Neill Blomkamp Quotes

Powerful Neill Blomkamp for Daily Growth

About Neill Blomkamp

Neill Blomkamp, born on September 17, 1979, in Vancouver, Canada, is a renowned film director, writer, and special effects expert who has made significant contributions to science fiction cinema. Growing up in a family of South African expatriates, Blomkamp returned to Cape Town, South Africa at the age of six, where he developed an early fascination with visual effects, drawing inspiration from films like Robocop and The Terminator. After leaving high school, Blomkamp founded his own visual effects company, Oats Studios, which eventually led to him creating short films that gained attention on YouTube. His first notable work was the award-winning short film "Alive in Joburg" (2005), a dystopian exploration of violence in contemporary Johannesburg, which caught the eye of Peter Jackson and led to Blomkamp directing his first feature film, "District 9" (2009). "District 9," a blend of science fiction and social commentary, was both a critical and commercial success, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. In 2013, Blomkamp directed the sequel to James Cameron's "The Terminator," titled "Terminator Genisys." Despite mixed reviews, it was a box office hit. His most recent works include "Chappie" (2015), "Rakop" (2018) and "Demons" (2022), all of which showcase Blomkamp's signature style of merging science fiction with social issues. Blomkamp's work is characterized by a gritty realism, striking visual effects, and thought-provoking themes, making him a significant figure in contemporary sci-fi cinema. His distinctive storytelling approach has earned him recognition as one of the most innovative voices in modern science fiction filmmaking.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"I try to find the balance between an emotional story and a visceral action experience."

Neill Blomkamp's quote highlights his creative approach in filmmaking, where he aims for a harmonious blend of two essential elements: emotional depth and visceral action sequences. In other words, he strives to create movies that not only engage audiences on an intellectual or emotional level but also provide exciting, adrenaline-pumping action scenes. This balance allows the audience to connect with characters while experiencing a thrilling ride, thus creating a more immersive and satisfying cinematic experience.

"Art should always make you feel something, whether that's anger, or disgust, or sadness, or joy."

This quote by Neill Blomkamp underscores the importance of art as an emotional catalyst. Art, in any form, is intended to evoke feelings within us - be it positive or negative emotions such as joy, anger, disgust, or sadness. These responses serve to connect us with the work, and ultimately, with ourselves and others, fostering empathy, understanding, and a deeper sense of shared humanity. It is through this emotional resonance that art transcends its medium and becomes a powerful tool for expression, reflection, and societal commentary.

"Science fiction is a way of commenting on society without directly commenting on it."

This quote suggests that science fiction, as a genre, serves as a veiled means to critique or discuss societal issues. By setting stories in fantastical or futuristic settings, authors can explore complex themes related to human nature, society, politics, and technology without directly naming the real-world problems they wish to address. This indirect approach allows for more freedom of expression, as it bypasses the potential for censorship or backlash that may arise from direct commentary on contemporary issues.

"When you have to deal with the real world and its problems, you can't escape into fantasy and pretend that everything's okay."

This quote by Neill Blomkamp emphasizes the importance of confronting reality and acknowledging its challenges instead of escaping into fantasy or denial. It suggests that while it may be tempting to ignore or avoid difficult issues, doing so only perpetuates them and prevents meaningful progress. Engaging with the real world, its problems, and their solutions is necessary for personal growth, societal improvement, and a more fulfilling life.

"I believe that films are a way to express your opinion about the world and society, and I try to do that in my work."

This quote by Neill Blomkamp reflects his belief that films serve as a powerful medium for artists to share their perspectives on the world and societal issues. Through his work, he strives to voice opinions and provoke thought about the society we live in.

There has to be the popcorn genre element, or I don't engage the same way. I like action and vehicle design and guns and computer graphics as much as I like allegory. It's a constant balancing game. I want audiences to be on this rollercoaster that fits the Hollywood mould, but I also want them to absorb my observations.

- Neill Blomkamp

Game, Guns, Constant, Observations

'District 9', 'Elysium' and 'Chappie' were all born out of some visual concept first. 'Chappie' is the imagery, because I think I'm a visual person first, of this ridiculous robot character. It's much more comedy based and in an unusual setting.

- Neill Blomkamp

Some, I Think, Concept, Robot

If there isn't a deep core reason for a film existing, what is the point? For me to be known as a filmmaker that makes films that have a point, I'm stoked.

- Neill Blomkamp

Deep, Reason, Films, Stoked

What I do is spend too much time thinking. Most of the time I just walk around annoyed. Would I describe myself as relatively happy, I suppose, but society gets to me. And the people that have mastered life seem to not care, and then they die, and then the grenade goes off.

- Neill Blomkamp

Happy, Thinking, Die, Relatively

I'm a massive hater of 3D. I don't like it at all. For me, you go to a movie theatre and you want to be taken to a place and transported to a place and be in that environment, and I know 3D is meant to do that, but the effect for me is the reverse. I feel like I'm looking though muddy water, and I can't really see the image.

- Neill Blomkamp

Feel, Movie, I Feel Like, Hater

When any young director gets hired by a studio to do a $125 million film based on a preexisting piece of intellectual property, they're climbing into the meat grinder. And what you're coming out with on the other side is a generic, heavily studio-controlled pile of garbage that ends up on the side of Burger King wrappers.

- Neill Blomkamp

Young, Other, Studio, Grinder

I still really love the world and the universe and the mythology of 'Halo.' If I was given control, I would really like to do that film. But that's the problem. When something pre-exists, there's this idea of my own interpretation versus 150 other people involved with the film's interpretation of the same intellectual property.

- Neill Blomkamp

Love, Other, Idea, Versus

If I wanted to make something that actually made a difference roughly in this industry, I would make a documentary. That would be the closest I could come to actually try and make a difference.

- Neill Blomkamp

Made, Industry, Could, Roughly

I grew up as an artist. Science fiction allows for design and creatures and guns and all the stuff that I like as well. So I think most of the films I make, I'm sure, will be in that category. But I can also see myself making a film like 'Black Hawk Down,' and I could also totally do horror.

- Neill Blomkamp

Artist, Guns, I Think, Category

Obviously I don't want to make a film that offends people, but the whole world is so politically correct - I'm not going to not do something because it may be politically incorrect. At some point, the metaphors and allegories break down. They disappear, and you just have science fiction.

- Neill Blomkamp

Some, Politically Correct, Science Fiction

There's no question that how Johannesburg operates is what made me interested in the idea of wealth discrepancy. 'Elysium' could be a metaphor for just Jo'burg, but it's also a metaphor for the Third World and the First World. And in science fiction, separation of wealth is a really interesting idea to mess with.

- Neill Blomkamp

Fiction, Interesting Idea, Science Fiction

If you look at the most meaningful science fiction, it didn't come from watching other films. We seem to be in a place now where filmmakers make films based on other films because that's where the stimuli and influence comes from.

- Neill Blomkamp

Watching, Other, Fiction, Science Fiction

There are loads of sociopolitical, racial, class and future-planet situations that really interest me, but I'm not really interested in making a film about them in a film that feels like reality because people view that in a different way. I like using science fiction to talk about subjects through the veneer of science fiction.

- Neill Blomkamp

Through, Fiction, Feels, Science Fiction

I think that in the realm of commercial, popcorn cinema, the amount of message or smuggling of ideas you can get in there is quite limited. Like, if you think you're going to make a difference or change anything, you're on pretty dangerous thin ice.

- Neill Blomkamp

Commercial, Popcorn, I Think, Make A Difference

I think our problems are inherently unsolvable. We need to change our genetic make-up or create computers that will think us out of it. I don't think humans are able to deal with what we have.

- Neill Blomkamp

Think, Deal, Genetic, Unsolvable

Johannesburg is weird, because half of it is like Los Angeles. It feels like just wealthy parts of L.A. But half of it is severe slummy, something like Rio De Janiero or something. So it's kind of weird, because it's both happening at the same time.

- Neill Blomkamp

Wealthy, Feels, Half, Rio

If you're not observing the world around you, in some sense you're not really an artist because then that means you're just replicating other people's stuff, or, I don't even know what you're doing.

- Neill Blomkamp

Some, Other, Means, Observing

A lot of parts of L.A. are interchangeable with suburbs in Joburg. Very big, ostentatious houses with palm trees and lawns. Lawns are very important. Never underestimate lawns.

- Neill Blomkamp

Big, Very, Suburbs, Interchangeable

I don't want egos and personalities on the set that make it more difficult to make the film. I don't want people who take the focus away from the movie and the ideas behind the movie.

- Neill Blomkamp

Behind, Away, Set, Personalities

If you just compare South Africans to the rest of the world, I think that white South Africans, and especially English-speaking white South Africans, are exactly the same as Brits or Australians or New Zealanders or Canadians or Americans.

- Neill Blomkamp

Rest, Think, New, Canadians

I like where we're going with technology and global integration, but the fact that corporations and dollars rule everything in our lives, I don't like it. This isn't the Hollywood I wanted to be part of.

- Neill Blomkamp

Fact, Hollywood, Lives, Corporations

I just want to make films that have enough of a budget to pull off high-level imagery but also have a budget that is low enough that I can do what I want.

- Neill Blomkamp

Want, Films, Also, Imagery

High-level actors can be all about their close-ups and the size of their trailers. I'd heard these horror stories of how a really powerful actor can come in and change your script.

- Neill Blomkamp

Change, Horror, Stories, Trailers

I have zero strategy for my career - like, zero. I could get as much satisfaction about doing a $20,000 shot film the same way I could do a $100 million film with a bunch of effects.

- Neill Blomkamp

Career, Doing, Like, Strategy

I just watch movies I like over and over. It seems to be a lot of sci-fi stuff. My favorites are probably - besides the first two 'Alien' films, I watch '2001', I watch 'Star Wars', the first ones, because those actually had a huge effect on me as well, 'Empire Strikes Back' especially.

- Neill Blomkamp

Back, Over It, Favorites, Besides

I'm not particularly interested in working with movie stars. It depends on where you come from, I suppose. Why are you making films? The reason I want make films is because they convey ideas. I think some directors make films because they want to hang out with movie stars and be part of Hollywood. They want to be a star themselves.

- Neill Blomkamp

Reason, Some, Hang, Convey

I think there's a lot of crazy stuff on the Internet. You read stuff that is wild speculation, and there's an element of it that makes me not trust it because there's this undercurrent of insanity to it sometimes.

- Neill Blomkamp

Trust, Think, Speculation, Element

On one hand, I think people are destined for something incredible if we don't wipe ourselves out, but I think we're going to wipe 90 percent of ourselves out.

- Neill Blomkamp

Think, Going, I Think, Wipe

'District 9' was a singular anti-Apartheid metaphor, and 'Elysium' is a more general metaphor about immigration and how the First World and Third World meet. But the thing that I like the most about the metaphor is that it can be scaled to suit almost any scenario.

- Neill Blomkamp

About, Almost, First World, Singular

The concept of even having fans is still kind of weird to me. I really just feel like a filmmaker that is only just finding my foot in and is beginning to participate in Hollywood and making films. So the idea of any kind of fandom or people that are waiting for something that I may release is very distant in my mind.

- Neill Blomkamp

Beginning, Hollywood, Very, Filmmaker

In a lot of the really impoverished areas of Johannesburg you see these packets of cheesy puffs which are like 6 feet long and the width of a basketball, and they're transparent and they have like 10,000 cheesy puffs in them, and you can buy that for like 50 cents. It's kind of a weird treat that you'd see people having in the townships.

- Neill Blomkamp

Feet, Treat, Buy, Impoverished

The main stuff I like is from the late '60s to the early '90s. That's the stuff I love. It's the James Cameron's and the Paul Verhoven stuff. I guess when I was younger, 'Star Wars' had an influence.

- Neill Blomkamp

Love, James, Main, Paul

I want to make a film that is commercially successful because that means that the larger cinema-going audience around the world like the movie, which is my goal. That's my job, to make films that people respond to.

- Neill Blomkamp

Larger, Which, Means, Respond

I think that people who make films and think they're changing the world are sorely mistaken. If that really is your goal, there are far better ways to do it. I'm making politically observant films for audiences.

- Neill Blomkamp

I Think, Your, Politically, Observant

A lot of America is kind of done. People have been making films about it for 100 years. Everything to me feels used up. But Jo-Burg feels unbelievably inspirational to me.

- Neill Blomkamp

Been, Feels, Films, 100 Years

I think the reason you use an actor is if they are right for the role. Most of the high-profile stars tend to be good actors. That's probably what led to their fame. So if they are right for the movie, you can certainly use them. But I don't want to, not at all. Stardom and Hollywood overpower the ideas and the film.

- Neill Blomkamp

Reason, Role, I Think, Stardom

The only genre of movie that I could see making that doesn't have anything magical or otherworldly about it would be a war film. I'm very interested in history, and a war film could be something that would lure me in.

- Neill Blomkamp

Movie, Making, Very, Lure

I think that 'Elysium' the movie is unrealistic, with the space station and everything. I think 'Elysium' the metaphor is completely realistic: it's exactly where we're going.

- Neill Blomkamp

Think, Movie, I Think, Space Station

I think filmmakers in general are, as the tools become more and more advanced, you're able to tell stories in a way that I think is more realistic. The technology just wasn't there up until pretty recently, and it takes a bit of time for the normal artistic way of approaching something to become a mainstream thing.

- Neill Blomkamp

Tell, I Think, Advanced, Realistic

I actually think Johannesburg represents the future. My version of what I think the world is going to become looks like Johannesburg.

- Neill Blomkamp

Think, Going, I Think, Version

Satire also allows you to make fun of every different aspect. It allows you to make fun of both sides. It allows you to make fun of everything, really, so you can do it in a harmless way.

- Neill Blomkamp

Both Sides, Also, Really, Sides

I think the world of 'District 9' has a lot of race and oppression-based ideas that I would still like to explore in that world.

- Neill Blomkamp

Think, I Think, Still, District

I think that, if there are topics that are just on people's minds, things manifest into reality out of the sort of global consciousness of being aware of those topics.

- Neill Blomkamp

Think, I Think, Topics, Manifest

There is something fundamentally fascinating about the mechanics, I guess, of the human body and where consciousness and mind exist, and what you can do with the mechanics of the body while keeping those intact, and where those two cross over.

- Neill Blomkamp

Mind, Human Body, Over, Mechanics

I think growing up in South Africa, and then moving to Canada, I'm just genuinely interested in the difference between the First World and the Third World, immigration, and how the new, globalized world is beginning to operate. All of those things run through my mind a lot.

- Neill Blomkamp

Beginning, Through, I Think, Operate

I think naturally I'm a very visual kind of person. If I wasn't in filmmaking, I'd be in something related to visuals. And I used to actually work as a visual-effects artist.

- Neill Blomkamp

Think, I Think, Very, Visuals

I don't put any pressure on myself in terms of what people or fans do or don't want. It really just doesn't occur to me. I honestly just want to make the films I want to see as a fan. The film will survive or fail in my mind by how much I like it. Having said that, everyone wants their films to do well and to be well-received.

- Neill Blomkamp

How, Put, How Much, Occur

'Chappie' would be like 'RoboCop,' but hilarious. If you mixed 'Robocop' with 'E.T.' and it was... funny, that's what it is.

- Neill Blomkamp

Like, Would, Mixed, Hilarious

I never really think of something in terms of what not to do. It's always what's appealing or what's cool.

- Neill Blomkamp

Think, Never, Always, Appealing

If you don't have something that glues the audience to the screen, you're in trouble.

- Neill Blomkamp

Trouble, Audience, You, Screen

The first film that I can remember seeing where, like, I just couldn't stop watching it - and it didn't necessarily make me want to be a director because I was so young, but it made me know that that's what I wanted to be doing - was 'Alien.' And I saw that when I was probably just over 10 years old.

- Neill Blomkamp

Doing, Watching, Young, Alien

If something is as smart as you, do you treat it differently if it isn't a human?

- Neill Blomkamp

Treat, Human, Something, Differently

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