Alex Garland on ‘Annihilation’ Whitewashing: ‘There Was Nothing Cynical or Conspiratorial’ in Casting the Film

Alex Garland has broken his silence on the whitewashing backlash against his new film, “Annihilation.” The science-fiction thriller was criticized by the advocacy group Media Action Network for Asian Americans (Manaa) for casting Natalie Portman in the lead role, despite the fact her character is described as having Asian heritage in Jeff VanderMeer’s trilogy.

However, the character’s race is not mentioned until the second book, and Garland notes he only wrote and cast the movie based on VanderMeer’s first novel.“The characters in the novel I read and adapted were not given names or ethnicities,” Garland said.

“I cast the film reacting only to the actors I met in the casting process, or actors I had worked with before.

There was no studio pressure to cast white.

The casting choices were entirely mine.”As Garland previously told Yahoo! Entertainment, he adapted “Annihilation” before VanderMeer’s sequels were even published.

Read full article