The first trailer for Neill Blomkamp’s first feature film release District 9 has surfaced on Apple’s trailer site. The 3 images above are screengrabs from that trailer.
I would guess that most people have never heard of Neill. Neill’s background is in visual effects and has an amazing ability at blending CGI with live action elements. He used to work with The Embassy Visual Effects and built and directed this commercial for Citroen as well as several others that you can view on the agency’s website (I particularly like “Citroen Runner” and “Nike Evolution”).
My first introduction to Neill’s work was a short video he did called Tetra Vaal, which sparked other shorts based in South Africa (Neill’s home country) and contains a shaky, documentary style of narrative. Not only does the CGI he produces blend in perfectly with his live action shots, but the overall aesthetic that he creates is gritty and convincing. Most of his work has an indie feel to it and the lack of resources I feel really lends itself to the documentary style and overall realism of his films.
Based on his work filmmaker Peter Jackson has teamed up with Neill for a few years now on a few projects. One of those was slated to be a feature film based on Halo, the mega-popular video game franchise from Microsoft. The project stalled and I believe has been cancelled. District 9 is the first major collaboration between Jackson and Blomkamp and looks to expand on the universe that Blomkamp constructed in one of his shorts called Alive in Joburg. The main theme is that an alien race has taken up residence in South Africa and the film follows the struggle between the locals and these new inhabitants.
I’ll be interested to see how District 9 plays out. With the backing of a major Hollywood player such as Jackson, I would imagine that Blomkamp has a lot more resources at his disposal. Hopefully the indie style that Blomkamp has developed and is known for won’t be diluted due to an increased budget.
