Civil War director doesn't see his new movie as an American story – but he set it in the US for a reason

Ex Machina and Annihilation writer-director Alex Garland's new movie may focus on a group of journalists covering a second Civil War in the US, but he doesn't see the film as inherently American.

"I don't exactly see it as an American story," he tells GamesRadar+ and Inside Total Film. "There's two primary elements in the film. One is about journalism and the other one is about polarised politics and populism – extremism, essentially – and neither of those things are in any way contained to America."

The film stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Cailee Spaeny as a group of photographers and reporters traveling through a divided and wartorn US on their way from New York City to Washington DC to record the fall of the fascistic, totalitarian president (Nick Offerman).

"I mean, right now we're talking in the UK and the UK has absolutely had an issue with polarized politics and populism and also an issue with the kind of traction that journalists are able to get, and what they're competing with in their voices as they're trying to make a point, what the nature of public discourse is," Garland continues. "So then you could legitimately say, 'Well, why not set it here? And I think the difference is that the UK is essentially a relatively inconsequential country in many important respects.

"It's not to say it has no influence or no consequence. America is just a whole other ballgame. It's powerful in a way that means that when events are happening in America, the rest of the world is typically watching. They often understand more or have a keener interest in American politics than they have in their own politics. Which is strange, but it's because we get affected, so we care. I visualize it as the world is like a big mattress, and if the UK rolls over on the mattress, nothing happens, pretty much, you know, relatively speaking. If America rolls over, the whole thing sort of tilts and sways."

Civil War is released in cinemas on April 12. For more from Garland and Dunst, tune into the new episode of Inside Total Film this week.