SXSW Q&A with Cast and Crew of 'Ex Machina' Page #5

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are gonna look back on us

the same way we look

at fossil skeletons

in the plains of Africa.

An upright ape, living in dust,

with crude language and tools.

All set for extinction.

"I am become Death,

the destroyer of worlds."

There you go again, Mr. Quotable.

There you go again.

It's not my quote.

It's what Oppenheimer said

after he made the atomic bomb.

The atomic bomb.

Yeah, I know what it is, dude.

Hey.

I'd say we're about

due a refill.

Bottoms up.

"In battle, in the forest,

"on the precipice

of the mountain.

"On the...

"The great dark sea.

"In sleep, in confusion,

"in the depths of shame.

"The good deeds a man has

done before defend him."

"The good deeds a man has

done before defends him."

"The good deeds a man

has done before

"defends him."

It is what it is.

It's Promethean, man.

Jesus Christ.

How are you feeling today?

Why won't you let me out?

I already told you why.

Because you're very special.

Why won't you let me out?

Are we gonna do this again?

Why won't you let me out?

Oh, f***. Where's my card?

Damn it!

What's the problem, Nathan?

I lost my keycard.

You dropped it.

It's right here.

Thank you.

I didn't know where you were.

I waited all yesterday

afternoon and all last night.

I thought I wasn't

gonna see you again.

Aren't you gonna say something?

I'm waiting.

Waiting?

Power cut.

Don't talk.

Backup power activated.

Just listen.

You were right about Nathan.

Everything you said.

What's he gonna do to me?

He's gonna reprogram your AI.

Which is the same

as killing you.

Caleb, you have to help me.

I'm going to.

We're getting out of here tonight.

How?

I get Nathan blind drunk.

Then I take his keycard

and reprogram

all the security protocols

in this place.

When he wakes,

he's locked inside,

and we've walked out of here.

I just need you to do one thing.

At 10:
00 tonight,

you trigger a power failure.

Can you do that?

Yes.

Dude.

Hey.

Hey.

You know what day it is?

No.

It's your last.

Helicopter comes tomorrow morning.

8:
00 a.m.

Wow. Has it been

a whole week?

Time flies.

Man, but what a thing

we've shared, huh?

Something to tell

the grandchildren, right?

After they've signed their NDAs.

Yeah, their NDAs.

Dude, you crack me up, man.

Oh...

You know what?

I'm not getting

all maudlin or anything,

but I'm gonna miss

having you around.

Thanks, man, I appreciate that.

Oh, here, let me say,

thank you so much

for bringing me here.

Oh.

It's been a trip.

Yes, it has.

You know what?

We need to drink to that.

Hey.

Oh, uh, no, I'm good.

You go ahead.

What? You don't

want a drink?

No.

Maybe a beer or something.

Caleb, I'm sure you've

noticed that I've been

somewhat overdoing it recently.

So when I woke up

this morning, I said,

"That's it, time to hit

the old detox."

Come on, you're kidding.

You're gonna make me drink alone?

Hey, man, you wanna get wasted,

you go right ahead,

knock yourself out.

Literally.

But I'm on brown rice and mineral water.

Cheers, then.

So, anyway,

surely now is when you tell me

if Ava passed or failed.

Right.

Right.

Are you gonna keep me

in suspense?

No, no. Her, uh...

Her AI is beyond doubt.

Is it?

She passed?

Yes.

Wow!

Wow. That's fantastic.

Although...

I gotta say,

I'm a bit surprised.

I mean,

did we ever get past the chess problem,

as you phrased it?

As in, how do you know

if a machine

is expressing a real emotion

or just simulating one?

Does Ava actually like you?

Or not?

Although, now that

I think about it,

there is a third option.

Not whether she does or does not

have the capacity to like you.

But whether she's

pretending to like you.

Pretending to like me?

Yeah.

Well, why would she do that?

I don't know.

Maybe if she thought of you

as a means of escape.

Mmm-hmm.

How's that vodka tasting?

Buddy.

Your head's been so f***ed with.

I don't think it's me

whose head is f***ed.

I don't know, man.

I woke up this morning to a tape of you

slicing your arm open

and punching the mirror.

You seem pretty f***ed up to me.

You're a bastard.

Yeah, well,

I understand why you'd think that.

But believe it or not,

I'm actually the guy

that's on your side.

Come here.

I'm gonna let you off the hook. Okay?

Come on.

Who are you?

Well...

You think he's

watching us right now?

The cameras are on.

Yeah, the cameras are on.

But he doesn't have

an audio feed.

So he just sees

two people talking,

having a little chat.

Wow.

This is cute.

Is it strange to have made

something that hates you?

You were right about the

magician's hot assistant.

What are you talking about?

Misdirection.

I rip up her picture,

which she can then

present as an illustration

of my cruelty to her,

and her love for you.

At the same time,

it allows me to do this,

in full view of you both.

Place a new camera in the room.

Battery powered, of course.

See it?

And then...

You have to help me.

I'm going to.

We're getting out

of here tonight.

How?

I get Nathan blind drunk.

I take his keycard and reprogram

all the security protocols

in this place.

When he wakes up,

he's locked inside,

and we've walked out of here.

I just need you to do one thing.

At 10:
00 tonight,

trigger a power failure.

Can you do that?

Yes.

Turn it off.

Okay.

You feel stupid,

but you really shouldn't,

because proving an AI

is exactly as problematic

as you said it would be.

What was the real test?

You.

Ava was a rat in a maze.

And I gave her one way out.

To escape, she'd have to use

self-awareness,

imagination, manipulation,

sexuality, empathy, and she did.

Now, if that isn't true AI,

what the f*** is?

So my only function was to be

someone she could use to escape?

Yeah.

And you didn't select me

because I'm good at coding?

No. Well...

No. I mean, you're okay.

You're even pretty good, but...

You selected me based on

my search engine inputs.

They showed a good kid.

With no family.

With a moral compass.

And no girlfriend.

Did you design Ava's face

based on my pornography profile?

Oh.

Sh*t, dude.

Did you?

Hey, if a search engine's

good for anything, right?

Can I just say one thing?

The test worked.

It was a success.

Ava demonstrated true AI

and you were

fundamental to that.

So if you can just,

for a second, separate...

Power cut.

Backup power activated.

Well, I guess it's 10:00.

Ava's gonna be

wondering where you are.

Let me ask you something.

Now, how was this plan

gonna go, anyway?

Because you didn't

totally explain.

So you were gonna get me drunk,

steal my keycard,

and reprogram

the security protocols.

But reprogram them to what?

To change

the lockdown procedure.

So that in the event

of a power cut,

instead of sealing,

the doors all opened.

Huh.

Yeah.

Well, that may have just worked.

Well,

we'll find out.

What do you mean?

I figured you were

probably watching us

during the power cuts.

So I already did

all those things.

When I got you drunk yesterday.

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