Neill Blomkamp to Direct Taylor Kitsch in Sci-Fi ‘Inferno’ for AGC Studios
“District 9” director was previously attached to direct “Robocop Returns” at MGM
Brian Welk | October 24, 2019 @ 8:00 AM
Last Updated: October 24, 2019 @ 9:23 AM
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“District 9” director Neill Blomkamp is set to direct Taylor Kitsch in a sci-fi thriller called “Inferno” for what will be his first feature film since 2015’s “Chappie.”
The news was announced Thursday by chairman and CEO of AGC Studios Stuart Ford, whose company is financing “Inferno,” and production is expected to begin on the film in early 2020.
Like “District 9,” “Elysium” and “Chappie” before it, Blomkamp’s “Inferno” is an original story that examines the uneasy balance between humans and alien life all within a gritty and realistic action film genre.
According to the studio, Kitsch will play a cop who is called to investigate a seemingly ordinary murder in the New Mexico desert. The arrival of the FBI confirms his suspicions that something much bigger — perhaps even extra-terrestrial — is at play. The hunt for the killer soon puts him face-to-face with a humanoid beast who will stop at nothing to exterminate the one witness to the crime. As the hunt becomes personal with the abduction of his wife, everything he knows about the universe will be challenged, and our connection to other life forces in the universe will be revealed.
“I am very excited to be getting behind the camera and making ‘Inferno’ with AGC. The film is filled with themes and concepts that I find deeply fascinating, I feel lucky to be shooting it,” Blomkamp said in a statement.
“Over the last decade Neill Blomkamp has proven himself to be one of the most innovative creators of science fiction cinema in the world and I’m convinced that ‘Inferno’ is going to break new ground and take Neill’s body of work to even greater heights,” Ford added.
Blomkamp’s first feature “District 9” that imagined aliens landing on Earth through the lens of apartheid in South Africa and found alien immigrants living in slums and experiencing racism. The film was made on a $30 million budget and grossed $211 million worldwide before earning four Oscar nominations. The success of the film catapulted him to make “Elysium” starring Matt Damon and “Chappie” with Dev Patel. “Inferno” is just his fourth feature and his first since 2015.
Blomkamp was previously meant to shoot “Robocop Returns” at MGM, but he announced on Twitter in August that he was no longer working on the project. Blomkamp is represented by ICM.
Kitsch will next be seen in “21 Bridges” with Chadwick Boseman. He’s represented by CAA and Untitled Entertainment.
CAA Media Finance brokered the deal with AGC and will co-represent domestic and Chinese rights for the film.
9 Movies About Sad People in Space, From 'Gravity' to 'Ad Astra' (Photos)
What is it about the awe-inspiring infinity of space that makes movie characters feel so sad? Seriously, there sure are a lot of films about moping-around-the-stars. Take for instance the space exploration drama "Ad Astra," where Brad Pitt searches the solar system for his missing father while having an existential crisis. More like "SAD Astra." Get it? "Sad" instead of "Ad"? You get it. Anyway, enjoy this breakdown of films that use the stars as a backdrop for stories about depression and grief.
"Ad Astra" (2019)
The astronaut Brad Pitt plays in James Gray's "Ad Astra" has to get a psychological exam each morning from a robotic prompter. He's famous for never having a heart rate that rises above 90 beats per minute. He scoffs when he sees that there's now a Subway on the moon. Who doesn't like low-g sandwiches? Even a trip to Neptune of all places can't help cure his serious daddy issues.
20th Century Fox/Disney
"Gravity" (2013)
In Alfonso Cuarón's Oscar-winning film, Sandra Bullock's astronaut hates pretty much everything about space, a feeling well justified when the Russians blow up one of their satellites, filling Earth's orbit with debris that kills all of her crew members. Stranded in space and thinking about her recently-deceased daughter, she considers shutting off her oxygen supply and drifting into oblivion. Luckily, she hallucinates a pep talk from George Clooney's very dead astronaut, and manages to crash somewhat safely to earth.
Warner Bros.
"Interstellar" (2014)
Even the robots in this Christopher Nolan sci-fi tearjerker are sad! Well sort of. Robots TARS and CASE are programmed to be jokey snarkers, which helps them bond with their human crew members. But even TARS (voiced by Bill Irwin) ends up depressed and lonely after being abandoned on a remote planet. (Luckily Matthew McConaughey comes back to rescue it and they presumably live happily ever after but still, very sad!)
Paramount Pictures
"First Man" (2018)
Damien Chazelle's Neil Armstrong biopic "First Man" is notable for avoiding patriotic cliches in favor of the human reality -- accidents, failures, tragedies and tireless hours -- it took to finally send Apollo 11 to the moon. And part of that comes from Ryan Gosling's performance which emphasizes Armstrong's stoic grief over his young daughter's death from brain cancer 7 years before the moon landing.
Universal
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968)
The weird as hell beginning and profound, yet ambiguous ending are what most people remember about Stanley Kubrick's and Arthur C. Clarke's groundbreaking masterpiece. But never forget that sandwiched between murderous apes and the Star Child is what amounts to a slasher movie in space, where an insane super computer slowly murders the crew of a scientific mission, then begs for mercy as he's lobotomized.
Warner Bros.
"Lucy in the Sky" (2019)
In Noah Hawley's upcoming drama "Lucy in the Sky," Natalie Portman's character loved being in space, but slowly loses her grip on reality as her personal life falls apart back on earth. Her story is loosely inspired by astronaut Lisa Nowak, about whom you can read about here.
Fox Searchlight
"Solaris" (2002)
The original Andrei Tarkovsky film on which Steven Soderbergh's "Solaris" is based is no barrel of laughs either, but George Clooney's character in "Solaris" is already messed up and depressed before he starts hallucinating and going crazy aboard the isolated, remote space station.
20th Century Fox
"Moon" (2009)
Sam Rockwell plays a man who mining helium 3 on the moon, his only companion a robot voiced by Kevin Spacey, whose two-year contract is about to end and he can finally return home. But then he learns the horrible truth: he's not "himself," he a clone illegally created by the mining company; instead of being sent home, he's going to be murdered and replaced by a brand new clone; and it's happened dozens of times before. Bummer!
Sony Pictures Classics
"Aniara" (2018)
In this underrated Swedish-Danish drama a massive ship full of people fleeing a ruined Earth find themselves adrift and watching their resources slowly deteriorate. It's an uplifting a heartwarming environmental parable about the inevitability that humanity will destroy whatever home they're stuck on.
Magnolia Pictures
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There’s a long tradition of depressing sci-fi in films like “Moon,” “Interstellar” and “2001: A Space Odyssey”
What is it about the awe-inspiring infinity of space that makes movie characters feel so sad? Seriously, there sure are a lot of films about moping-around-the-stars. Take for instance the space exploration drama "Ad Astra," where Brad Pitt searches the solar system for his missing father while having an existential crisis. More like "SAD Astra." Get it? "Sad" instead of "Ad"? You get it. Anyway, enjoy this breakdown of films that use the stars as a backdrop for stories about depression and grief.
20th Century Fox/Disney
