Alex Garland’s Ex Machina Adds Oscar Isaac And Domhnall Gleeson

By Brent McKnight | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Alex Garland

Director Alex Garland and producer Scott Rudin’s indie robot thriller Ex Machina has roped in a pair of actors as co-conspirators. Oscar Isaac (The Bourne Legacy) and Domhnall Gleeson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Dredd) are both in talks to join the party.

Also written by Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine), who is making his directorial debut, Ex Machina is about a billionaire programmer who selects an employee to take part in a test run of his most recent invention. Turns out this super-secret project is an artificially intelligent female robot.

As you may have gathered, this Ex Machina has nothing to do with Brian K. Vaughan’s comic book of the same name — where a superhero becomes mayor of New York City after 9/11—which is also in development. I’m excited about that one, too. Most recently, Garland penned the underappreciated-in-theaters Dredd.

Part of me hopes this takes a Weird Science-style turn into shenanigans, but given Garland’s history of darkness and violence, that’s probably not the way this will all shake out. Still, that’s a grand idea, and in Garland’s hands, he’ll likely be able to pull off something kickass.

According to The Wrap, Gleeson is in talks to play the role of the young employee. Isaac, on the other hand, is close to closing a deal to play the aforementioned billionaire. In addition to Isaac and Gleeson, a handful of actresses are in consideration for the female lead, presumably the robot. The shortlist includes Felicity Jones (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and Alicia Vikander (Anna Karenina).

With a $15 million budget, Ex Machina should begin filming this summer or fall.

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