cinemadaily | “District 9”‘s Neill Blomkamp Before the Big Break
by Bryce Renninger (August 21, 2009)
A scene from Neill Blomkamp's "District 9."
Before he was asked to expand his 2005 short, “Alive in Joburg,” Neill Blomkamp, born in South Africa and living in Canada, was a commercial director slated to direct the now-shelved “Halo” film. He did, however, make three films based on the video game franchise, one of which has won a prize for best Internet short film at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Peter Jackson, who was to produce that film, instead produced “District 9.” Wired chronicles the history of the director through a few of the short films he directed when he wasn’t working his day job as a special effects artist on Hollywood fare like “Smallville” and commercials he himself directed. All of the films have the same animated robotics that make “District 9”‘s aliens so realistic. The animated characters are both robots and aliens and the subject matter spans from his 2003 South African robotic cop faux commercial, “Tetra Vaal,” to a parody of the inane office with a temp robot in “Tempbot” to the alien invaders who are subsequently placed in a slum because the city population doesn’t understand or like them in “Alive in Joburg”:
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AFI Fest
AFI Fest '09
BROKEN EMBRACES
A Film By Almodovar, Starring Penelope Cruz Opens New York 11/20, Opens Los Angeles 12/11 Opens additional cities 12/25 Where is it opening by you? www.sonyclassics.com/brokenembraces/dates.html "Astonishing! A Masterpiece!" Jeffrey Lyons, KNBC Weekend Today "Cruz with Almodovar makes BROKEN EMBRACES soar!" Richard Corliss, TIME Written and Directed by Pedro Almodovar www.brokenembracesmovie.com www.facebook.com/brokenembracesmovie |