Warfare: Alex Garland’s New Film Tells A True War Story In Real-Time

Just last year, Alex Garland put his own stamp on the war movie in Civil War – a film that hit close to the bone, imagining fractured factions of the USA locked in combat, while also refusing to give easy answers about the nature of its conflict. And while, as co-director of the upcoming Warfare, it might seem like Garland is continuing to explore similar territory, the reality is quite different. His next film, directed alongside former Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza, is a real-time war movie based on a real firefight Mendoza experienced, attempting to recreate the events with as much remembered detail as they can.

“I was interested in recreating something real as forensically as possible, and doing it in real-time,” Garland tells Empire, though what that project would be eluded him for a while. Until he met Mendoza. “Ray actually had a story he’d wanted to do for a long time, so the two interests dovetailed.” Specifically, it was a battle in Iraq that took place in 2006 – and since the film would hew to Mendoza’s own experience, Garland knew a collaborative approach would work best. “As soon as Ray told me the story, I realised this wasn’t something that would make sense for me to conventionally direct,” he says.

While Warfare is based on Mendoza’s recollections, its existence comes in part because of a lack of recollection. His fellow SEAL Elliot experienced a traumatic brain injury during the events depicted, and has no memory of what happened. “Just the fact that a movie was being made about what happened was exciting, and it also acts as a voice for him,” Mendoza explains. “It can be hard for veterans to talk about an experience. Now he can show this to his kids, who have questions all the time. If you don’t remember, it’s hard to explain.”

The daunting task of portraying Mendoza himself came down to D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, best known as Bear Smallhill in Reservation Dogs. The experience was, he says, “once-in-a-lifetime” – even with the heady notion of portraying the film’s co-director, in events that really happened to him. “There was a lot of pressure on everybody, especially the cast-members who had the people they were portraying there on set,” Woon-A-Tai says. “I wanted to get Ray’s story right, and do it justice.” For Mendoza, the project serves an important purpose. “Our aim was to be authentic, and to show the texture of war that I think people need to not forget about it,” he says. This is cinema on the frontlines.

Read Empire’s full Warfare story – speaking to Alex Garland, Ray Mendoza, and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai – in the Thunderbolts* issue, on sale Thursday 13 March. Order a copy online here. Warfare comes to UK cinemas from 18 April.