Never Let Me Go

Alex Garland asked Kazuo Ishiguro for the rights before finishing the novel and wrote the screenplay before the 2005 publication; the 96 page script, in chapters, reached the shoot almost unchanged. Mark Romanek tried futuristic buildings and devices and dropped them, wanting a love story. For Kathy, Fox Searchlight chief Peter Rice watched An Education at Sundance and sent Romanek a 4 word message: hire the genius Mulligan. The decisive choice is that the children are told early rather than late. At Hailsham a new guardian, Miss Lucy, tells the class outright what they are raised for, and is dismissed for it. What follows is not an uncovered secret but people who already know settling into it. The tape Tommy gives Kathy is invented too: no singer Judy Bridgewater, no album Songs After Dark; the title song was written by Luther Dixon and sung by Jane Monheit. Carey Mulligan had no licence, failed the test after a 2 week course, and her driving scene was shot on a private road. She took the British Independent Film Award for best actress. A good fit if you would rather the science fiction never appear as sets or devices and stay in conversation. Not for anyone waiting for an escape, an uprising or an exposure of the system, because the film stages none.