Director Alex Garland was already highly respected as the screenwriter of modern sci-fi classics like “28 Days Later,” “Sunshine” and “Dredd,” but his critical acclaim turned white hot after his directorial debut last year, “Ex Machina.” Considered one of the best films of 2015 by many (including us), Garland quickly reteamed with producer Scott Rudin —who came onboard ‘Machina’ to help with its theatrical release he believed in it so much—for a moody, sci-fi-ish book called “Annihilation” by Jeff VanderMeer.
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“It's one of those bits of timing where something you've been thinking about, a vehicle for it just arrives,” Garland told us last year about Rudin dropping the book in his lap, recommending he read it and responding to it immediately. “It's a beautifully written book. It pushes a whole bunch of things in me to do with stuff I read when I was a...