Ex Machina: Screenplay
Alex Garland
EX MACHINA
Alex Garland
CONTENTS
Title Page
Cast and Crew
EX MACHINA
Photographs from the Film
About the Author
Also by Alex Garland
Copyright
CAST AND CREW
Ex Machina was released on 21 January 2015.
Universal Pictures International and Film 4 present A DNA Films Production
PRINCIPAL CAST
CALEB Domhnall Gleeson
NATHAN Oscar Isaac
AVA Alicia Vikander
KYOKO Sonoya Mizuno
PRINCIPAL CREW
Written and Directed by Alex Garland
Produced by Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich
Executive Producers Scott Rudin and Eli Bush
Executive Producer Tessa Ross
Line Producer Caroline Levy
Associate Producer Joanne Smith
Director of Photography Rob Hardy B.S.C.
Editor Mark Day
Production Designer Mark Digby
Set Decorator Michelle Day
Music by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow
Costume Designer Sammy Sheldon Differ
Make-up and Hair Designer Sian Grigg
Visual Effects Supervisor Andrew Whitehurst
Visual Effects Producer Tim Field
Sound Designer Glenn Freemantle
Casting by Francine Maisler
Ex Machina
Music starts.
Open on:
INT. OFFICE – DAY
A computer monitor.
Lines of code appear, as they are typed.
main ( ) {
extrn a, b, c;
putchar (a); putchar (b); putchar (c); putchar(‘!’*n’);
}a ‘hell’;
b ‘o, w’;
c ‘or
CUT TO
– a view above a huge open-plan office.
Just over the heads of the young men and women who sit at desks, in front of a computer screen and keyboard.
Each workstation is personalised. Photographs of friends or family, or pets. Cutting from magazines. Ironic superhero/video-game figurines.
CUT TO
– the hands of the young man doing the coding. He types fast, with two fingers.
CUT TO
– extreme close-up of a pinhole webcam lens in Caleb’s monitor.
CUT TO
– the point of view of the webcam.
Looking back at Caleb.
Twenty-four. Glazed. Ear buds in, connected to cell phone. Head bobbing slightly to the music.
As we watch from the monitor point of view, we can see the computer’s facial recognition system in operation. Imaged as vector boxes, which track Caleb’s face, and the faces of all the people behind him.
CUT TO
– the computer monitor.
On which a message appears, in a small window, over the code.
VIP EMAIL RECEIVED
Subject: HIDDEN
CUT TO
– the monitor webcam point of view.
As Caleb stops typing –
– he gazes at the message. Then clicks on the link. Then mouths the word: ‘Fuck’. Caleb reaches for his cell phone.
CUT TO
– the cell phone point of view, seen from the tiny camera above the screen, as Caleb lifts the phone, and starts keying in a text.
We see facial-recognition software flickering over Caleb’s features, and reacting to shifts in his expression.
CUT TO
– the cell phone. The screen. The tiny camera nestled above it. Lens glinting.
On the screen, a time-bar extends next to the word:
Sending
A beat later, a reply text message appears.
WTF? seriously!?
CUT TO
– the webcam point of view, watching Caleb react to the arrival of the text.
CUT TO
– cell phone screen.
Caleb sends the word:
Yes
A beat later, a stream of text messages start appearing:
Buena estoria bro
omfg fucking AWESOME
:o
take me take me?!?
Caleb > ∞
CUT TO
– the computer monitor point of view.
A few of the people behind Caleb in the office are reacting.
One stands and applauds.
A girl comes out from behind her desk, runs over to Caleb, and embraces him from behind, planting a kiss on his cheek.
Caleb still looks dazed.
He still has his headphones in. Still in the audio bubble, which, despite the commotion around him, remains unburst.
Title:
EX MACHINA
EXT. MOUNTAINS – DAY
A spectacular mountain landscape. Waterfalls drop down massive rock faces to inland lakes. Rivers push through forest. Forest spreads across valley floors, which rise to snow peaks.
INT. HELICOPTER – DAY
Caleb wakes abruptly –
– to find himself in the front seat of a helicopter.
The pilot, Jay, is a man in his forties.
Outside the window is the mountain landscape.
CALEB
How long was I out?
JAY
You fell asleep almost as soon as we left the airport.
Caleb looks around. Wipes sleep out of his eyes. Gets his bearings.
CALEB
Damn. Can’t believe I’ve been missing this. I was so psyched to be coming here, I was awake all night.
Jay smiles.
JAY
You’re a programmer, right?
CALEB
Yeah.
JAY
Bay facility?
CALEB
Long Island. I work on algorithms for the search engine.
JAY
Algorithms. Nice.
CALEB
You know what they are?
JAY
Nope. But I knew you were a programmer. Soon as I set eyes on you.
CALEB
Is that a good thing?
JAY
Means you and Mr Bateman speak the same language. I’d say that’s a good thing.
Beat.
CALEB
I guess you know him pretty well.
The pilot laughs.
JAY
I’ve never even met him. I only fly this shuttle between the airport and his residence. I did see him one time. Stood on one of these mountain ridges.
He shrugs.
Assume it was him, anyway. No one else around for a hundred miles.
He glances over at Caleb.
So how does a programmer from Long Island get to be meeting the CEO?
CALEB
I won a competition. It was kind of like a lottery, for employees. The winner got to spend a week with him.
JAY
The President can’t get Mr Bateman on the phone, but you got the golden ticket.
CALEB
Yep.
JAY
Hell of an opportunity.
CALEB
Believe me. I know it.
Caleb looks out of the window.
Incredible here.
JAY
Alaska. Most beautiful place on Earth.
Beat.
CALEB
How long until we get to his estate?
Jay chuckles.
JAY
We’ve been flying over his estate for the past two hours.
EXT. MOUNTAINS – DAY
The helicopter flies over a vast white glacier.
EXT. MOUNTAINS – DAY
A CCTV camera is
hidden in the rock and snow.
As the helicopter glides past, the lens of the camera twitches.
EXT. MOUNTAINS – DAY
The helicopter flies over the lip of the glacier, revealing a valley.
The valley floor is a bright green meadow. Sunlit, like a jewel in the icy mountains.
A whitewater river runs alongside it, leading to a waterfall.
INT. HELICOPTER – DAY
Caleb looks down at the breathtaking view as the helicopter banks, turns and descends.
EXT. MEADOW ⁄ LANDING SITE – DAY
Meadow flowers whip in the rotor wash as the helicopter touches down in the vast meadow.
By the landing site is a collection of huge metal crates. All have Chinese characters on the side.
The rotor blades slow, but don’t stop.
Jay exits.
EXT. MEADOW ⁄ LANDING SITE – DAY
Jay holds open the door as Caleb exits the helicopter cabin.
Caleb looks around, his eyes adjusting to the bright sunshine outside.
Jay goes to the side of the helicopter, pops open a hatch, and removes Caleb’s luggage. A large suitcase with wheels.
Caleb looks around. Apart from the packing crates, there are no man-made structures to be seen.
Caleb shouts over the engine noise.
CALEB
You’re leaving me here?
JAY
This is as close as I’m allowed to the building.
CALEB
… What building?
The pilot gestures vaguely towards the whitewater.
JAY
Follow the river.
Jay puts Caleb’s bag on the ground.
Caleb reaches into his pocket.
Produces a wallet, and pulls out some crumpled bank notes.
JAY
No tip required. Please get a safe distance from the blades.
The pilot gets back inside the helicopter, and closes the door.
Caleb hurriedly retreats with his bag.
Moments later, in a roar of wind and noise, the helicopter is lifting off.
Equally suddenly, the noise is fading, and the helicopter is soaring upwards, and banking back towards the glacier.
Then it is gone. Birdsong and wind-rush replace engine noise.
Caleb suddenly looks very isolated.
EXT. RIVER – DAY
Caleb walks along the banks of the fast-flowing river, awkwardly bumping his wheeled suitcase over the ground.
The banks of the river start to climb, to an intimidating drop.
It feels that this can’t be the right way.
Caleb reaches into his pocket and pulls out his mobile phone.
No signal at all.
He puts his phone back in his pocket.
EXT. RIVER ⁄ HOUSE VIEW – DAY
Caleb rounds a bend in the river.
Ahead, almost hidden in trees, there is a steel and glass structure.
EXT. CLEARING – DAY
Caleb walks towards the house through the trees.
In the ground, in a grassy clearing, he finds a circular window, reflecting the sky.
He walks up to the window, and looks inside.
It reveals what is effectively a glass-covered well – about four metres deep, with smooth concrete sides.
At the bottom of the well is a brightly lit room, which appears to be an office of some sort. There is a desk, with monitors, and a chair.
But apparently no one inside.
Beyond the clearing, in the tree line, Caleb sees – almost camouflaged by forest – the dark shapes and straight lines of a low, one-storey building complex.
EXT. HOUSE – DAY
Caleb approaches the building.
As he nears the entrance –
– he startles, as an automated voice speaks to him, from an unknown source.
AUTOMATED VOICE
Caleb Smith.
Caleb tracks the source of the voice.
Near what seems to be the front door, a pillar protrudes from the ground. Head-high, with a glass screen on one side.
Below the screen is a dispenser.
CALEB
… Yes.
AUTOMATED VOICE
Please approach the console and face the screen.
Caleb looks into the screen, and as soon as he has locked eyes with his own reflection, the screen flashes. A single bright strobe.
Almost immediately afterwards, something small clatters into the dispenser.
AUTOMATED VOICE
Take your keycard.
Caleb picks up the object. It’s a credit-card-sized ID.
On it there is an embedded chip and a photograph of his face. He looks comically surprised.
CALEB
… Can we do another?
AUTOMATED VOICE
Your keycard now may be used to enter the residence.
Caleb walks up to the front door.
Beside the door, a keycard plate is set into the wall, with a red LED light.
He holds his keycard ID.
The red LED light changes to blue.
Caleb pushes the front door, and it swings open.
INT. HOUSE ⁄ MAIN ROOM – DAY
The front door opens to a glass-walled staircase, which leads down to an open-plan room.
At the bottom of the staircase, Caleb waits to see if he is welcomed, or noticed.
But he is not.
CALEB
Hello?
Silence.
After a few moments, he enters.
He walks across the white carpet.
Then suddenly stops.
Something under his foot has crunched.
He looks down, and sees that he has trodden on a wine glass.
Bright shards of glass are sprinkled in the bleached wool.
CALEB
… Shit.
He freezes, unsure whether to try to pick it up, or whether to simply pretend it never happened.
CUT TO
– Caleb on his hands and knees, hurriedly picking up the tiny shards of glass, and putting them into his open bag. On to his clothes.
As he does so –
– he is startled a second time, by the sudden commencement of a thumping sound.
Abrupt. Rapid. More or less rhythmic. From somewhere nearby.
Caleb finishes clearing up the glass, as the thumping continues.
Then he stands.
And exits in the direction of the noise.
INT. HOUSE ⁄ DINING AREA – DAY
Caleb enters a dining area.
Which now reveals –
– a huge glass door.
It presents an arresting view of a garden, river and the mountains behind.
The door is open, and through it we see the reason for the thumping sound.
Just outside, on a patio, in the sunshine, a man is working a punchbag.
EXT. GARDEN – DAY
Caleb exits the dining area to an area of neat garden, looking over the river, and surrounded by the mountain ranges.
The punchbag is suspended by a chain on an exterior flanking wall of the house.
The man working it is wearing shorts, and is shirtless. Bathed in sweat.
His hands are not protected by gloves. Only wraps. Spots of blood seep through the pale material around his knuckles.
This is Nathan Bateman. He’s thirty.
After a flurry of punches, Nathan breaks off.
Breathing hard, he wipes at his eyebrows with the back of his wrist. Sweat droplets cascade down his face.
Then –
– Nathan senses the other presence.
He turns to see Caleb. Standing by the open glass wall.
NATHAN
Caleb.
Nathan beams.
Caleb Smith.
CALEB
… Hi.
Nathan starts unravelling his wraps.
NATHAN
Dude. I’ve been so looking forward to this.
INT. HOUSE ⁄ DINING AREA – DAY
Nathan walks past Caleb and goes to a bar area, where there is a jug of non-specific vegetable juice waiting, and a glass.
NATHAN
Come in, come in.
Caleb puts his bag down.
You want something to eat or drink after your journey?
CALEB
No. Thank you. I’m fine.
NATHAN
You sure?
Nathan pours himself a glass of the vegetable juice.
I’d been thinking we’d have breakfast together, but to be honest, I can’t eat anything right now. I gotta tell you – I woke up this morning with the mother of all fucking hangovers.
CALEB
Yeah?
Nathan laughs.
NATHAN
Like you wouldn’t believe. And if I have a heavy night, I always try to compensate the next morning. Exercise. Juice. Anti-oxidants. You know?
CALEB
Sure.
Silence, as Nathan drinks.
Caleb feels he needs to say something.
Looking around, he sees a collection of empty beer bottles on the kitchen counter.
CALEB
… Was it a good party?
Nathan doesn’t answer.
He’s still drinking.
The silence extends a little. Verges on odd.
CALEB
Because, uh …
Caleb hesitates. Wondering whether to be honest.
Decides to be.
CALEB
Actually there was a glass. On the carpet. One of your guests, maybe, left it, and –
Nathan puts his empty glass down.
NATHAN
Guests.
CALEB
I broke it.
NATHAN
Broke what?
CALEB
The glass.
Beat.
But I cleaned it all up.
Nathan looks at Caleb. His expression is unreadable.
NATHAN
