Director Peter Jackson on "District 9" -The Next Big SciFi Hit? (VIDEO Interview)

District 9," filmed in a quasi-documentary style, the $30-million special-effects-heavy film from newcomer Neill Blomkamp, produced by genre-master Peter Jackson, follows the social and geo-political repercussions of aliens crash-landing in Johannesburg where they are sequestered in an apartheid-style homeland, treated like refugees and forced to work for humans. They soon find a kindred spirit in a government agent that is exposed to their biotechnology.

After 48 seconds of documentary-style interviews with people expressing concerns about recent immigrants, District 9 zooms into high gear with a spaceship crash landing impact. An alien interrogation ensues, but by then an intriguing framework sells the idea that this won’t be your ordinary special-effects-crazed thriller. The concept for this movie is unique. In a world where aliens existed  the first thing a government would need to do to manage their existence, with regulations and restrictions, curfews, news of where you can and can't go.

"District 9" producer Peter Jackson took pains to explain to the LA Times that "It's a unique take on the science-fiction genre," he said. "It has dramatized sequences and uses home movie clips. But it's not like 'Cloverfield.' It doesn't remind you of anyone else's movie."

The movie's off-line promotions employ signage that deliberately echoes "Whites only" placards once seen in the South as well as cultural touchstones from Blomkamp's upbringing in apartheid-era South Africa. "Warning: Restricted area for humans only," reads an ad painted on a New York City wall.

D-9.com serves as a primer to the self-contained world of "District 9," detailing security guidelines for humans and "non-humans."

Posted by Casey Kazan.

Related posts:

SciFi Greats Ask: Do We Live in a Biological Universe?
Stanley Kubrick on the Mythology of Extraterrestrial Life -A Galaxy Classic

Source:

District 9 Website

District 9 Twitter

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-district19-2009jun19,0,1836376.story?track=rss

Comments

[Baz]

Um...why are they stealing the Solaris music in this trailer? Probably shouldn't do that. Just sayin...

[Bennyj]

This movie looks very cheesy. Looks like something made for Sci-Fi or SyFy channel!

[Nothing to see here]

I liked this movie better the first time... when it was called Alien Nation.

[Cakes]

Is it just me or did they rip off the space ship from Independence Day?

[SpaceMax]

Looks like one of Robert McCalls floating cities-
http://www.mccallstudios.com/gallery4.html

[zman]

reminds me of palestine

[CB]

Are you trying to be a respectable publication? There are so many things wrong with the sentence "In a world where aliens existed the first thing a government would need to do to manage their existence, with regulations and restrictions, curfews, news of where you can and can't go," and that's just one sentence... Not to be rude, but the writer or editor (if one exists) really needs to work on their basic English skills.

[George Francisco]

A little acknowledgment is all we're looking for.
Mr. Jackson rips us off then claims he's developing
an "original" film.

Is it too much to ask for a little attribution?

Remember A L I E N N A T I ON !!!!

[George Francisco]

On second thought.... was that even Peter Jackson?

He's either had a stomach bypass or this
whole thing is just someone's prank.

[boybunny]

I have my own gripes about Peter Jackson, but complaining that this can't be original because there are vague similarities with other works is just childish.

First, Alien Nation was a bad TV cop show that badly dealt with the issue of racism in a politically correct way by using aliens instead of humans. The TV show was terrible, and authors had been discussing human alien interaction for decades before Alien Nation (Maybe Alien Nation was a copy of the many novels that broached the subject?).

Then to compare it to Independence day ships? Wow, if that were the case, Independence day copied the whole ship shape from ET, ET copied it from Close Encounters and so on and so on.

Before claiming that someone copied something you loved as a child, go read books, look at artwork and watch TV and movies that pre dated your birth to see that maybe it is hard not to look similar to something else that has been done before... not only that, but as an art director myself, we can not let ourselves go wild, because no one would recognize that weird sheet lightning effect flash across the sky as an alien space ship... we need to ground the visuals in cliche just so moron viewers like yourselves can actually recognize the aliens for what they are.

[hoopa]

um...is that me in the film? no, not there, over there, yeah. I look like I just shit myself and that aint cool! Don't they have to ask you first? And that alien is a ripoff of another ripoff that was...a ripoff. just sayin'.
Can't wait to see this film, really!!

[booboo]

yaay. play the race card....again!

[MG]

do I see nerds criticizing something that hasnt been released yet? (rhetorical question BTW)

[dante]

It may be similar but I think it will stand on its own. Alien Nation was a feature film, BTW, before it was a series.

Not sure why it is getting attacked here so much. I wonder if rival studios are attempting sabotage?

I guess I am a conspiracy nut after all.

[George Francisco]

BoyBunny wrote:

>First, Alien Nation was a bad TV cop show that badly dealt with >the issue of racism in a politically correct way by using aliens
>instead of humans. The TV show was terrible, and authors had >been discussing human alien interaction for decades before >Alien Nation (Maybe Alien Nation was a copy of the many novels >that broached the subject?).

In other words precisely what Pyotr Jackson is doing again.
He's doing it just as badly just as cheesily as that
infernal piece of nonsense called Alien Nation.
Which should have been OK. As you implied, everything
is derivative. But he so proudly declared his film is
original, and it isn't.

How are Earthlings supposed to be detaining those
aliens who are capable of levitating a million
tons of material above the ground? The aliens
are superior to humans in every way... and yet
here they, being detained by some third rate
government agency. I'd say that's scary close
to Alien Nation, which I hated as well.

BTW declaring yourself an "art director" doesn't
make any of your arguments any more compelling.
You still have to present your views clearly and
logically. We all know anybody can declare themselves
the ruler of the universe in web discussion groups,
it doesn't make it true. SO quit trying to impress us
with your meaningless credentials. Instead tell us
why and how you can defend that hack Jackson.

[Mark]

Seriously, I think that anyone who comments on anything before it is released should be bludgeoned to death. It gets so annoying reading all these mean comments from people who haven't even seen the damn movie yet.

[George Francisco]

Hey Mark,

Instead of threatening people with bludgeoning
why not defend your thoughts with actual reasoning?
How about that? Wow what a novel idea!

The comments posted here were made after watching
the trailer/teaser that looked cheesy and lame.
If Peter Jackson wanted to make a good impression
he should have put out a better trailer.

BTW the official trailer is now being shown on tv.
It's not any better than the one we saw here except
the alien's face is not pixelated.

My prediction: The movie will die a quiet death.
35 million dollars is not that much for a movie
these days. But for this movie it's too much.

[Jesse]

jeez.. so much negativity. Personally I think this movie looks awesome. Conceptually, the artistry, thematically it seems very interesting.

[EvilCosmicMonkeyfrom Knoxville]

The ALIEN NATION movie was very derivative in many ways, but also unique in the way that it showed how we might treat representatives of an extra - terrestrial civilization. They were more advanced than us, but we treated them as culturally, intellectually & racially inferior.

The Fox series expanded on this theme. The director of " District 9 " seems like he's doing a LOT of cribbing from Alien Nation. This time the aliens appear to look more realistic, rather than humanoids w / spotted scalps who dissolve in salt water & get drunk on sour milk.

[Stefan]

Incredible how words like 'cribbing' and 'derivative' etc. are used so easily, with the implied assumption of' guilt'.

I mean, for example, any movie that uses 'humans' are 'guilty' of 'cribbing' from every other pre-dated movie with humans in them.

Yes yes, everything must be 'orginal'. The concept of 'aliens' are no longer original, right? And a movie once again 'playing the race card' - how boring and repetitive, right?

I am just so BORED by all these similarities to things in the past.

Dammit! Why do movies have to have STUFF in them? Can't we have a movie that, umm, doesn't have trees, and sky, and people in it for once??? I mean COME ON! They've used that a ZILLION times already! And give us totally new themes and genres, for once! Sci-fi... been there, done that. Cowboys... not again, please.

No more! I want something NEW!

Like... well, ok, I don't know... but, I'm not a scriptwriter or director am I? I'm just here to crap in my pants about other people's work.

And this whole concept of MOVIE is starting to be so terribly 1900's. Can't they figure out something that isn't a movie?

I just can't take all this derivative unoriginality anymore.

[Stuart]

Ive seen this film three times and each time I find somthing new to enjoy
If people just bitch about films without going to see them they eather need friends to be the centre of attention or a new brain in exchange the pile of mush in their head

Watch a film before you condem it