Peter Jackson's District 9 will be AMAZING, says the Internet (Media Round-up)

When do you believe what everyone is saying, and when to wonder about it? Peter Jackson’s District 9 is getting more coverage than any other film opening this weekend. The thing is, it’s all positive coverage with a similar theme, “District 9 didn’t impress me before, but now it’s awesome.” And most of these “it’s great” pronunciation are accompanied by an exclusive interview, or an exclusive video. There’s little room for objectivity.

Nevertheless, let’s explore some of the new videos, interviews, and the inspiration for District 9 from all across the internets, and make up our own minds. After the jump, you’ll find everything you need to know about the aliens in District 9 and how great the media thinks they are.

The concept and its origins

The official description reads like this:

Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them.

Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens’ welfare — they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens’ awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA. - Yahoo Movies

Josh Tyler, from Cinema Blend, astutely points out how eerily similar this premise is to the 1988 buddy cop classic, Alien Nation. Here’s the description for that.

A few years from now, Earth will have the first contact with an alien civilisation. These aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after years of quarantine but are victims of a new type of discrimination. When the first Newcomer police officer, Sam Francisco is assigned his new partner, he is given Matthew Sykes , a mildly racist veteran, the animosity between them soon gives way to respect as they investigate the Newcomer underworld, and especially Newcomer leader William Harcourt. - IMDB

He’s right. I remember seeing the Alien Nation movie and TV series. Though it’s firmly rooted in generic TV and movie buddy cop-ness from the 80s, there are some intense similarities. To give you an example, in Alien Nation the aliens get drunk off sour milk; in District 9, I’ve read that catnip makes them go nuts. However, the aliens look very different in the two franchises, which seem to tackle different issues. (Somebody should ask Neill Blomkamp about the similarities in an interview.)

Josh Tyler isn’t too worried though. He made a point of saying how great District 9 is a couple times in the article. Cinema Blend also posted an editorial claiming District 9 may save science fiction. Does it need saving? I just watched the lost 13th episode of Dollhouse last night, and it was amazing. Transformers or not, the genre seems to be in good shape.

The inspiration for District 9 was a short film by director Neill Blomkamp. It’s called Alive in Joburg. I highly suggest you watch this.

Here is the original trailer for District 9, which was released to little fanfare some months ago.

And here’s the new and improved District 9 trailer, which explains the concept through cast and crew interviews.

Peculiarly Positive Press

Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp don’t have to worry if the press will like District 9…they all seem to be gushing over it. Entertainment Weekly thinks it will “blow your mind” and named it the “must-see movie of the summer.”

This week’s Entertainment Weekly names District 9, a sci-fi thriller with no big stars and a small budget, the must-see movie of the summer. While those who missed last month’s Comic-Con probably have yet to hear of it, by next week it may be all moviegoers are talking about. - EW

Pretty positive, right? Well they’re not alone. Ever since Jackson and Blomkamp held a secret screening at Comic-Con, the whole internet is abuzz with interviews and generally positive press about District 9.

AintItCoolNews posted a huge interview with Niall Blomkamp. Here’s a sample.

Capone: I’m sure people have already asked you about a sequel, and if they haven’t, they will. Tell me about some of the rules that you adhered to. You mentioned grounding it in reality and that’s key to the success of this film. That’s the thing that kind of floored me about the whole thing. The more I thought about it, the more it impressed me.

Thompson on Hollywood says District 9 must do well for the sake of the film industry.

I shouldn’t be as excited by this movie. But I am, because films like this are getting more rare. They have to be financed independently, outside the studios. We want District 9 to score because right now the studio system is in grave danger. Execs are scared into risk-averse behavior like I’ve never seen before. I’ve been watching Hollywood a long time, and it has never been this bad. Trouble is, Hollywood is doubling down on the very behavior that is the most likely to turn out badly. - Anne Thompson

The Film School Rejects are even more bullish, giving us 7 reasons why we should see District 9. Here’s what he thinks about the movie.

I’m not being paid to write this. I love this film, and I think a ton of you, dear readers, will have your minds blown by it. I believe in this film, and here at Reject HQ, when we believe in a film, we celebrate it, get up on the rooftops and scream about it until our lungs are enflamed or until it’s time back to the theater to see it again. Speaking of, I’m seeing District 9 again tonight and plan on seeing it again over the weekend. I flat out love this movie. - Dr. Cole Abaius from FSR

MTV Movies and IGN are also fans, with MTV noting how impressed they were with leading man Sharlto Copley’s performance.

SciFi Squad posted a very good article detailing a “Dozen Things You May Not Know About District 9.” The most interesting find is that a majority of the movie is improvised, not scripted. The movie also has a very low budget, just $30 million.

Not only is the star of the film, Sharlto Copley, not a trained actor, but the majority of all the dialog was unscripted improvisation. Blomkamp and co-writer Terri Tatchell had certain narrative beats in mind but it was up to Copley and his co-stars to organically meet those beats. A scene would often be run through several takes until Blomkamp was satisfied with the efficiency with which said narrative beats were met. - SciFi Squad

While SciFi Squad does keep it spoiler free, they can’t help but gush over the movie as well.

It was a tremendous film in its own right, but hearing the behind-the-scenes devotion that went into even the smallest of details made me fall farther in love with this special brand of Peter Jackson produced sci-fi adrenaline… - SciFi Squad

Finally, there are a ton of interviews with Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson floating around. Here are a few that stand out.

• LA Times - Peter Jackson: Movie fans are ‘fed up with the lack of original ideas’
• Collider Interviews Neill Blomkamp (video)
• Comingsoon.net Interviews Neill Blomkamp (text and video)
• Movie Retriever Interviews Neill Blomkamp (text)
• AP - Jackson’s motivation: ‘Constant disappointment’ (text)

District 10 already on the way?

Man, sequels pop up faster and faster these days. District 9 isn’t even released and we’re talking about a sequel. To be fair though, the press keeps asking the Blomkamp, Copley, and Jackson if they’d be interested in a sequel, not the other way around.

Copley expressed no hesitation when asked if he would return to filmmaking duty if a sequel to District 9 was put into production, saying more than once how much he enjoyed the process of making the highly anticipated film, opening August 14th, 2009 from Sony.

Blomkamp was more specific, mentioning that he hadn’t really considered the prospect of a sequel until people started asking about it after the incredibly well-received Comic-Con screening. It sounds like Blomkamp has been brainstorming since the questions started coming up because he told me that if the film is successful enough that the money is there for a sequel that he would love to return and nodded when asked if the writer/director wanted to creatively explore the world of the District 9 mythology again. - Movie Retriever

Movie Retriever also gets the coveted Overblown Quote of the Week award (that I just invented): “It feels less like a film and more like a phenomenon is about to be released next Friday when District 9 hits theaters.”

We’ll find out how much of a ‘phenomenon’ it is tomorrow. I have to say though, it’s nice to see a low-budget, original movie get some attention, and some of it seems very sincere. I just hope it’s warranted. A lot of these people were praising G.I. Joe just last week (it is watchable and full of cool vehicles, but does NOT deserve praise). I think we can already argue that District 9 is better than G.I. Joe, and I don’t even have to watch it to say that.