The Big Picture

Collider’s Steve Weintraub sits down to talk with the cast of Alex Garland’s action thriller,
Civil War.

Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, and Wagner Moura discuss Garland’s non-traditional way of filming on set, challenging scenes to film, and what it meant to them to be a part of the movie.
The trio also comment on the recent news that Garland will be stepping away from directing, what they know about his next project, and more.

As news spreads about screenwriter and director Alex Garland’s move from filmmaking, the cast of his latest (and last?), A24’s Civil War, celebrate the auteur’s unusual style. In this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia) shares why she was surprised Garland was able to pull this one off, and why she wound up calling him to let him know how proud she was to be part of it. Joined by co-stars Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla) and Wagner Moura (Narcos), the trio share stories from set and reveal what they know about the future of Alex Garland.

Like his previous films, Ex Machina (2014) and Annihilation (2018), Civil War tackles topical issues. This time, audiences are racing through a war-torn U.S. on the road to the White House, where the controversial president’s (Nick Offerman) life is at risk. The United States is experiencing a second Civil War, and journalists Lee (Dunst), Joel (Moura), and their protégé Jessie (Spaeny) are dedicated to getting an interview, no matter the stakes. Civil War also features performances by Stephen McKinley Henderson (Dune), Jesse Plemons (The Irishman), and Jefferson White (Yellowstone).

Check out the full interview in the video above, or in the transcript below, to find out why Dunst believed Civil War would be a “nightmare” to edit, the non-traditional way Garland shot, which scenes were most challenging, and what they know about Garland’s future in Hollywood.

Civil War The film follows events in the U.S. during a civil war. Government forces attack civilians. Journalists are shot in the Capitol.Release Date April 12, 2024 Director Alex Garland Main Genre Drama Writers Alex Garland

Read Our ‘Civil War’ Review

The Way Alex Garland’s ‘Civil War’ Was Shot Amazed the Cast
“I actually thought this movie was going to be a nightmare to edit.”

COLLIDER: I wanna just say on camera to all three of you: this movie is fantastic. I really hope people go out to see this one, especially in a movie theater because it deserves to be seen on a movie screen. You guys have all worked on other projects, but you don’t really know what it’s gonna be until you see the finished film. So for all three of you, what was it like actually watching this for the first time? It’s a very powerful look at what’s going on in our country and it represents a lot.

WAGNER MOURA: It’s interesting because people ask me, “Oh, wow, what is it gonna look like?” I never know, because like you said, as an actor, you go there and you do your best, and you hope for the best. I’ve been in films where things were great, and I was like, “This is gonna be great,” and when you watch, it’s not that great. And the opposite, the same — chaotic processes where the film is awesome. But I have to say, with this one I was very confident that this was gonna be a great film, and when I saw the film, it really amazed me. Everything. The sound of the film… I wasn’t expecting it to be that incredible. But the story that Alex wanted to tell, it’s all there.

KIRSTEN DUNST: The screenplay Alex wrote was gripping. I was surprised that he pulled it off in the way that he did when I first saw the film, because I didn’t know how the photographs were naturally going to be incorporated into quiet moments that you have. And it felt so real to have those quiet moments when soldiers pause and then begin again. It just felt so immersive to me. I just have never seen a movie like that. I called him, and I was like, “I’m just very proud to be a part of this.”

CAILEE SPAENY: Yeah, it’s true. Those moments of the different photos that Lee and Jessie take, it’s like a moment where you go inside their minds, take a pause inside. You’re seeing it through them. It’s really special, the way that it was edited.

DUNST: Yes, I was blown away. I actually thought this movie was going to be a nightmare to edit because there were so many cameras going on at the same time. There’s so much footage.

SPAENY: We had eight cameras rigged to the car, so we just sort of got in, they said “action” on a walkie-talkie, and Wagner just starts driving. It was kind of cool as an actor because it wasn’t a traditional way to film.

Image via A24

DUNST: And, let’s say it was Cailee’s close-up and there was a camera that you peaked that was maybe on Wagner in the front seat from over the shoulder, then Alex, I guess, they just took it out in post.

SPAENY: But also, it meant that you always had to be giving your–

DUNST: “Always have to be acting!” [Laughs]

SPAENY: [Laughs] No, but every little detail was picked up. One time we were eating chips and he said action…

DUNST: Yeah, he’s like, “Get the chips out of your teeth.”

‘Civil War’ Co-Star Believes Alex Garland Will Stop Directing

Alex has said, and I’m hoping it’s not true, that he is not going to direct. This might be the last one he does for a while. I’m not 100%. What do we need to do to convince him that this is a mistake because he makes exceptional movies?

DUNST: I mean, he’s kind of co-directing in a way… Ray is directing the film. Ray Mendoza, our main military advisor, is making a film about his experience and Alex is going to be his right-hand man, and produce it along the entire way with Ray.

SPAENY: And he’s also still writing.

Oh, listen, that’s fantastic, but you know what I mean. After you see Civil War, you’re like, “Please keep making movies.”

SPAENY: I agree.

MOURA: But I believe him. Alex is not like a bullshit guy. He says he’s gonna stop, I think he’s gonna stop. At least for a while.

I’m hoping after, like, four or five years he gets the itch again. But anyway, so you guys see the shooting schedule, you know what’s in front of you; what day did you have circled in terms of, “I cannot wait to film this,” and what day was circled in terms of, “Wait, how exactly are we gonna film this?”

DUNST: I never circle any dates of anything. We shot in order, so we had the build-up of the actual heightening of the film in front of us, in life.

MOURA: But I think that the mass grave scene was something that I personally was sort of like, “Oh, it’s gonna be next week, right?” So, that kind of scene

SPAENY: Same. That was the one that was like, “Okay, here we go. We got it. We have to get this right.”

Jesse Plemons Improvised for Days on ‘Civil War’
“It was exhausting.”
Image via A24

There is a line that Jesse [Plemons] says in the film, which is, “What kind of American are you?” I love this line and I love that scene, the way it all plays out. Can you talk about the energy on set when you’re filming a scene like that?

MOURA: That scene was particularly– Maybe that’s why I was like, “Oh my god, this is the day we’re gonna shoot that scene?” Because I personally reacted in a very strong way to that since I read the script. “What kind of American are you” is something that really strikes me, as someone that is not from here. I’m an American citizen, too, but I speak with an accent and I’m Brazilian. Before the film, I always had this, like, “Oh my god, if someone asks me something like this, if I’m somewhere and someone goes, “Oh, where are you from? What are you doing here? Go back to your country,” that kind of racist, xenophobic kind of thing, I don’t know how I would react to that. So doing that scene with Jesse, and the way he played the scene, it was, without being too melodramatic — we shot it for two days — it was exhausting. He shot it many, many times. He said that to me many, many, many, many times. In the end, when we wrapped, really, I laid down in the grass and cried for 15 minutes. It says something about being a Latino in this country, and it was a really strong scene for me.

DUNST: I had the least interaction with his character in it. I just made him do the role for us. That was my part in it. He tortured poor Cailee, though. Not tortured, but did a lot of improvisation.

SPAENY: The first day, we were just in eyeline, but Jesse was in it, so that meant I was in it. We were doing a lot of improvising, which, it’s not a fun character to interact with for a whole day. But hopefully it’s effective and gets under people’s skin in the way it got under ours.

Civil War is in theaters now.