Producer Says Neill Blomkamp's 'Elysium' Is "Very Different," "Not Necessarily An Alien Movie"

Details on Elysium, the second full-length film from District 9 director Neill Blomkamp, have few and far in between. All we really know at this point is that it's a sci-fi film with sociopolitical themes, set 150 years in a future in which Jodie Foster is a leader of an alien planet. And yet, thanks to an excellent cast (Foster, plus Matt Damon, Sharlto Copley, Wagner Moura, William Fichtner, and Alice Braga) and the strength of Blomkamp's feature debut, Elysium is high on my list of films I'm anxious to see.

Now, a new interview with producer Simon Kinberg manages to further pique curiosity without really giving away anything else about the plot. Well done, dude. Hit the jump to see what he said.

io9: You're also working on Neill Blomkamp's next picture Elysium, how is this going to be different from all the other alien pictures that came out after District 9?

Kinberg: I can't tell you about the content of Elysium but I can tell you, it won't really be... it's a very different movie than anything you've ever seen before. It's not necessarily an alien movie. He set himself up, because [District 9] was one of the greatest first films any director's ever made. I'm hoping that this movie has an opportunity to be even better. He was very young when he directed that movie, he was like 26 or 27. He's only 31 now. He's learned as a filmmaker, he's evolved as a filmmaker. Visually, stylistically it's actually very different than District 9.io9: How so?Kinberg: I literally will be murdered in my sleep if I tell you too much more. It's a unique movie. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before. And I will say, where I would be daunted because of District 9 being this masterpiece Neill is so talented as a writer and as a director that I'm kind of fearless going into this movie. I just think the guy is special.io9: One of the big themes in District 9 was second class citizens and other social issues. What are the big social issues what are the big themes in this picture?Kinberg: I can't tell you what the big themes are, but I can tell you that there are big themes. He's someone who's really interested in the world. He's not a filmmaker who's only interested in other movies. He's somebody who's interested in the politics of the world, the reality of the world. Whatever kind of movie he makes in whatever genre, it's never simply going to be a synthetic movie about the movies he liked growing up. It's always going to be about something bigger, and this movie is too.

Really, Kinberg? You'll literally be murdered in your sleep?

Irrelevant nitpicking aside, Kinberg's statements are intriguing, if not at all informative. Since the alien aspect is one of the few details we know about the film, I'm especially curious to know what "not necessarily an alien movie" means. Is he just trying to say the film is deeper than a typical genre exercise, or is Blomkamp actually framing it from an angle we've never seen before?

It's also great to hear him describe the film as "different" and Blomkamp as "fearless" — although of course, as the producer, Kinberg has to talk up how much he believes in the project. Still, what little we've learned about the film so far sounds interesting, and District 9 was a gorgeously original work (in my opinion). I'm inclined to actually believe Kinberg's praise.

Sadly, it'll be some time before we find out what Kinberg means, and whether we're right to believe his words: Elysium won't open until March 1, 2013.