Having successfully handled a depressed Mel Gibson armed with a hand puppet (it happens), Jodie Foster’s next onscreen appearance will be in the latest violent sci-fi/allegorical piece from District 9 filmmaker Neill Blomkamp, entitled Elysium.
Foster has committed to starring in the South African director’s next project, which will reunite Blomkamp with D9 star Sharlto Copley and could feature Matt Damon in a starring role as well.
Media Rights Capital is financing Blomkamp’s Elysium, which will be another moderately-budgeted (re: less than $100 million) F/X-heavy sci-fi flick set on a distant planet some 150 years in the future. Simon Kinberg (X-Men: First Class) is producing the project, which Deadline says has not yet been shopped around to potential distributors. With Blomkamp at the helm and a cast that includes Foster, Copley, and possibly Damon, Elysium should have no problem attracting studio interest.
Details are being kept under wraps on Elysium, which Blomkamp has indicated will mix gruesome violence with a more thought-provoking narrative that addresses certain social/political issues in a manner similar to his District 9, appropriately enough. The latter arguably lent itself to a sequel but Blomkamp has selected to work on a more original project for the time being.
Elysium will mark Foster’s first venture in the sci-fi genre since she starred in the cinematic adaptation of Carl Sagan’s novel, Contact, back in 1997. That film featured a breed of extraterrestrials not bent on world domination, but instead aiding humankind to reach its full potential. Look for the non-Earthlings in Blomkamp’s new movie to have more of a temperamental relationship with their homo sapien counterparts.
Jodie Foster in 'Contact'.District 9 meshed elements of a thought-provoking sci-fi parable with a faux-documentary and a healthy dose of gory violence. There was even a touch of Transformers during the film’s climax when Wikus got his hands (well, by that point, claw and hand) on a deadly mech suit and aided extraterrestrial Christopher Johnson in his attempt to reach the alien mothership.
While Elysium may not be as much of a stylistic mashup, it will likely have a similar air and design to that of Blomkamp’s debut film. Now laden with expectations from fans, the project won’t be the sleeper hit that District 9 was; however, Elysium will hopefully either match or exceed the quality of that flick and allow Blomkamp to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump.
Stay tuned for more news about Elysium in the near future.
Source: Deadline
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