‘District 9’ Director Already At Work On SF Comedy ‘Chappie’

Neill Blomkamp has not been screwing around since District 9 was a surprise hit. Coming in August is his next SF movie, Elysium, and after that he’s… apparently going to make a much more lighthearted movie. And, needless to say, it’s pretty secretive.

The same is true of Elysium. Aside from the still above, which appears to be Matt Damon bald and running around in a Steadicam rig, this is literally the only thing we’ve seen out of the movie so far:

Did we mention this movie is coming out in August?

That said, we believe in Blomkamp, not least because it sounds like he’s created another powerful metaphorical science fiction film. Just like District 9 was concerned with apartheid, Elysium will be lingering on immigration and the difficulties therein. We’re sure the gatekeepers of taste and reasonable discourse in our country will treat it maturely and intelligently.

So, after two fairly weighty action movies, Blomkamp is apparently going to do something… slightly goofier:

… the director teased that “Chappie” — which will be a sci-fi comedy — is starting prep work, with Blompkamp planning to return to Johannesburg, where he lensed “District 9,” to shoot the movie. And that’s it. All else that’s known about the project is that Media Rights Capital are backing it, his wife Terri Tatchel has co-written the script, and post-production will once again take place in Vancouver, as it did for his last couple of movies.

Considering Blomkamp’s Peter Jackson-esque bent, we’re game. Although we doubt it will reach the comedic low genius of something like Bad Taste:

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