The star of District 9 is giving an update on the sci-fi film’s long-awaited sequel that should give fans reason to hope the movie is still happening.
While giving an interview for his new movie Beast, Sharlto Copley gave the update for the District 9 sequel, saying hopefully the filming will begin production a year-and-a-half from now, after director Neill Blomkamp “gets done on the movie he’s doing now.”
The update and interview clip were shared on Twitter by entertainment journalist Erik Davis.
Prior to Copley’s latest update about the sequel, Blomkamp indicated in an interview back in May that the sequel was indeed still in the works. On Twitter last year, Blomkamp indicated that a screenplay for what he called District 10 was being written with him, Copley, and Terri Tatchell also co-writing. Tatchell was the co-screenplay writer for District 9 and Blomkamp’s Chappie.
“Its coming…” Blomkamp said at the time.
District 9 ranks among the very best sci-fi movies of the past quarter-century, and it even got nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2010, alongside the likes of James Cameron’s Avatar. The film was also nominated for the Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, and Visual Effects.
The movie centers on a refugee camp in Johannesburg for aliens, whose mothership has stranded them on earth even as it remains floating stagnantly above the ground. With its allegory of apartheid in South Africa and utilizing a partial documentary style, the movie was something of a lightning-in-a-bottle success for first-time director Blompkamp, which also marked the film debut of Copley in the leading role.
Blompkamp’s subsequent films have never quite reached the same critical heights as District 9, however, he’s made some respectable entries in the sci-fi genre, such as Elysium and Chappie, even if the latter leans slightly toward guilty pleasure territory.