I said to Jeff, I don't know how to do a faithful adaptation of your book.

I just literally don't know how to do it.

And if what you need is a faithful adaptation, then you will need someone else,

because I'm not the guy who's going to be able to do that.

I'm Sean Fennacy, Editor and Chief of the Ringer, and this is the big picture,

a conversation show with some of the most exciting filmmakers in the world.

Some movies home at a different frequency.

The writer-director Alex Garland makes quiet movies that eventually roar in a way that is

different from other sci-fi. His debut 2015's ex-Machina was an exploration of artificial

intelligence that became a surprise hit and an Oscar winner. His latest,

annihilation, is an adaptation of the novelist Jeff Vandermeer's best-selling book.

Though Garland takes some fascinating liberties with the story,

Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac and Tessa Thompson star as explorers and scientists

on a mission to explore a colorful, spectral disturbance called the shimmer that is taking over a massive

land in the American South. The closer they get to the shimmer, the more horrifying it becomes.

Garland and I talked recently about the making of this unusual and masterful movie.

His early days as a novelist and screenwriter of movies like

28 Days Later in Sunshine, and a whole lot more. Here's Alex Garland.

I'm really excited to be joined today by one of my favorite filmmakers, Alex Garland.

Alex, thank you for coming in. It's a pleasure.

Alex, I want to know what kind of movie you knew you wanted to make after Ex-Machina

and the success of that movie. Did you have a sense of the kind of film you wanted to do next?

...