Never Let Me Go Director Reflects on the Film Ahead of 10th Anniversary

There has been no shortage of poignant, genre-bending science fiction movies over the years, and it’s safe to say that Never Let Me Go holds a special place among them. The 2010 film is set in an alternate history, following a love triangle between Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Ruth (Keira Knightley), and Tommy (Andrew Garfield), three young people who have known each other since their early days in boarding school. The trio eventually learns that they are actually clones, and they are destined to die from their organs being harvested — something that can only be delayed if they can prove that they’re in love.

While Never Let Me Go had a small box office run, it has become a bit of a cult classic in the years since, with fans deeply resonating with the story that it tells. According to the film’s director, Mark Romanek, that relationship with the film is something that he still experiences to this day. ComicBook.com recently got a chance to chat with Romanek about his work on Amazon’s Tales From the Loop, and we asked about Never Let Me Go‘s upcoming tenth anniversary later this fall.

“I do get [reactions to the film] pretty often,” Romanek explained. “I think the people that did manage to see the film connected with it very, very powerfully, and it really tended to really cut them emotionally in a cathartic good way. I would have people still come up to me, utter strangers, and they’ll give me a hug. Because something about that movie moved them deeply enough to make reconnections with their friends and family, or people that they feel they’ve maybe neglected emotionally in some sense. And it became important for them, but it’s hard to take a lot of credit for it because it was a very collaborative effort with [screenwriter] Alex [Garland] and I, and the producers, and my team.”

“But it’s also based on this utterly brilliant and deeply beautiful conception of [the novel’s writer] Kazuo [Ishiguro],” Romanek continued. “And our goal was just to make Kazuo happy, to feel like we didn’t f-ck up his great book, and make a good adaptation. When he was pleased with it, I think we were all very pleased. And then, it didn’t do the business that we wanted it to do, but it certainly hit people very deeply that got to see it. I’m very proud of that, and of the beautiful, incredible ensemble of great acting in that. It’s just amazing how lucky we were with that cast.”

You can check out Romanek’s latest work in Tales From the Loop, which is now available on Amazon Prime.