Neill Blomkamp Moving On From ‘Alien’ With Time Travel Sci-Fi Adaptation ‘The Gone World’
By Angie Han/Nov. 11, 2015 10:30 am EST
Based on what little we know about The Gone World, it’s not hard to see why it would’ve attracted Blomkamp’s attention. Sci-fi is his genre of choice, and he seems to relish creating new worlds. What’s a little less encouraging is the notion that he also plans to script. Writing is not Blomkamp’s strong suit, as we’ve seen with Chappie and Elysium. Plenty of fans (myself included) were nervous about Blomkamp’s Alien plans despite the cool-looking concept art, because he wanted to pen the screenplay as well as direct.
In fact, the director himself has admitted that the Elysium script “wasn’t fully there” because he got too “caught up in concepts and ideas.” Nor does he particularly seem to enjoy the screenwriting process; in another interview he compared it to “having root canal surgery.” Given all that, it’s a mystery why he continues to insist on writing all of his own scripts. It’s not like Hollywood is lacking in talented scribes who’d leap at the chance to pen a sci-fi movie for a high-profile director at a major studio.
Blomkamp made a huge splash with his debut feature District 9, which was nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture. But his career since then has been a bit bumpy. His sophomore effort Elysium wasn’t quite as well received, and Chappie was an out-and-out flop. Hopefully The Gone World will help him get back on track. Neither the Gone World book nor the Gone World movie have a release date yet.
