Blomkamp casts sci-fi legend

According to the Hollywood Reporter, production for the film has kicked off in Johannesburg and it is currently set for release in America on 27 March 2015.

True to form, Blomkamp has once again teamed up with fellow South African Sharlto Copley who will, via motion capture, take on the role of titular law enforcement robot ‘Chappie’. Zef rap duo Ninja and Yolandi Visser of Die Antwoord are also part of the cast in the roles of two outlaws.

Malawian actor Eugene Khumbanyiwa and former ‘Isidingo’ stars Brandon Auret and Robert Hobbs will also feature in the film, alongside big names Hugh Jackman, Dev Patel, and Jose Pablo Cantillo.

A logline supplied by production companies Sony Pictures and Media Rights Capital reads: “After being kidnapped by two criminals during birth, Chappie becomes the adopted son in a strange and dysfunctional family. Chappie is preternaturally gifted, one of a kind, a prodigy. He also happens to be a robot.”

As with his breakthrough sci-fi film, ‘District 9’, this newest offering will be based on one of Blomkamp’s earlier short films, 2004’s ‘Tetra Vaal’, which is a fictional advert for a robotic police force that watches over the slums of South Africa.

“It’s like a fundamentally simpler offering – a heartfelt story with comedy in a science fiction setting,” Blomkamp says of ‘Chappie’, according to The New Age.

“It’s absolutely hilarious, a really cool film and I can say that with confidence.”

– TeamTalk