SONOYA MIZUNO

As the conscience of the story, Mizuno is the fierce ghost in the machine

Devs is now your third collaboration with Alex Garland. When did he first share the idea with you?

We had a conversation about free will, and it was quite an in-depth conversation. He said that’s what he was working on. But that was it until I actually saw some scripts and I auditioned for it.

What about Garland’s work is of particular appeal to you?

There’s a particular kind of subversion in his work and also a quality of elegance. They are two things that I feel like somehow, deep inside, I’m very drawn to. And also I think they’re qualities that I’m good at in my own work, so I feel like there’s some kind of connection there.

What kind of research did you do to immerse yourself in the world of tech geniuses in real life?

Alex and I spent an afternoon at the Google quantum computing labs in Santa Barbara. We got to sit in on a meeting, where they all gather in this room and talk about the progress and how close they are to achieving a quantum computer that is fully working.

It’s very interesting to observe all the different characters, the gender imbalance, the very quirky people. But most of all, the language that they were speaking, it was mind blowing because these people are so hyper-intelligent. It was amazing and very helpful, because it grounded what we were doing in a sense of real truth – that this is something that isn’t actually that far away.

What kind of person is Lily?

She is brave and resourceful. She’s extremely intelligent and she’s also making mistakes. And she didn’t feel super-glossy, or sassy or badass, or even like everybody’s best friend. She really needed to feel different because of what she does, so she had to be different inherently.