Alex Garland to Direct Epic Fantasy Film Elden Ring

If tasked with choosing a director for an Elden Ring film adaptation, who would you select? You might consider fantasy veterans like Peter Jackson or Guillermo del Toro, or perhaps Game of Thrones' battle specialist Miguel Sapochnik. Alternatively, you might opt for auteurs like Robert Eggers (Nosferatu), Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things), or Bong Joon Ho (Mickey 17) - filmmakers known for their surreal, enigmatic styles that echo FromSoftware's distinctive approach.

Alex Garland probably wouldn't be most fans' first guess. The British filmmaker is celebrated for cerebral sci-fi works like Ex Machina and Annihilation, along with gritty war films Civil War and Warfare - none bearing obvious resemblance to FromSoftware's games. Yet unexpectedly, A24 has chosen Garland to helm the adaptation of Hidetaka Miyazaki's masterpiece. Given Garland's reputation for thoughtful filmmaking (he's writing the screenplay as well), it's worth examining how he might approach this creative challenge.

An Unconventional Choice

At first glance, Garland seems an unusual fit for Elden Ring. While experienced in sci-fi, he's never tackled high fantasy before - particularly the notoriously tricky video game adaptation genre. His narrative-driven style appears at odds with FromSoftware's famously minimalist storytelling through environmental cues and item descriptions. (Civil War faced criticism for its sparse backstory.)

However, Garland has consistently reinvented himself throughout his career. His transition from novelist to screenwriter to director demonstrates remarkable versatility. Having successfully shifted between genres before, from cerebral sci-fi to harrowing war films, he may well surprise us again with Elden Ring.

A Director Who Gets Games

Garland brings an often-overlooked qualification: he's genuinely passionate about video games. Reports suggest Resident Evil inspired elements of 28 Days Later, while The Beach contains what some consider "the closest we'll get" to a Banjo-Kazooie movie. More importantly, his appreciation for FromSoftware's work appears authentic.

In 2020, Garland described Dark Souls to Gamespot as containing "embedded poetry," suggesting he understands what makes these games special: "You'll have some weird bit of dialogue with some sort of broken soul sat outside some doorway and it feels like you've drifted into this existential dream." This grasp of FromSoftware's dreamlike quality could prove invaluable for the adaptation.

Potential Approaches

Garland might draw from Annihilation's surreal visuals to capture Elden Ring's otherworldly atmosphere. Alternatively, he could model the adaptation after Warfare, his intense war thriller. While thematically different, Warfare creates a strikingly similar tension to Elden Ring - that constant sense of being outmatched, vulnerable, and desperate to survive.

This approach could focus on the Tarnished's immediate struggles rather than mythological backstory. Imagine following a lone warrior through Limgrave's ruins or Caelid's horrors, captured with Warfare's visceral intensity rather than standard fantasy spectacle.

With reports suggesting Warfare star Kit Connor might lead the cast, Garland could apply similar psychological tension and bleak themes. This approach would align well with Elden Ring's essence - not a triumphant power fantasy, but a grueling journey where success comes only through persistence against overwhelming odds. If HBO's The Last of Us demonstrates how understanding a game's core translates to strong adaptation, Garland's intimate knowledge of FromSoftware's work could yield similarly impressive results.