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District 9 Wows Comic-Con

by Anne Thompson | August 1, 2009 11:07 AM
2 Comments

Thompson on Hollywood
The hit of Comic-Con was Peter Jackson protege Neill Blomkamp's debut movie, the sci-fi thriller District 9. When Halo fell apart, Jackson and Blomkamp assembled this movie about what happens when aliens come to earth and we treat them badly. The creatures were designed as insect-like humanoids. Jackson was disappointed that Weta was so busy with James Cameron's Avatar that he wasn't able to commandeer his own people for the VFX and had to go elsewhere. "You have to empathize with the alien characters," Jackson said. "They have to have an alien head with the human psychography of a face that you can recognize and extract emotion from. It wasn't easy on our budget."

Blomkamp, who grew up in South Africa during apartheid, started out too serious, he admitted. "Elements of segregation and xenophobia made it into the film, which has a "strange alternate reality," he said. But he pulled back and tried to make a smart, accessible film, "more of a fun ride."

I skipped the movie at Comic-Con because I was turned off by the trailer I saw at ShoWest. Several folks at the Con said it misrepresented the movie. Clearly, District 9 will need some of new Sony marketing chief Marc Weinstock's marketing magic for it to break out beyond genre fans.

Here's the LAT's Peter Jackson interview, Variety's review and the the trailer:


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More: Directors, Festivals, Video, Peter Jackson, Comic-Con, Trailers

2 Comments

  • Manuel10589 | August 3, 2009 11:45 AMReply

    Hi Anne, good luck with the move! I wonder if that was Trailer 1 that turned you off, Trailer 2 (Apple Movie Trailers) looked terrific and made me really want to see the film. I hope it will open here in Germany not much later after the US start.

  • joe | August 3, 2009 3:57 AMReply

    yeah, the showest trailer was shitty - but the 2 new trailers seemed a lot more slick, and apparently the movie kicks some serious ass, so maybe whoever cut the showest thing just buggered it up... ah well, you'll get to see on the big screen soon,

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