Ex Machina
This viral dance scene was almost cut from the movie. Director Alex Garland and the editor debated removing it because they thought it might be "too silly" for such a serious film. They kept it in because it served a crucial narrative purpose: it highlights the protagonist's isolation and Nathan's god-complex. The scene works because of the contrast. You have the warm, funky sounds of "Get Down Saturday Night" playing against the cold, sterile concrete of the bunker. Sonoya Mizuno, who plays the robot Kyoko, is actually a classically trained ballerina. Her stiffness here is a deliberate acting choice to show that while she can execute the moves, there is no soul behind the eyes. The choreography was handled by Arthur Pita, who instructed Oscar Isaac to dance with "a lot of disco and a lot of aggression." Sonoya Mizuno (Kyoko) also starred in the Chemical Brothers' video for "Wide Open," where she slowly turns into a wireframe structure. Oscar Isaac stated in interviews that this scene was the most exhausting part of the shoot because they did it for ten hours straight to get the deadpan expressions right.