Oh, Neill Blomkamp — director of “District 9” and a filmmaker whose numerous passion projects have fallen by the wayside over the last few decades. He’s now the latest Hollywood filmmaker to bow down to AI.
For some reason, Blomkamp has decided to make it known to the world, via an X announcement, that he’s now pursuing a new AI-focused filmmaking venture. He has directed “NIGHTBORNE,” a 13-minute sci-fi horror short that he says was created entirely with AI-generated imagery using Seedance 2.0. He describes it as a “full test” of the workflow and says it is only the first step toward making a full-length feature film using the same approach.
NIGHTBORNE is the first full test AI film I have made. It was made using Seedance 2.0.
I've been experimenting with AI for a couple of years, and it's now at the point where I want to tackle a full feature in this format. This is a 13-minute test start.
The short is presented as a documentary-style story about a U.S. Army pilot who is declared dead after being shot down, while evidence suggests she may have been involved in a classified program that resurrects fallen soldiers for combat. Blomkamp says the project was still made with human involvement: concept artists created designs, and the characters use the faces and voices of 32 real people who agreed to have their likenesses used. Every frame, however, was AI-generated, with Blomkamp directing the shots through prompts.
The announcement has, of course, sparked a strongly negative reaction. Many fans see it as Blomkamp abandoning the filmmaking craft that made “District 9” so notable.
Much like Roger Avary and Alex Proyas, who have embraced AI as a filmmaking tool, Blomkamp may see the technology as his best chance to finally realize the kind of ambitious sci-fi projects that have consistently struggled to find studio backing.
Yes, it’s been a difficult road for Blomkamp since breaking out with 2009’s “District 9.” His follow-up was 2013’s “Elysium” (underrated!), which proved to be highly divisive. His third film, 2015’s “Chappie” (also underrated!), was outright panned. Few people saw his 2021 sci-fi indie film “Demonic” (terrible!).
Over the last decade or so, Blomkamp has watched many of his passion projects collapse, including “Alien,” “District 10,” “RoboCop,” and “Halo.” If you ask me, it’s a real shame, since Blomkamp is a talented filmmaker who could have done wonders with some of these properties.
Sony recently hired Blomkamp to remake “Starship Troopers” — but, much like many Blomkamp projects announced before it, there is a real chance it may never actually happen.
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