Neill Blomkamp’s directorial career seemed to be over before it began.
Three years ago, the South African-born/Canadian-based director known mostly for commercials was plucked from semi-obscurity by producer Peter Jackson (director of “The Lord of the Rings” movies) to helm the $145 million film based on the video game “Halo.” The studios later pulled the plug.
It may have been the best thing that could have happened to him.
“Peter said, ‘We’re really sorry. You’ve moved down to New Zealand with your family. We can help you get another film,'” remembers Blomkamp, who turns 30 in September.
Jackson’s promise turned into the $30 million “District 9,” the science-fiction film that may become the surprise hit of the season. It’s already being hailed as one of the most original sci-fi films to come along in years.
Featuring an unknown South African cast and trafficking in such issues as racism and xenophobia, “District 9” — in which aliens stranded in a decrepit ship above Johannesburg are rounded up and put in camps — hardly seems summertime cinematic escape.
But word-of-mouth has been building for months, culminating in a rapturously received screening at the influential Comic-Con pop-culture convention in San Diego last month.
“The ideas of segregation, racism and the history of apartheid are a big part of my mind,” says Blomkamp, who immigrated with his family to Vancouver at the age of 18 but initially broached the topic of aliens coming to South Africa in his 2005 documentary-style short, “Alive in Joburg.” “I always think about those issues.”
Yet he didn’t want the fleshed-out version of his short to become a political treatise. “I made the mistake of starting to think about this really serious, ponderous movie,” he recalls. “I woke up one morning and realized there’s a way to put all those ideas in the movie without beating the audience over the head.
“It’s my first film, and I want the audience to go on a thrill ride set against a more serious background,” Blomkamp said.
While the “Halo” movie doesn’t look like it will ever get off the ground (for a taste of what his “Halo” might’ve looked like, go to YouTube and check out the online trailers he shot for the video game’s manufacturer), Blomkamp already is working on his next film, which he says, like “District 9,” will reflect his South African sensibilities.
“The idea of South Africa had a massive effect on me,” he says. “My next film has nothing to do with South Africa on the surface — it’s a very futuristic science-fiction film — but it works its way into everything.”
