Research into a Director

My chosen director is Neill Blomkamp as he started off shooting and directing short films and has since progressed into the feature film industry. One of Neill's most recent and most famous works is the film Elysium starring Matt Damon. It is a sci-fi thriller film that has received many good reviews recently.

Neill was born in South Africa which is particularly important as his short film "Alive in Joburg" is possibly the piece of film that shot him into the feature film industry. Neill has made a handful of short films with his most famous being the film Alive in Joburg. Alive in Joburg was later shown at a festival where it was picked up by world famous feature film director Peter Jackson (Famous for the Lord of The Rings trilogy and many more films). Peter and Neill then made Alive in Joburg into the feature length film District 9 which was met with great reviews. More recently, Neill has gone on to work on the film Elysium starring Matt Damon, a science fiction thriller.

In 2009 Neill was named one of the Most Influential People of the year and Forbes magazine named him as the 21st most powerful celebrity from Africa.

Neill has frequent collaborations with the actor Sharlto Copely (The start of District 9) whom he met at 16 years of age when they attended the same high school. Neill and Sharlto worked on 3D projects together and formed a strong bond. Today they still work together on projects such as Elysium.

Neill is set to direct and co-write the film Chappie in 2015 which will star his lifelong friend Sharlto Copley.