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At this time, the voice-over tells us that this slum is "District 9". Twenty-eight years ago, when aliens first came to the earth, they caused human panic. People don't know what to do, and

At this time, the voice-over tells us that this slum is "District 9". Twenty-eight years ago, when aliens first came to the earth, they caused human panic. People don't know what to do, and they can't believe these alien visitors. So they set up such a slum in South Africa to isolate aliens and named it "District 9".

Did you find this movie a bit like Son of Man? In "The Son of Man", the British put all the immigrants in the quarantine area, regardless of whether they were asked to let them live, die or die. District 9 also has this meaning, but it is mixed with the sci-fi color of men in black. Use the story of alien immigrants to insinuate the immigration problem in real society? )

However, District 9's story is not just "Son of Man+Men in Black". Read on, and you will find that this story also refers to Kafka's Metamorphosis.

The hero of the story is "Vickus" played by sharlto copley, who was originally a government agent. Shortly after the movie started, he and MNU (Multinational Union) crossed the "District 9" under the protection of several heavily armed soldiers. He came to a door and knocked on it (there was a note on the door). The door is opened by a huge insect alien (with a face like a predator). They told the foreigner that he had to leave and they came to expel the immigrants. Of course aliens are not happy. He screamed and jumped onto the roof.

After a while, Wikus showed some alien weapons to the photographer who followed them (all the shots were taken by this photographer). He took out a jar with words written by aliens on it. Wikus had never seen anything like it. He didn't think it would be a weapon, so he fiddled with it a few times, and as a result, a mass of black substance came out of the jar and sprayed it on his face. When the audience saw him again, after a while, his nose began to emit black substances. Through the voice-over, we know that Wikus was infected by alien biotechnology. Government scientists have never seen this technology, and scientists who know the value of this technology immediately began to study it. However, no one cares about Vickus's life and death, they just want to use him for research.

After being infected, Wikus gradually began to change and became more like an alien. He talked face to face with an old alien. Through his personal experience after becoming an alien, he really realized the unfair treatment of alien immigrants on earth. He decided to do something to change this situation. It should be mentioned here that the aliens in the film are cool. Unlike the "little gray man" that people usually imagine, the aliens in this film are all insects.

Generally speaking, District 9 is a film with deep thoughts, although it is full of sci-fi colors, special effects and action scenes. Through the protagonist's personal experience of becoming an alien, he goes deep into another world through his eyes and takes the audience to think in different places.

South Africa, a rainbow country, is rich in gold and precious stones. In this barren land, The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has a condescending feeling. Is the Hobbit tired of living in the bunker and ready to move to the ground? No, no. The Jackson brothers, who are in charge of the production, plan to see aliens on earth this time. Guards are interested in, not for no reason, but took a fancy to Neil blom's performance in the camp. Blom Kemp, male, South African, in his thirties. Four years ago, he specialized in visual effects and was nominated for an Emmy Award. He raised his own money and went back to his hometown to shoot a 6-minute short film called "Aliens in Johannesburg". It is said that Jackson, who is eager for talent, watched the short film and couldn't wait to take him under his banner immediately. The two hit it off, and the "South African Alien Visit" basically took shape.

Perhaps it is the outstanding achievement of Clover Archives supported by J.J. abrams, or it may be that the content of the film is somewhat similar. From the mysterious propaganda in the early stage to the imitation of the record trailer in the later stage, District 9's distribution model has been greatly cloned. However, unlike the mystery of the origin of monsters in the Clover Archives, this film generously exposed the images of aliens and spacecraft as early as the real trailer. It seems that it is not its purpose to simply sell the suspense.

It turns out that it relies on the masterpiece Metamorphosis by Kafka, the founder of modernist literature, and it is one of the most influential 10 novels in the world in the 20th century! Although the special effects and action scenes of packaging are wonderful, although the film apparently planted the culprit on aliens, it seems that whether the little man is deformed due to accidental and bizarre reasons or the alien is gradually transformed into a beetle-shaped alien, it is a modern derivative of the masterpiece.

Different alien movies

Is the earth the only life in this universe? On the screen, aliens invaded the earth wave after wave. Some of them are friendly and some are militant, but District 9 is definitely a little different. The aliens in this movie regard the earth as a place for immigrants. How did you come up with this idea? Director neill blomkamp said: "I have watched many movies and stories about aliens since I was a child, such as The Third Intimate Contact, Alien and Alien. People's imagination of alien life is always very rich, but I think in many subjects related to aliens, aliens always represent a kind of power or cultural conflict that people on earth can't reach. They always can't fit in and go their own way, so I've been thinking about it ever since. If one day, many aliens from other planets immigrate to the earth, their technology is similar to that of human beings, and their knowledge and language have not changed much, but they are far from human beings in appearance. What will happen to the society in which human beings live at this time, and what will human beings do? With this in mind, I made a short film "Aliens in Johannesburg", which mainly talked about the human society in this state. In fact, my original plan was to make a feature film, but due to general restrictions, it has never been realized. So this short film has pinned a lot of thoughts on me, and I think this is the first step for me to turn this idea into reality. "

What kind of stories have you experienced, from a short film to a movie for nearly two hours? Neill blomkamp said: "I need to thank many people, especially their high enthusiasm and interest in this story. When I learned that I could show the story completely on the big screen, I was already in a state of high tension, reminding me all the time what to do, what to do to save time and what to do to make rational use of resources. When I was actually shooting, I found that the original film plan still had a lot to improve, so I constantly improved the story during the shooting process, and even made choices about the ending and the fate of several protagonists. I hope that I can dedicate several endings to the audience in the form of DVD in the future, but the one on the screen must be the best. "

District 9 was shrouded in mystery from the beginning of filming. Even after the trailer was released, the audience still couldn't see why. However, Peter Jackson denied that this is the mystery of the film company: "I hope that the audience will enjoy the unknown fun as much as possible, and I hope that fans who have seen the preview will not disclose the plot, because it will be more fun for the audience to go to the movies with unknown thoughts."

District 9 is the first feature film directed by neill blomkamp, and the shooting cost is only $30 million. For Hollywood films that are easy to make, this amount can only be said to be a gap, but Neil himself is quite open-minded and has never thought of asking the film company for more shooting funds: "I think 30 million yuan is enough. After all, I am not a famous director like James Cameron or Peter Jackson. It would be great if we could get a large amount of shooting funds. But since I'm not one of them, I have to scale down the shooting. The fund for this film is only 30 million. I must try my best to consider the budget. I want to do what others think I can't do. "

The media reported that District 9 would have two endings, to which director Neil gave a positive answer: "Yes, I hope another ending can be recorded on DVD, and I think the ending on the screen will be liked by most audiences. This is a summer Hollywood movie. I hope the audience will like it. The only difference is that it tells the story of aliens from different angles. "

Sharlto copley, the actor of The First Hero in District 9, is a good friend of director Neil. How did Neil come up with the idea of using a completely unknown actor? "Although sharlto copley has never been in a movie, he is very smart. Even without a script, we can clearly see the performance scenes in our minds. I just need to tell him what kind of plot I need, and he can play all the dialogues and details. I use people who have no acting experience, and I hope the film can be more realistic. As far as I know, sharlto copley is the only one who can do this, and he happens to be from South America. I asked salto to try some shots. After seeing it, producer Peter Jackson decided to use him. "

District 9 is sharlto copley's first film, in which he plays Vickers. Talking about his first electric shock on the screen, Charto was quite excited: "I like the role I played at the beginning, which is humorous. Later, some changes have taken place in the body, the plot development has become heavy, and the personality has been suppressed a lot. But I still like my role very much. There are many clues in the film that laid the foundation for the sequel. If I can really make a sequel, of course I want to continue to participate. Director Neil and I have been friends for many years. When filming, we never quarreled and had a great understanding. "

District 9 is based on Neil's previous six-minute short film Alien in Johannesburg. My character didn't appear in the short film. I am just one of the extras. The short film did not design a human as the protagonist. When we made a short film, we didn't expect to have the opportunity to make a feature film in the future, but Neil wanted to make a feature film at that time, but there were various problems. Now this idea has come true. District 9 is a unique movie, because it is different from the usual Hollywood movies, but it still has the elements of Hollywood movies. We don't want to show everything in the trailer, so please invite the audience to the cinema to enjoy it. "

"There are many aliens in the movie, all made by CGI technology. Thanks to my friends Jason and Neil, they designed all the aliens in the movie. In fact, I was the only one who performed in the scene of interacting with aliens in the movie. This is different from the traditional shooting method, so you can't move too much, because the alien's head may appear nearby when synthesizing, so you should exercise restraint when performing. But our staff is also very flexible and will synthesize aliens according to my movements, so I still perform freely most of the time. "

The low-budget sci-fi movie District 9 topped the box office in North America.

It's hard to imagine that such a mockumentary can become the champion of the North American box office list, with no stars and a cost of less than $30 million. The cult sci-fi movie "District 9", which premiered last week and was produced by The Lord of the Rings series director Peter Jackson, successfully became the biggest dark horse in North American movies this summer with a box office of $37 million, far higher than the box office of "Special Forces: The Rise of Cobra", which ranked second in the box office list and Paramount invested $65.438+$700 million. At a time when major film companies are spending huge sums of money to shoot sci-fi movies, the applause and popularity of District 9 may be called a miracle, but the miracle is by no means without reason.

District 9 is looking forward to a sequel, and the director plans to recreate the story. According to the foreign SciFiMoviePage website, District 9, one of the most successful movies this summer, is expected to continue to shoot a sequel, which was revealed by neill blomkamp in a recent interview. Blom Kemp also said that there is no script yet, and he is also considering shooting a prequel about the protagonist Vickus (sharlto copley).

The name of this film is based on a rumor in modern America. For decades, it has been rumored that the United States has an area 5 1 to deal with alien affairs, but this news has not been officially recognized. And "Zone 9" means "5 1 zone".

The film was originally planned to be released in North America in the spring, but after consideration, Sony, the producer, decided that the film was enough to attract a large audience, so it increased its investment in the film and changed its release time to summer.