What Went Right: District 9
By Shalimar Sahota
October 2, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
In 1982, a large alien mothership arrives on Earth, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The aliens are separated from the humans, exiled to a government camp that eventually becomes a slum known as District 9. Cut to present day and the government has set up the private company Multinational United (MNU) in an effort to relocate the aliens to a new camp. In charge of the operation is Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley). However, during a routine investigation of an alien’s shack, he comes into contact with an unusual substance that radically changes his life.
Director Neill Blomkamp initially came to the attention of many after he was attached to direct a live action film of the video game Halo. That a first time director was attached to a multi-million dollar film based on a popular video game franchise, Blomkamp instantly became a target. Basically, who the hell is this guy and why is he directing Halo?
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Blomkamp started out working as an effects artist, directing short films and commercials (he’s the one responsible for that Citroen dancing car advert). Peter Jackson was helping develop the Halo movie, a co-production between Universal and 20th Century Fox. After viewing some of Blomkamp’s work Jackson picked him as the director, only it didn’t work out. Four months into pre-production and the project collapsed, for apparently Universal and Fox didn’t get along. Speaking to Empire, Jackson revealed how he and his partner Fran Walsh felt terrible for Blomkamp. “It was heartbreaking,” said Jackson. “This was Neill’s first feature and his first experience of this world.”
Rather than waste all the momentum that went into working on Halo, Jackson offered to help Blomkamp work on another film. It was Walsh who came up with the idea that he should adapt his short Alive in Joburg into a feature length film. Just days after Halo collapsed, Blomkamp and his wife Terri Tatchell began work on adapting his short into what would become District 9.
Before shooting began, a deal was signed in November 2007 at the American Film Market with Sony to distribute the film. Co-Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Amy Pascal, said, “We believe District 9 can be a true event tentpole on our release slate.”
The lack of studio interference allowed Blomkamp to make the film he wanted to, with Jackson supporting him and a few of his unusual decisions. As well as shooting in Johannesburg, South Africa, Blomkamp wanted to improvise some of the dialogue and cast the lead role of Wikus to Sharlto Copley, an old friend with no previous acting experience. Justifying the reason for improvisation, Blomkamp said, “The bottom line is I wanted it to feel as real as possible. I think improv has a reality about it as long as the actors are delivering.” The decision to cast Copley came when shooting test footage for the film. “I asked Sharlto to play an MNU field agent for this promo piece,” recalled Blomkamp to Empire. “As soon as he put on the bulletproof vest and started to improv, it was clear he had to be the lead guy.” If District 9 began its process through one of the major studios, then it’s highly likely that they’ll tell their director (even one with a few hits to their name) to change the location to the US and drop Copley for someone who has more than one film on their CV.
One of the other big factors why District 9 worked is Peter Jackson. The worldwide success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy means that Jackson is now one of those directors that can bring an audience in on his name alone. Even though he was only involved as a producer, it is Peter Jackson’s name that appears before the title in the film and on the posters. Blomkamp also cited him as reason the film even exists in the first place. When speaking to A.V. Club, he said, “There’s no way I could have gotten this film made as what I wanted to make, without his involvement…It’s like, now I really realize how lucky I’ve been as a first-time filmmaker. Because it could be a completely different scenario, you could do some studio film that could just trounce you, and not an ounce of yourself is on the screen.”
Sony’s creative marketing team (headed at the time by Marc Weinstock) was told by Blomkamp to not give everything away. This would probably explain why the posters for District 9 did not fit the usual summer sci-fi blockbuster mould that one would typically expect. None of them feature any of the actors. One of the first posters showed a printed outline of an alien on a target board, with bullet holes. Later posters would show the alien mothership hovering above District 9 with helicopters descending towards it. They created an aura of mystery.
The trailers were similar in that they didn’t really oversell it. The teaser trailer appeared to be selling a faux documentary (which is also how the first half hour of the film presents itself). The theatrical trailer continued this up to when we Wikus sprayed with a strange substance, then showing an assortment of strange images that don’t seem at all connected (close-ups of MNU banners, military men with guns and a large exo suit in action). The trailer ends with a voiceover saying, “There’s a lot of secrets in District 9.” Essentially, it was a hook designed to tell viewers that if they pay for a ticket, then they would understand what the hell this all means.
In July 2008 (a year before the film was released), Sony displayed MNU posters at the San Diego Comic Con, similar to the ones that appear in the film. As the release date drew nearer, there were MNU posters at bus stops informing people that the bus was for humans only (with a number to call to report non-humans), as well as banners to let people know that the building they were approaching was for humans only. There were also websites such as multinationalunited.com and mnuspreadslies.com (an online blog written by one of the aliens). Unfortunately, these sites no longer exist. The film had a panel as well as a secret screening at the San Diego Comic Con in July 2009, just weeks before its release, which also generated a fair amount of buzz and positive reviews.
District 9 had a production budget of just $30 million. Opening in the US on August 14, 2009, it reached #1 at the US box office with an opening weekend gross of $37 million, essentially making its budget back in three days. On the Monday after its opening weekend, the film shot straight into IMDb’s Top 250 at #26. The film reached $100 million in its fourth week and ended its run earning $115 million. Overseas the film earned $95 million, making for a worldwide total of $210 million.
Reviews were overwhelmingly positive and many cited how the film used the sci-fi genre to explore other themes, such as immigration and apartheid, which made potential audiences realise that this was more than just special effects eye-candy. It got people talking. Unlike most sci-fi blockbusters with aliens, the difference with District 9 was that these aliens aren’t necessarily invading Earth. Sharing similarities with Alien Nation, these aliens are just looking for a place to stay. “District 9 certainly doesn’t ram many themes or morals down anyone’s throat,” said Jackson, “but at its heart it does have interesting questions that are raised about the way people view each other, especially other cultures.”
The sheer look of the film on a $30 million budget is incredible. “For the budget of this film I think the effects that we did were really, really, really awesome,” said Blomkamp. He proved that he didn’t need a huge budget to create fantastic special effects that not only wow the audience but also serve the story. From speaking to Vanity Fair, Blomkamp revealed that he managed to keep the budget low by cutting the number of visual effects shots to under 600 and casting mostly unknown actors. “It was a very sort of barebones way of making it,” said Blomkamp. “There weren’t hundreds of producers and hundreds of people involved in the film, really. It was more that every dollar that was being spent ended up on the screen.”
“I think, if anything, just to make a film that’s engaging as your first film was what I was hoping to achieve,” said Blomkamp. He succeeded. As well as the moral messages within the film, District 9 doesn’t forget to be entertaining too. It was nominated for four Oscars, Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Visual Effects. It didn’t win any, but it was astonishing just to see that it was recognised by the Academy.
2009 was a year where most eyes were on a different sci-fi blockbuster, James Cameron’s Avatar. For that reason District 9 was initially very much under the radar. However, the clever marketing (quite similar to Cloverfield) worked and once the reviews came in people sat up and paid attention. I myself wasn’t really sold on District 9 till after the reviews came in. I viewed the film on its opening day when it was released in the UK. Many critics placed the film on their “Best Of 2009” lists. While promoting his second feature, Elysium, Blomkamp revealed that there is a treatment for a sequel, titled District 10, but he doesn’t know if he’ll ever get around to it for he’d like to film other ideas first.