Last week, a rumor spread suggesting District 9 director and Peter Jackson protoge Neill Blomkamp might direct The Hobbit. But Blomkamp’s representatives tell Vulture that no one from Warner Bros. or MGM has even approached the director about the project at all.
They do, however, offer up the title of his newest sci-fi endeavor: Elysium. Hit the jump to find out what we know.
Vulture says Elysium is “an original sci-fi script of [Blomkamp's]” that is “set on another planet.” At Comic-Con last year, Slashfilm got some hints about the director’s next project and they line up well with the description of Elysium so far.
I’ve got one science fiction idea that I’m absolutely in love with, which I’m pretty sure is going to be my next film. 99% sure…It’s totally original, it’s my own story…It’s set on another planet, but it’s cool. It’s violent, very violent, and very unique hopefully. We’ll see.
It is science fiction and it has many sociopolitical ideas that interest me. Those ideas are wrapped up inside something that is like a Hollywood action film…The setting for the next film takes place 150 years from now.
Media Rights Capital is financing the project as well as giving the director ownership of the final product – quite the deal for a sophomore director. Blomkamp has stated that he’s not interested in big budget productions for fear of losing creative control, so that explains why he’s sticking near the 30-40 million dollar range and not jumping on The Hobbit bandwagon. Oh yeah, and that pesky little detail about MGM nearing bankruptcy probably has something to do with it as well.
As interesting as a Blomkamp-directed Hobbit might be, I think most of us can agree that we want to see this guy churning out ideas of his own and making films the way he wants to make them. With an up-and-coming talent like this, the last thing we (as an audience) wants is for him to burn out too early and for us to miss out on some potentially great films from a new voice in the filmmaking community.
What do you think about Elysium? Do you still think Blomkamp is the right guy for The Hobbit?
