Matt Damon Covered In Fecal Matter: Quick Hits From The ‘Elysium’ Comic-Con Panel

Alright, folks. This is my final Comic-Con 2012 coverage installment. You’re welcome. All things considered the experience went well for a first-timer and I if I ever get to do it again I’ll feel like a grizzled pro.

Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, and director Neill Blomkamp participated in the last panel I attended for Blomkamp’s highly anticipated follow-up to District 9. Here are some very quick notes and photos I gathered from the badass-looking Elysium.

  • “F*cking intense” are the two words I jotted down after the nine minute Comic-Con preview. Think District 9’s futuristic grittiness delving even deeper into humanity. A ton of the filming took place in the world’s second largest waste dump in Mexico City, so kind of different take on the future than Total Recall.
  • Matt Damon apparently spent days covered in fecal matter and pig sh*t during the Mexican dump filming. When producers got concerned about what the actor was going through, “I read the script,” was his only response.
  • Neill Blomkamp doesn’t dick around with his ideas. Damon shared how Neill made a graphic novel and intricately diagrammed all parts of the futuristic world for Elysium before even beginning film production.
  • Sharlto Copley had a serious Christian-Bale’s-goofy-younger-brother-vibe going on. I have a feeling his quirky futuristic villain will be well received.
  • The panel turned into a Blomkamp slurpfest for roughly fifteen minutes. Everyone seems to agree he is next level brilliant and could possibly cure cancer. Nolan, watch your back.
  • Jodie Foster still seems surprised she’s spent her career in film and not as a tax accountant or something. She really doesn’t think of herself as an actor in any shape or form. There was a Nell reference that made me giggle.
  • And finally, Matt Damon has signed more fan photos of his Team America marionette than photos of himself, a nugget of information that I appreciated as much as the Elysium footage itself.
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