After Gran Turismo, will Neill Blomkamp finally direct District 10?

The director is expected to reunite with Sony to shoot the sequel to his cult 2009 sci-fi flick.

The Hollywood Reporter has met Neill Blomkamp on the occasion of the American theatrical release of Gran Turismothe adaptation of video games that have been very successful since 1997.

The director talks about his actors: David Harbour, Archie Madekwe, Orlando Bloom etc., but also innovative special effects to recreate motor racing in the most dynamic and realistic way possible, or the films that influenced him for this project (hello, Le Mans 66 !).

The discussion drifts irremediably towards District 9his first feature film released in 2009, which was a great success in esteem, and for which we have been waiting since the following. In 2021, the director revealed to be writing the film with his wife Terri Tatchell and actor Sharlto Copley.

Neill Blomkamp: “I never imagined making a film like Gran Turismo!” (interview)

Almost 15 years after its cinema release, this story of aliens in distress unwelcome by men in South Africa has become a reference of SF, and it has not escaped its creator, who is constantly brought back to this first film.

“You know, Gran Turismo is quite different from District 9, he responds first about making their special effects. I wanted the chases to be as authentic as possible, to find the imagery that the public already knows. While with my band of aliens, there was everything to create, the spectators did not know them. So the idea was to constantly return to the realism of this kind of racing, and to do that, we use VFX tools. In a sense, a large part of Gran Turismo was created in the traditional way, and I hope that the public will not be distracted by these issues. We have slipped in all the elements that spectators expect from a car race.

About District 10which he regularly talks about without ever concretizing it for the moment, Neill Blomkamp explains: “If it’s done, Sony will be attached to this project. I don’t know if we’ll end up shooting it. I’m not sure I want to do it right away, but in the future, yes, we will definitely work on it.”

The journalist then asks him if the official start of construction District 10 depends on the success of Gran Turismo to the public. “Yes, that makes sense”he replies.

In France, Gran Turismo has been in theaters since August 9. Here is its trailer:

Gran Turismo: Smart Canister (review)