Neill Blomkamp to direct Halo movie

[Mike RB]

Congrats to Neill, glad this was finally announced. This is huge for him and I'm sure he'll do a great job, especially with the backing of Peter Jackson.

[Seven]

Hats off to him for getting to direct Halo, I do find it funny however people saying hes going to do a great job because he has Peter Jackson backing him up. He will do a good job because of himself, not Peter Jackson who ever since he created LOTR has been called the savour of cinema. Someone who made average films before LOTR, makes one/three sensational films and then goes back to his mediocre ways does not deserve the praise everyone seems to give him.

I feel sorry for Neill in a way, I guarantee the film will be advertised with Jacksons name in much larger lights than Neill's. If I was him id want the film to be a success because of my directorial work, not because its got Jacksons name attached to it.

[Mike RB]

Yeah but as a 1st time feature director you have a whole lot more pull with the studio exec's if Mr. Jackson is riding shotgun with you.

[leigh]

That's so awesome to see a fellow countryman kicking such huge ass in Hollywood! I always knew Neill would become something big because he's so incredibly talented. What a fantastic opportunity for him :D I don't know jack about Halo but I'll be sure to watch it when it eventually comes out.

[Bsmith]

I know nothing about this guy, but I am suprised the microsoft gave to to someone who doesn't have a lot of work under his belt.

[rblitz7]

Hope he does justice to this fantastic franchise.:) I cant believe this project is a go though, especially as soon as summer 08. But reading this makes me so giddy, "Jackson's Weta special effects houses will handle the visual effects for Halo":D

[LoTekK]

Wait, the same Neill Blomkamp who directed Tetra Vaal? Awesome! :bounce:

[Pyke]

We are everywhere....EVERYWHERE!!!

I hope that he adds in some south africanisms. Doubtfull..but I can always hope! :) Well done Neill!

[Mysterious X]

I dont really know him but after i've seen his short I was impressed...he's got a nice style..you can see Alive in Joburgin youtube here (http://youtube.com/watch?v=4Zep9TlaPSo)

[jason-slab]

Wait, the same Neill Blomkamp who directed Tetra Vaal? Awesome! :bounce:

yes thats right!!

now if only the guy would actually use SA for some of the VFX shots!!

jason

[opus13]

that tetra vaal video still kicks me in the ass every time i see it. those shots in the workshop and on the treadmill just make me weak.

[vfx]

Great news - his shorts are outstanding!...and its lovely to see Hollywood turn to talent and take a chance now and then!

Best of luck Neill Blomkamp!:)

[MrPositive]

I thought Peter Jackson was directing it? Regardless, I hope it finally breaks the barrier of poor games to movie translations and becomes critically acclaimed. I simply love Halo, so for me it'll be hard to ruin.

[Neil]

Wait, no Uwe Bull?!
I think I'm gonna have to pass then... ;)

[rblitz7]

I hope its like Saving Private Ryan except with aliens!:D

[BRUTICUS]

Here's an AICN interview with him:
http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=24139

I'm excited that they went and found someone who loves the franchise for what it is instead of someone who simply has previous feature experiece. When I first saw Alive in Joburg I thought some of it was clips of people talking about something else edited to appear to be talking about aliens. If that is ALL acting for the short you have to admit it is some DAMN fine directing.

[rblitz7]

CGSociety did a feature on him and his commercials
http://features.cgsociety.org/cgfilms/cgfilm.php?story_id=3280
most recent short film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmd8BDiB-qU

[noisewar]

This is some of the best news Hollywood has offered yet. I did a double take at the news bit, and I'm still giddy about it. I'm not even a Halo fan, but this is a perfect combo. Go Neil!

[Jadetiger]

Wow! This is awesome. I had a feeling they would do a movie. It's got alot of possibilities. Is this going to be entirely CG or partial live action?

[MrPositive]

This is all you need to know peeps.

Neill Blomkamp: From a purely game playing perspective I am a massive fan of the games, but more importantly, i'm a massive fan of the world and universe of Halo, the science fiction world that the games take place inside of.

I'm really happy for Bungie that they got somebody passionate about the game and world. Why couldn't they have found somebody like this for the Transformers movie. Oh well.

[bentllama]

I know nothing about this guy, but I am suprised the microsoft gave to to someone who doesn't have a lot of work under his belt.

we've got alot of faith in Neill and his work speaks for itself. great stuff. he will handle the script and treatment of the halo universe very well.

[Neil]

atleast they can save money by not casting an A list lead actor. I mean you're never gonna see his face, haha. Just use some martial arts guy or stunt man.
And if they do show his face, i'll be disappointed. Kinda like how Silent Hill gave her a partner for the whole movie, which ruined the whole "you're alone" survivor-horror that makes the game good.

[hiphopcr]

atleast they can save money by not casting an A list lead actor. I mean you're never gonna see his face, haha. Just use some martial arts guy or stunt man.
Actually I thought they were casting an A list actor. I heard that Denzel was being considered. Whoever it is, I'm not sure how I feel about seeing his face.

But good news about this director, thanks for the info!

[ScottC]

I know nothing about this guy, but I am suprised the microsoft gave to to someone who doesn't have a lot of work under his belt.


Your'e surprised MS gave it to an up and coming director without much of a big project resume or influence, that they can easily push around and make sure the picture conforms to the mold the marketing and merchandising department wants it to? Yeah, Im shocked too ;)

And yeah, I know theres never been a good movie based on a video game...ever...despite however many millions of dollars were thrown at its production, but I'm SURE with Microsoft maintaining rigid control over every aspect of this one, itll be the first one. After all, MS is known as a paragon of artistic vision and crowd-pleasing products...or something.

/sarcasm off.

[MrPositive]

atleast they can save money by not casting an A list lead actor. I mean you're never gonna see his face, haha. Just use some martial arts guy or stunt man.
And if they do show his face, i'll be disappointed. Kinda like how Silent Hill gave her a partner for the whole movie, which ruined the whole "you're alone" survivor-horror that makes the game good.

Well the entire first book has him without his mask and suit on. It's going to be real tricky to never see his face, considering they do not give him the suit till the very end of the book. It was a classified project (on the suit) that was just going through their first tests when Reach (outlying human controlled millitary base planet) was attacked and they had no choice but to let him and his experimental crew use the suits to save earth. Unlike the game, I doubt they can just skip over where he came from, why he was chosen, his training, why they were on the run from the covenant (Reach was destroyed), and why he became the only one left when they first came on Halo. If it were me directing, though it is not, I'd start at the Reach capture and do flashbacks to how he got here. Then you could do a dramatic shot when all his comrades get iced on Reach.....more flashbacks of how they met. Then escape and finding Halo.....oh yeah! Or you could do it like the Lord of the Rings prelude and have that 30 minute quick synopsis at the beginning. As well, he's described as a monstrous red head....if you cared. I'd cast a no name that fits the role best instead of some hotsy totsy actor, who'll ruin it. They should go for high art as this movie is going to sell anyways. My nerd underbelly just dropped over my pants.

[CGmonkey]

Thanks Mr.Positive -- I don't need to read the books now. :bowdown: -_-

[MrPositive]

Thanks Mr.Positive -- I don't need to read the books now. :bowdown: -_-

Uhm well I told you nothing really hahaha

[ParamountCell]

I heard denzel washington turned down the role of playing the chief.

[Jadetiger]

I just had a horrible vision of Vin Diesel doing it... oh god please let me be wrong...

[Pentagramma]

You know, after watching his previous videos on Youtube, I believe Blomkamp can make the trick. If he manages to input his unique vision to this, this film could be really interesting.

Looking forward to it. :thumbsup:

[Neil]

I just had a horrible vision of Vin Diesel doing it... oh god please let me be wrong...

Well if Vin passed, then I guess it means The Rock is going to be doing it instead ;)

[Neil]

Well the entire first book has him without his mask and suit on. It's going to be real tricky to never see his face, considering they do not give him the suit till the very end of the book.

Well that's the challenge of a good director and writers. They did it with Darth Vader, and you still learned a lot about him (and I didn't have to see the other 3 movies 20 years later and his face to care any more about him... I actually cared less about him... but that's another story). Just look to horror movies, they're usually good at concealing identity.

[leigh]

And yeah, I know theres never been a good movie based on a video game...ever...

I thought Silent Hill was great :shrug:

[Apoclypse]

Wouldn't it be great to watch the whole movie without seeing the chiefs face then at the end have some famous dude you never thought could play chief be the face behind the mask.

[Wizdoc]

Vader being masked the whole time worked because he wasn't the lead character, he was the villain. It's much harder to identify with the protagonist if you can't see his face. But on the other hand, not seeing Master Chief's face is big part of the Halo series. It's going to be a very, very tricky problem at least I don't have an answer for - I hope Mr. Blomkamp pulls it off.

And yeah, Silent Hill was indeed great.

[dunkelzahn]

Well thank god, they didn´t choose good ol´ Uwe Boll for that task, eh? :D

Not that I don´t respect his success and he IS a countryman, but, well, see for yourself, this strip puts my opinion on him together quite nicely:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/12/18

Cheerio

Chris

[parallax]

I thought Silent Hill was great :shrug:

you gotta be kidding me.

Apart from the effects, wich were nicely done but totally unneccesary, it must have been made by a hack who knows nothing about editing, acting, and therefor directing.
Oh my, what a turd that was.

"Hey listen, where is all this music coming from and why, oh never mind, it already gone."

Also worthy of noting, the creatures who obviously are part of a female modern dancegroup, acting like they were in a musical.

[Mblanco]

this was posted on the bungie site

"Um. The dudes at WETA made a Warthog. I don’t mean that they made a big plastic thing that looks like a Warthog. I mean they built a fully-functioning, four-wheel steering, powerful, off-road vehicle with a machine gun on the back. At the correct scale. If you live near Wellington, New Zealand, you might even see some crazy machine-shop dude from WETA fishtailing around your base, ahem, I mean neighborhood.

What’s it for? Well, a couple of things – one of which will be one of the shorts coming from director Neill Blomkamp. We sort of blindsided you guys with the first short (Arms Race) – it had little to no context or explanation, but when you see it as it was originally intended – as part of an overall narrative, you might just pee your pants. And if you don’t, then the picture below will certainly cause some leakage."

http://www.bungie.net/images/News/WeeklyUpdate/WarthogB110707.jpg


looks like neill blomkamps just directing short films in a series the first one being arms race shown at E3

[bentllama]

Vader being masked the whole time worked because he wasn't the lead character, he was the villain. It's much harder to identify with the protagonist if you can't see his face. But on the other hand, not seeing Master Chief's face is big part of the Halo series. It's going to be a very, very tricky problem at least I don't have an answer for - I hope Mr. Blomkamp pulls it off.

Masterchief has a face...it is you the player. The protaganist does not solely lie on the Chief's aura...Cortana, Johnson and the rest of the supporting human cast round out the emotional need for facial identification while the MC remains the faceless hero, letting your feelings be what the Chief is feelign, sort of...

Gah, enough of this talk. I gotta get back to playing some Halo 3!

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