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Youve saidAnnihilationis essentially about different kinds of personal self-destruction.
Why adapt this very peculiar novel?
There are many forms of self-destruction that get name-checked in the film cancer is an obvious one.
The novel was like a canvas where you could get very, very subjective indeed.
Everything from the structure of plant forms or crystal forms or the lighthouse everything could get pushed.
A creature containing the pain of something else.
All of these things could get fused together into a mega-subjective experience.
Youve said you only read the book once …
I read the book once, yes.
… and then adapted it from memory.
Youve always worked in different genres, from zombie films to sci-fi.
What draws you back to it?
Genre gives you efficiency, in some ways.
You have a shorthand that allows you to move at a certain clip.
And I like that.
I have a restless and subversive instinct.
Sometimes when you subvert peoples expectations, you also disappoint them.
You had some conflict with some of your original producers about the ending.
How do you deal with that?
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You stick to your guns, is what you do.
Do you worry about how an audience reacts to the film?
Annihilationis a particular kind of movie.
Unless youre up to being a participant in that process, youll never get the story.
Theyre going to think its meaningless, or dumb, or inconsequential, or nothing leads to anything.
Then theres another kind of viewer who is a participant in it, who will see quite a lot.
Is that the way you like to work?
So did you always know the ending ofAnnihilation?
The28 Days Latermodel is not the way I choose to work now.
That does not appeal to me at all.
Thats not a happy place to be for me.
Now thatAnnihilationis on DVD and, soon, will be streaming, people can rewatch it multiple times.
What should they be looking for?
There are certain conversations that ah, fuck it.
Im not going to be too coy about this.
Oscar Isaacs character has a tattoo of a bear on his chest.
I dont think anyones going to notice that the first time around.
I dont think anybodys going to draw that inference the first time around.
Id be impressed if anyone did.
Dont underestimate the internets ability to sleuth these things out.
Thats exactly why the internet is terrifying.
Its ability to inspect.
Do you enjoy that kind of speculation?
Therefore, it can stay alive in peoples minds.
If you know the answers to everything, then what is there to discuss?
I venture to make things that stay alive in peoples heads.
