Self-translation into foreign languages
Chapai is a child who at first does not communicate and even easily develops fears of the things around him, but then he begins to recognize, learn, experience happiness and fear, and even hate, to love, although he is just a highly developed intelligent robot used for policing.
This is the creative concept of "Super Chapai", in addition to the film's director Neil Blomkamp, who also introduced the conflicting view of natural cultivation and acquired cultivation into his future fantasy world structure.
Like the 35-year-old young director's first two works, "District 9" and "Elysium Space", this new work also has a dark realistic style, sharp and advanced visual effects and the humanistic themes behind the science fiction story. There are also big names like Hugh Jackman, Sigurney Pfeiffer, and wonderful action scenes as commercial elements. As Blomkamp explains to us: Deep thinking doesn't exactly conflict with commercial entertainment. "You can influence the audience's thinking, but first you don't have to go against the original intention of the audience to buy tickets."
The two works started differently, and I, like many of the directors I liked like Ridley Scott, David Finch, and Michael Bay, made some commercials everywhere before I became a director, and one of the works was this Tetra Vaal, about a non-existent robot company. There are many ingredients for special effects. The film is short and a little weird, but it gives me the opportunity to enter the world of commercial film production.
A few years later, I started writing Elysium, and one night I was listening to Die Antwoord's music (a famous South African rap band) and writing late, and it occurred to me what would happen if the band went to raise a simple, instruction-free intelligent robot in the script. What if they would take robots to do something illegal? What if it were made into a movie?
So Terri Tatchell (Blomkamp's partner writer and wife) and I finished the script in two weeks, and then we went to make Elysium, and we put it on the shelf for two years. But I liked the idea that we had and didn't have to think about making a different movie. When I think about what to call this robotics company, I think, let's call it Tetra Vaal, it's like a loop.
Director Neil and Hugh Jackman on set
Yes, the idea was that they not only appeared in the film, but also played themselves. But the music part didn't make it, so all that was left was the scene where they committed crimes around South Africa. They seem to be okay with it (laughs), which seems to be a common sticking point among big producers, who like the script but feel unreliable about the South African rappers with tattoos on their faces starring in big-budget special effects films, and one might say, "It's not normal for them to look at it." But I'll explain, "Trust me in this matter." ”
I've also been asked if I could choose a place other than Johannesburg to shoot the film. Actually, because there is another version of the script set in the United States, I just don't want to repeat myself too much, but for Die Antwoord, moving the filming location to Los Angeles is like a fish leaving the water. So I shot their scenes in Johannesburg, and I really want them to star in this film, but for me it's just a different picture of Nesburg than it used to be.
Kind of (laughs) because it's true, I didn't set up to change anything, I just shot some scenes in a couple of places, like science fiction here. The rest of Johannesburg gives a beverly mountain feel to it, and it's a strange place.
Your question is interesting. "District Nine" and "Elysium Space" are indeed a bit politicized in terms of performance. But it's also very entertaining, and the creator of the film should remember that the audience goes to the theater to enjoy these two hours, not to be preached. If you really have something to rush to express, make a documentary. Making entertainment movies is not the most effective way to express your opinion.
But entertainment movies, especially those with sci-fi themes, can deform the theme, so you can enjoy it from a completely different perspective. You can influence the audience's thinking, but first you don't have to go against the original intention of the audience to buy tickets. This is the problem I encountered when I created Elysium Space.
I like concepts more than stories, Elysium is about a space station floating in the universe, full of rich people, and there is only a group of poor people left on the earth, which is a golden idea for me. When it comes to getting into the story, I suddenly feel that it is not appropriate, I need to let the audience have a camping-like experience, enjoying a person's thrilling journey from start to finish. I also integrated this line of thinking into Chapai, and it is a great way to present the picture in my mind to the audience.
I think in many ways, the filmmaking technique has been exhausted. We can only change some of our skin in ourselves and in the way we run summer blockbusters. So I'm really interested in building a fantasy world of my own and being able to really change my mind. (A few weeks after the interview, Fox officially announced that Neil would be rebooting the Alien series.)
Stills from the film
I'd love to do it. The story I designed for District 10 is not bad. It's a matter of time, it takes three years to make a film, and I wouldn't be involved in anything else in those three years. I've been running around on this project, but we'll see.
Well, looking at the character's communication with humans, I think I'm putting more emphasis than I expected. I think it should be close to answering this question.
When I started writing Super Chapai, I thought so, but in recent years, we can't be sure we'll see it in my lifetime or later. As far as I know, designers today can pretty much make artificial intelligence that passes the Turing test and is good enough to communicate with us. However, the realization of its own creativity in artificial intelligence may not be achieved. The uncanny valley gap theory may be a little closer, but from the current perspective of artificial intelligence, we may still be on the other side of the valley. [Laughs]