‘Civil War’ Director Explains Message Behind Film — And Why California and Texas Join Forces Against President

Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Alex Garland, the writer and director of the upcoming film Civil War, explained recently why in the movie a red and blue state join together to fight a “fascistic” U.S. president.

Garland’s film, which he has said will be the last he plans to direct for the foreseeable future, has received a lot of buzz given the current political climate in the United States. Ahead of its Friday premiere, Garland has spoken at length about the message behind the film. He told the New York Times in an interview out Thursday, “Overall I’d say this film is about checks and balances: polarization, division, the way populist politics leads toward extremism, where extremism itself will end up and where the press is in all of that.”

He added of the film, which centers around a journalist traversing the war-torn U.S. to get to the final battle in Washington, DC, that “one of the things that really preoccupied me four years ago was it was perfectly obvious there were really good journalists doing good work. But the thing that interested me, and this has been happening for a while, is how little traction they had.”

Garland offered similar comments at a premier for the film when asked why California and Texas join forces against the federal government in the movie.

“I mean, I’m not exactly sure I should explain that too much, but, obviously it was intentional,” he replied, adding:

Partly to get around a kind of reflexive, polarizing position that people might fall into. That’s one thing, but actually, that’s not the main thing. The main thing is to do with how the president is presented and what can what can be inferred from that. So, the president is acting in a fascistic manner. Has dismantled one of the legal systems that could threaten him, has made themselves into a three time president, which is constitution smashing and is being violent to his own citizens, essentially.

So then it’s saying that two states that have a different political position have said our political difference is less important than this. And then the counter to that is, if you cannot conceive of that, what you’re saying is that your polarized political position would be more important than a fascist president, which, when you put it like that, I would suggest is insane. That’s an insane position to hold. So it’s a sort of oblique commentary, and I think that’s how the film works in general. It’s not it’s not explaining this stuff, but it’s also not avoiding this stuff. It’s present, but it’s it’s via conversation.

Watch the clip above.