Gavin Rothery: Last News

Anthony D'Alessandro Editorial Director/Box Office EditorEXCLUSIVE: CAA has inked filmmaker Gavin Rothery, who recently made his feature directorial debut with the sci-fi movie Archive which he also wrote.Before SXSW’s cancellation due to COVID-19, the Theo James-Stacy Martin movie was set for a premiere at the Austin, TX fest.Archive is set in 2038 and follows George Almore, who is working on a true human-equivalent AI. His latest prototype is almost ready, and this sensitive phase is also the riskiest as he looks to reunite with his dead wife.Originally a comic artist, Rothery worked in the games industry since 1996.

An under-the-radar indie science fiction film whose mix of accessible themes and strong execution make it worthy of broader exposure, Gavin Rothery's Archive watches as a robot designer tries to exploit his job with a megacorporation for a very personal goal: He wants to build a robot shell for the computer-archived memories and personality of his dead wife. The feature writing/directing debut for a man whose history is in art departments, it should be no surprise that the pic looks wonderful, with distinctive design and lush settings; but Rothery also fares well with the human element, helped by a mature lead performance by Theo James, best known for the YA Divergent franchise.

Guy Lodge Film CriticIn “Archive,” an isolated scientist methodically pursues an artificial-intelligence ideal, developing a sequence of human-android beings and recycling their various parts until the ultimate prototype is achieved. In his handsome debut feature, writer-director Gavin Rothery follows a similarly nifty process of assembly and reassembly, repurposing elements from assorted sci-fi successes — a bit of “Ex Machina” here, some stray “Black Mirror” pieces there — to form a fluent, functional one of his particular design.

By Patrick Hipes

A grief-stricken spouse left empty and lost by the death of their partner? A company hell-bent on keeping this person from realizing their tragic ambitions? It’s not new ground by any means, but it’s the ground upon which Gavin Rothery‘s sci-fi thriller “Archive” treads. Featuring Theo James, Stacy Martin, Toby Jones, and Rhona Mitra, Rothery’s tale of love and loss roots its themes in old wisdom: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.