![\"Entertainment](\"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/EW1060CVR_PROMO-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Entertainment")
NEW YORK \u2013 This week\u2019s Entertainment Weekly names District 9, a film with no big names and a small budget, the must see movie of the summer. While many have yet to hear of it, by next week it may be all moviegoers talk about. <\/p>\nNEW YORK \u2013 This week\u2019s Entertainment Weekly names District 9, a film with no big names and a small budget, the must see movie of the summer. While many have yet to hear of it, by next week it may be all moviegoers talk about. <\/p>\n
It has no stars, it was made for relatively little money ($30 million) by a 29-year-old South African-born director whom nobody\u2019s ever heard of, Neill Blomkamp, and its action-packed plot is tinged with a surprising moral intelligence, but it may turn out to be the most unlikely sci-fi blockbuster of the season. It\u2019s the most satisfying sci-fi thrill ride of the summer, but it also turns out to be sort of an apartheid allegory. R20;ItR17;s an utterly original film,\u201d says District 9\u2019s single A-list name, producer Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings). R20;In an industry that\u2019s looking to make movies out of every obscure TV show, or sequels, or videogames, you look at District 9 and it\u2019s unlike anything you\u2019ve ever seen before.\u201d <\/p>\n
It has been a long time since a sci-fi film made a point larger than Monday morning\u2019s box office grosses, and it has been even longer since a serious space-alien picture has been so riveting and fun. Plus, it\u2019s got plot twists that blow up all the old alien-invasion movie clich\u00e9s, and action sequences that trump most other cinema spectacles in theaters this summer. R20;IR17;m not trying to make something about apartheid that beats people over the head,\u201d says Blomkamp. R20;IR17;m just trying to portray science fiction in a way that feels like it might have actually been real.\u201d<\/p>\n
District 9 wasnR17;t the movie Neill Blomkamp first set out to make with Peter Jackson. In 2006, Jackson and his partner, Fran Walsh, hired Blomkamp to shoot a $145 million big-screen adaptation of the videogame Halo (the plug was pulled by the two studios amid rumors that they doubted Blomkamp\u2019s ability to handle an expensive tentpole movie.) At that point, Blomkamp\u2019s resume consisted largely of visually stunning ads for Nike, Gatorade, and Panasonic, plus a series of sci-fi shorts. But Jackson saw something worth nurturing. R20;Those short films and commercials were very eye-catching,\u201d he says. Blomkamp had a hard time believing his own hype. \u201cI went from zero to a hundred in a few weeks,\u201d he says. R20;It was insane.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even the star of the film \u2013 Sharlto Copley \u2013 believed in Blomkamp in the beginning stages. When Copley was a 20-year-old TV producer, he hired a 14-year-old Blomkamp as a computer graphics designer. R20;I gave Neill his first job,R21; Copley says. R20;And heR17;s certainly returned the favor.\u201d But Blomkamp always knew his buddy (who had virtually no acting experience) had hidden talents: R20;He can become whatever character he wants. He once convinced one of his friends he was in the witness protection program.\u201d<\/p>\n
When they realized Halo wasn\u2019t going to happen, Jackson had Blomkamp developing a feature inspired by one of the young director\u2019s short films about aliens living in a ghetto. \u201cYou\u2019re not sweating blood because you think [the movie\u2019s] gonna need to recoup all this money,\u201d says Blomkamp. R20;You can take risks.R21; Pushing his luck, he cast his old South African friend Sharlto Copley in the lead role of Wilkus van de Merwe with a single goal in mind: \u201cI wanted the film to be as un-Hollywood as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given where much of the movie was shot \u2013 a landfill \u2013 that wasn\u2019t a huge problem. Copley found his first feature-film experience to be pretty unromantic. \u201cScrounging through real trash to find a prop sandwich strategically placed in the middle of the stuff \u2013 it was brutal,\u201d says the star. R20;TheyR17;d have to comb the area before shooting just to pull the nails out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Awareness of the film has increased due to a clever viral marketing campaign, a \u201csecret\u201d screening for fanboys and bloggers at Comic-Con, celebrity tweets, and word of mouth. According to tracking reports, District 9 has already generated more must-see interest among audiences than Cloverfield did prior to its own release. There have been other auspicious indications as well \u2013 like talk of a District 9 sequel. Jackson\u2019s plate is pretty full these days, but he isn\u2019t counting out the possibility. R20;Although,R21; he notes, R20;if IR17;ve done my job properly, Neill won\u2019t need me anymore.\u201d As for Blomkamp, he\u2019s clearly up for another. \u201cI would do anything to go back to the world of District 9 again,\u201d he says. R20;Or District 10.\u201d <\/p>\n