UPDATE: I’ve just read that DISTRICT 9 is rated R for “bloody violence and pervasive language.”
The Peter Jackson-produced DISTRICT 9 is a fascinating project in many ways. It’s incredibly under-the-radar, at a time of year when studios are resorting to screaming the names of their films from office windows and street corners. It’s ad campaign is almost completely viral, meaning they are mostly counting on people to look at the bizarre online and print ads, wonder what the f*ck it’s all about, and do research on it. Heap on top of that the fact that it’s storyline looks to be a non-too-subtle commentary on immigration and U.S. Homeland Security and you’ve got yourself a tough cookie to feed to the masses.
Well, the following viral ad is hardly different, although with an intriguing new wrinkle. Here, we catch a few glimpses at the “immigrants”, and they’re very compelling indeed. I’m excited for this unusual alien invasion tale, whatever it may turn out to be.
For a little more insight, dig on these quotes from Peter Jackson: “These aliens arrived 20 years ago in a dead, derelict mothership, which hovers above Johannesburg. It’s enormous, like the size of 10 football fields. The aliens have ended up in a Soweto-style township beneath the ship. It’s clear that they’re not really integrating into society. They like to scavenge things, rip up train tracks. So the authorities shift them 200 miles away, into the African belt. They’ve built a concentration camp. And of course, that’s when things get crazy. The resident’s of Joburg want them gone.”
DISTRICT 9 opens on August 14th. Let us know if you’re digging this mysterious flick, or could not care less…