novelist Alex Garland, writer of Danny Boyle's science fiction thrillers "28 Days Later" and "Sunshine," celebrates his directorial debut with the A.I. drama "Ex Machina," opening at three Chicago-area theaters this weekend. He came to Chicago recently where I pelted him with a few questions:

Q. What impact did having a psychotherapist for a mother have on you?

A. That's a funny question. Well, my mother's influence was pretty straightforward in terms of awareness of unconscious motivation. So, if I got (annoyed) about something, it was really something that happened three days ago that was causing it.

Putting the idea in the head of a kid that they're doing things without any idea of why they're doing them is a heavy thing to handle. Let's put it like this: I haven't said the same thing to my children.

Q. What about the impact of having a political cartoonist for a dad?

A. As for my dad, I grew up surrounded by comics and comic books. Mostly Mad magazines. Not the new ones, the old ones from the 1950s and 1960s. So I grew up around comic book images.

And somewhere in film there is a relationship between comic books and film in terms of storyboards. Even concepts like cut and edit, and when you jump out of scene are incredibly related to how comic books are structured.

Q. I read that Murray Shanahan, a professor of cognitive robotics at Britain's Imperial College, suggested a few tweaks in your script for "Ex Machina." Like what?

A. Murray didn't suggest a lot of tweaks because I had read his stuff for my source material. (Shanahan wrote the book "Embodiment and the Inner Life: Cognition and Consciousness in the Space of Possible Minds.") But there were small things, such as how to say something correctly. And a few technical things that would have only bothered a small number of people, such as making sure the code on the screen has been compiled correctly. He (Murray) has been a big supporter of the film which is nice, actually.

Q. "Ex Machina" seems to be a smarter and more effective work than your last drama with Danny Boyle, "Sunshine." Any idea why?

A. The grasp of the science, the grasp of what was reasonable, really got away from me badly. It was sacrificed for what turned out to be ill-advised plot points, actually.

Retrospectively, I really regret that. I think it would have been a better film had it been more rigorous with the science. With this film, I had a very clear intent to make sure the presentation of arguments around the issues of A.I. and consciousness will stand up to examination.

Q. I get the impression that you became a director simply to be in command of your own material, and not have your vision compromised by other directors. Am I wrong?

A. You're not exactly wrong. I tend to change, depending on my mood, on how I answer that question. It's depending on how I got out of bed that morning. I came to film from writing novels. if the movies were screwed up, it was as much my fault as anyone else.

I'm not interested in auteurism. My films are collaborations between quite large groups of people. The production designer and director of photography are not there being bent to my wishes. Why does the film industry treasure these guys and value them so highly if they're all just obeying the wishes of a certain director?

Q, To what extent does "Ex Machina" owe a debt of gratitude to Mary Shelley?

A. I don't think you can tell a story like this without being influenced by Mary Shelley. The influence is as much indirect as it is direct, as it is in all stories about creatures we create that get away from us.

An important part of these stories is how allegiances shift. The suspicion in the film is squarely directed at humans rather than the machines. It's pretty empathetic to the machines, I would say.

<b>Film critics notebook:</b>

The Orson Welles Film Festival presents "The Trial" - directed by and starring Welles - based on Franz Kafka's landmark 1925 novel, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, at the Woodstock Theatre, or the "Rosebud Theatre" as it is now being dubbed for the duration of the festival through May 23.

Welles' 1974 quasi-doc "F for Fake" will be shown April 29 before the big moment when his most famous, groundbreaking motion picture "Citizen Kane" will be screened May 6 to commemorate the Kenosha-born, Woodstock-educated filmmaker's 100th birthday.

In lieu of admission, a donation of $5 will be collected. (Hey students! You can get in free!) For a complete Welles schedule, go to welleswoodstock.com/film-festival.

<i> Dann Gire's column runs Fridays in Time out!</i>