Neill Blomkamp Shot A Supernatural Horror Movie In Canada During The Pandemic

Neill Blomkamp burst onto the scene with the impressive sci-fi movie District 9, which landed a Best Picture nomination. Since then, the director hasn't quite lived up to his debut, following that film with muddled allegories likeĀ Elysium and Chappie. Perhaps that's why he's shifting gears a little bit by putting together a supernatural horror movie that completed production in Canada during the pandemic over the summer.

Deadline reports that a new Neill Blomkamp movie was shot in British Columbia with a cast comprised of mostly Canadian actors, though no specific names were mentioned. Perhaps Blomkamp has gone back to casting more unknown names, much like he did with District 9, which was shot in Johannesburg.

Unfortunately, we know next to nothing about this project. We know is that Stuart Ford and his AGC Studios financed the production. Plus, Blomkamp's longtime collaborator Julian Clarke is editing the movie after previously cutting District 9, Elysium, and Chappie, not to mention films like Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate. But for the director of photography, Blomkamp went with Byron Kopman, who doesn't have any major movie experience. There's no publicly known title and no plot details, but the movie is apparently something that Blomkamp has always wanted to make.

This new project from Blomkamp actually came about after another film that was in the works with AGC Studios wasn't able to come together due to the coronavirus pandemic. Last fall, we heard about the movie Inferno, which would have starred Taylor Kitsch as a cop who is investigating a seemingly ordinary murder in the New Mexico desert when something extra-terrestrial comes into play.

It's not clear when or if that project will still move forward, but it's good that Blomkamp was able to redirect his creative flow into something else during this troublesome time. If anything, having a smaller production with more restrictions may have taken him back to the roots that made District 9 so great. Between the coronavirus pandemic and the disappointment of his idea to continue the Alien franchise being stopped dead in its tracks, Blomkamp has had a hard time getting projects off the ground in recent years. So hopefully this new project will be worth the wait.