After hitting the scene as a feature film director in 2009 with the incredible ‘District 9’, Neill Blomkamp blew up in popularity. In addition to his upcoming film ‘Elysium’, he’s been talked about in conversations about the new ‘Star Wars’ movie, which eventually went to J.J. Abrams, and an adaptation of the popular video game series ‘Halo’. However, at a recent press event, the director expressed his preference to work on a project of his own creation rather than an existing property. That being said, he did hint at the possibility of a trip to a galaxy far, far away.
First, he addressed ‘Halo’ and his pros and cons with working on those sorts of projects:
“I don’t actively sit down and say I’m going to do my own stuff and that I want everything to be original. One of the things I learned with ‘Halo’… I actually still really like the world and universe of Halo and if I was given control, I would like to do that film. But that’s the problem. When something pre-exists there’s this idea of ‘I have my interpretation of what that is’ but along with it comes like 150 other people involved with the film’s interpretation of the same intellectual property. And then the entire film going audience has their interpretation. And you can live up to or fail in their eyes. And that part of it isn’t appealing to me. But the original pieces are appealing.”
Then, he went on say that he still has some things that he’d like to address in a sequel to ‘District 9’:
“In terms of sequels to my own stuff, a lot of it just comes down to if there’s more to say. And I think the world of ‘District 9’ has a lot of very interesting race and oppression-based ideas that I would still like to explore in that world. Again, I have zero problems, I’ll make my own stuff or whatever you want to call it, sequalize my own stuff.”
Finally, while not directly referring to it by name, Blomkamp talks about “iconic characters” that are “pieces of cinema history” that he’s unsure that he could be a part of:
“And then there’s a few pieces of cinema history that I like so much I don’t know whether I could be involved with them. There’s, you know, there’s iconic characters that I really like that I would love to get closer to and make a film about. When I start dipping my toes into it, I get this allergic reaction. Maybe one day I’ll end up doing something like that.”
/Film, who was present at the press event, also notes that Simon Kinberg, the producer of Blomkamp’s ‘Elysium’ who is writing his own spinoff to ‘Star Wars’, was right there with the director at the press event and he smirked at the mention of that last quote. Could the ‘District 9’ director be in talks to direct Kinsberg’s spinoff? There’s no way to confirm that right now, but maybe that smirk was a sign that they’ve at least talked about it.
After delivering some excellent sci-fi action in his debut feature and showing definite promise with his next one, Blomkamp’s style certainly seems like it could be an interesting addition to Disney’s newly acquired franchise. I know that I’d be interested in seeing what he could do with Han Solo or Yoda.
What do you think about the possibility of Neill Blomkamp helming a ‘Star Wars’ film written by Simon Kinberg? Are you looking forward to see a sequel to his first feature film, ‘District 9’? Let us know what you think in the comments.
‘Elysium’ starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster opens in theaters on August 9th.
