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"Civil War" is a tense thriller set in the near future, as
society collapses in the United States and war breaks out.
Fictional Reuters photographer Lee (Dunst) and reporter Joel (Moura)
take to the road with the aim of reaching Washington before it
falls to a rebel faction.
"Something's happened, something really sad and dangerous has
happened to do with journalism," British filmmaker Alex Garland,
who wrote and directed "Civil War," said in an interview.
"The reason I put them at the heart of the film is that there
are really good journalists out there doing good work. They
don't have traction in the way they used to have," he said,
citing undermining from politicians, social media and bias-heavy
news outlets. "I thought, 'well, I'll do something oppositional
to that.'"
For Brazilian actor Moura, who previously starred as Pablo
Escobar in the Netflix series "Narcos," journalism has a role to
play in fighting polarization in society.
"People like getting information from social media and all the
fake news and the bubbles. Progressives only read progressive
things and conservatives are the same... the role of the
journalist in the world, I think, is very, very important," he
said.
To prepare for his role, it was important to understand how
reporters reacted in the field, said Moura.
"To be in the field, in a war zone, is a whole another thing so
mostly what I wanted to know was not even intellectually how
they did their job but what did they feel when they were in a
war zone."
The cast watched a documentary about late Sunday Times
journalist Marie Colvin, who was killed in Syria in 2012, as
part of their preparation, said Hollywood veteran Dunst.
"The camaraderie of them under those circumstances was the most
heartbreaking and beautiful thing that I'd seen," she said.
"What they feel is exactly what we wanted to capture."
(Reporting by Rollo Ross, Writing by Rosalba O'Brien, editing by
Deepa Babington)
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