‘Chappie’ director at home with ‘Aliens’
[caption id="attachment_72973" align="alignright" width="300"] 'AI' INTEREST: Director Neill Blomkamp with the star of his new film, 'Chappie' -[/caption]
SA filmmaker confident he can make franchise fan millions happy
SOUTH African Neill Blomkamp, whose new film, Chappie, is opening at Eastern Cape cinemas today, was recently named as the director of the next Alien movie.
Taking on the latest instalment in such an iconic franchise would be daunting for most, but not Blomkamp: the Johannesburg director has admitted to feeling more excited than nervous about getting to grips with Ridley Scott’s famous Xenomorph.
We caught up with Blomkamp to talk about why shooting Chappie was a “god-awful” experience and why, when it comes to Alien, he plans to give fans exactly what they want.
Blomkamp is no novice when it comes to science fiction. His 2009 debut, District 9, was nominated for a best picture Oscar, and used a tale of quarantined aliens to echo the country’s troubled apartheid history.
For his next film, 2013’s Elysium, Blomkamp ventured into outer space, but with Chappie he is firmly back on home turf. The film is set in a near-future Joburg in which crime is controlled by menacing police robots.
When one of them (the titular Chappie) is secretly re-programmed to develop thoughts, feelings and a personality, events take an unexpected turn.
The film stars Sharlto Copley (as the voice of Chappie), Dev Patel, Sigourney Weaver, Hugh Jackman, and Ninja and Yolandi, of cult South African band Die Antwoord.
I really enjoyed watching Chappie. Did you enjoy making it?
No, it was god-awful. I found the process of making it unbelievably difficult. No fun. When it comes to filmmaking, shooting is probably what I like the least. I wrote to the financier when we were shooting, and I said “Dude, this is not easy,” but I didn’t have a reason. He was like: “Stick it out, son.”
That said, I always felt as if I would love it once it was finished.
Did you have a similar experience when making your other films? District 9, for example?
District 9 was tough too. If I think of the movies I really like, the directors all went through hell to make them.
While Chappie has some pretty dark moments, overall, it felt like the film was ultimately very optimistic about artificial intelligence?
I’ve been interested in AI for a long time. If you really get into it, scientists don’t know exactly where morality and ethics come from in humans. Whether it’s a learned behaviour, or a genetically intrinsic behaviour … and if it is intrinsic, how do you code it? A lot of people say artificial intelligence will wipe us out, but I don’t necessarily think that’s true.
Chappie starts off pretty intimidating, but later on he becomes quite endearing. How did you go about showing that transition?
Ultimately, it’s his eyes that change it up. I thought, if we gave him a strip of LEDs on his face, then, when he’s a police robot, it would be a double beam, which looks more intimidating. But, when Chappie changes, the beam turns into two cube eyes, so it kind of softens him.
Two criminals [played by Ninja and Yolandi of Die Antwoord] attempt to train Chappie to be a gangster. What were they like to work with?
The reason I wanted Die Antwoord was because whenever people who haven’t seen them before lay eyes on them, they’re instantly captivated. They have a “weird” element that’s magnetic. They didn’t have any experience in classical acting or filmmaking so, in the beginning, things were kind of rocky. But then everything smoothed out and it became really easy. I couldn’t be more proud of the end result.
Hugh Jackman mentioned that working with Sigourney Weaver [who stars in Chappie as weapons boss Michelle Bradley] left you a bit star-struck?
A few people have said that to me! I don’t know if it’s true. I love Sigourney. I really, really wanted her to be in the film. But no, I was able to function.
You were recently named director of the next Alien movie. And Sigourney’s going to be in that, right?
Yeah, hopefully. Yes.
How are you feeling about directing Alien 5?
I am very excited. There are a lot of franchises around in Hollywood right now that I really don’t like – and a lot of parts of Hollywood that I don’t dig right now. But this [ Alien] is the one universe, the one world, that I have always had a love-affair with. I don’t “feel the pressure” of doing a film in this universe. I feel an opportunity to make what I think fans want to see.
Are you planning to put your own spin on it or create something more in line with the original films?
Probably my favourite part of filmmaking is building a world and designing the stuff in it. And the design in the first two movies is just … ridiculous. Just so, so good. I think my job is to give the fans the “third film of the first two”.
– The Telegraph
