Neill Blomkamp exploded onto the scene with his debut film ‘District 9’. The sci-fi film about segregation and xenophobia ended up on a lot of best of lists in 2009, but the director hasn’t been talked about very much since. That’s because he’s been hard at work on his next big screen outing, ‘Elysium’. Other than an unofficial set photo of Matt Damon with a shaved head and a viral marketing site for a company called Armadyne, things have been held highly under wraps. That is, until today.
Collider uncovered an invitation to an exclusive private screening of ‘Elysium’ last night that featured the first official synopsis of the movie. Check it out below:
In the year 2159 two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster), a hard the government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max (Matt Damon) is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.
Regardless of the similarities to ‘District 9’ that I can already see, this sounds like it could be a big time trip. I can only imagine the sort of visuals Blomkamp is looking to unleash in this movie. We’ve already seen before that he has the skills to bring out some big guns in terms of special effects, so we’ll see how he steps it up with his highly-anticipated second feature.
‘Elysium’, starring Matt Damon, Jodi Foster, Wagner Moura, Sharlto Copley, William Fichtner and Diego Luna, is set to open on March 1st, 2013.
