To date, Alex Garland has written only three books and four screenplays, but they've rightly earned him a solid reputation in Hollywood. His first novel, the brilliant Beach, was adapted by Danny Boyle. This lead to Garland writing Boyle's 28 Days Later and Sunshine, before moving onto Never Let Me Go and, most recently, the script to Dredd. Garland is a heck of a writer. The film version of The Beach misses out of a lot of the depth and pop cultural references of the book, but Garland himself has established those strengths in his other work. 28 Days Later is a zombie-literate horror film that provides a new spin on the genre, as Sunshine does with sci-fi movies. Never Let Me Go is a smart adaptation of a Kazuo Ishiguro book, and Dredd is a genius reworking of the character and stories from 2000 AD into something that works on the big screen. Getting to see him expand on the version of Mega City One, Dredd and Anderson he created in the first film would be great. Plus every one of the (rare) interviews Garland gives mention the staggering amount of cigarettes he gets through in a day, so it might be better to start production on a new Dredd whilst he's still around...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
