South African-Canadian film and advertisement director, writer, producer and animator
Graduated from Vancouver Film Schools 3D Animation and Visual Effects program in 1998.
Immigrated to Canada at 18 years old.
(May 10, 2010) Merited a position in Time magazines - The 100 Most Influential People in the World ("Artists" category) - with an homage contributed by Ridley Scott.
He is friends with Michael Bay.
Was set to direct a highly-anticipated movie adaptation of the popular video game Halo after a screenplay by Alex Garland. Peter Jackson would supervise as producer. There were initial difficulties because Microsoft, the owner of the game franchise, had a long list of demands, including 10 million dollar for the screenplay, 15% of the box office earnings, a budget of at least 75 million dollar and a lot of creative control. Most studies turned the project down, until Fox and Universal agreed to co-produce it. Ten million dollar were already spent on development, and Blomkamp even moved to New Zealand to oversee pre-production at WETA studios, when Universal tried to force budget cuts. Since neither Jackson or Microsoft were willing to agree on this, the project was shelved. Jackson then asked Blomkamp if he had any other ideas, and Blomkamp suggested an expanded remake of his short film Alive in Joburg , which ultimately became his much praised feature film debut District 9 .
Was considered to direct The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey .
Winner of the 2003 Leo Award for Best Direction of a Music Video for "Tango Shoes" by Bif Naked.
A lot of parts of L. A. are interchangeable with suburbs in Joburg. Very,big, ostentatious houses with palm trees and lawns. Lawns are very,important. Never underestimate lawns.
Chappie (2015) would be like RoboCop (1987) but hilarious.
A lot of America is kind of done. People have been making films about it,for 100 years. Everything to me feels used up. But Jo-Burg feels,unbelievably inspirational to me.
If I wanted to make something that actually made a difference roughly in,this industry, I would make a documentary. That would be the closest I,could come to actually try and make a difference.
I have zero strategy for my career - like, zero. I could get as much,satisfaction about doing a $20,000 shot film the same way I could do a,$100 million film with a bunch of effects.
Satire also allows you to make fun of every different aspect. It allows,you to make fun of both sides. It allows you to make fun of everything,really, so you can do it in a harmless way.
I actually think Johannesburg represents the future. My version of what,I think the world is going to become looks like Johannesburg.
District 9 (2009) , Elysium (2013/I) and,Chappie (2015) were all born out of some visual concept first.
I think that in the realm of commercial, popcorn cinema, the amount of,message or smuggling of ideas you can get in there is quite limited.
I just want to make films that have enough of a budget to pull off,high-level imagery but also have a budget that is low enough that I can,do what I want.
District 9 (2009) was a singular anti-Apartheid metaphor, and,Elysium (2013/I) is a more general metaphor about immigration,and how the First World and Third World meet. But the thing that I like,the most about the metaphor is that it can be scaled to suit almost any,scenario.
I think the world of District 9 (2009) has a lot of race and,oppression-based ideas that I would still like to explore in that,world.
I just watch movies I like over and over. It seems to be a lot of sci-fi,stuff. My favorites are probably - besides the first two,Alien (1979) films, I watch 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) ,I watch Star Wars (1977) , the first ones, because those actually,had a huge effect on me as well,Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980),especially.
I think the reason you use an actor is if they are right for the role.
If you just compare South Africans to the rest of the world, I think,that white South Africans, and especially English-speaking white South,Africans, are exactly the same as Brits or Australians or New,Zealanders or Canadians or Americans.
The concept of even having fans is still kind of weird to me. I really,just feel like a filmmaker that is only just finding my foot in and is,beginning to participate in Hollywood and making films. So the idea of,any kind of fandom or people that are waiting for something that I may,release is very distant in my mind.
There is something fundamentally fascinating about the mechanics, I,guess, of the human body and where consciousness and mind exist, and,what you can do with the mechanics of the body while keeping those,intact, and where those two cross over.
What I do is spend too much time thinking. Most of the time I just walk,around annoyed. Would I describe myself as relatively happy, I suppose,but society gets to me. And the people that have mastered life seem to,not care, and then they die, and then the grenade goes off.
