'Men,' The New Film From Director Alex Garland, Has Begun Production With Jessie Buckley Starring

After his directorial debut Ex Machina turned heads in 2015, writer/director Alex Garland returned three years later with Annihilation, a mesmerizing and profound sci-fi film that unsettled and moved audiences in equal measure. He headed to television with last year's ambitious Hulu series Devs, but now he's coming back to the big screen with Men, a new film that has now officially begun production. The great Jessie Buckley (Wild Rose, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Chernobyl) is playing the lead role.

Rob Hardy, the cinematographer who has filmed everything that Garland has directed so far, and also movies like Mission: Impossible – Fallout and the Jason Statham action film Blitz, is returning behind the camera for Men and shared this photo to mark the start of production.

According to early reports, the story centers on "a young woman [Buckley] who goes on a solo vacation to the English countryside after the death of her ex-husband." That sounds innocent enough, but Garland has proven to be one of the most fascinating filmmakers working today, ready and able to grapple with huge ideas and write characters who are wrestling with intensely personal demons. There's obviously more here than meets the eye, and we can't wait to see what it is.

A24 is financing and distributing this movie. Rory Kinnear (Skyfall) is also attached to star in a lead role, but it's still unclear exactly who he'll be playing. (The ex-husband, perhaps?) Regardless, consider us fully on board the hype train for this one.