Blinky director Ruairi Robinson set to direct sci-fi horror feature The Animators

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

A creepy little robot named “Blinky” has been inviting a lot of attention since the trailer for his short film arrived on the ‘net a few days ago. (That’s the adorable bastard to the right.) In less than 40 seconds, director Ruairi Robinson gives you a a vivid peek into a strange relationship between a young boy and his robot, who is obviously not on the up and up. Obviously, the short is making things happen for Robinson, as only a few days later he’s nabbed a big time gig.

Robinson will direct THE ANIMATORS for Brit production company QWERTY Films (SEVERANCE). According to the folks at The Playlist, who have read the highly-touted screenplay (by Clive Dawson), THE ANIMATORS focuses on a crew of astronauts on the Martian surface, who discover evidence of bacterial life. Things go downhill from there, and the explorers start to be killed off. They compare the desperate tone to that of THE THING, which of course should get genre fans wringing their hands in anticipation.

Though “Blinky” is getting him a lot of attention now, Robinson has been on the fringe of “the big time” for a little while now. He was nominated for a Best Live Action Short Oscar in 2002 for “Fifty Percent Grey”, and in 2007, he was attached to direct the live-action version of AKIRA, but has since obviously dropped out. (The Hughes Brothers are now in charge of that project.)

Interesting, and inspirational to all the burgeoning filmmakers out there, how a crop of these short films and fake trailers we’re seeing recently are landing their directors studio jobs. Just the other day we saw how the faux-teaser CLOWN grabbed the attention of Eli Roth; of course there’s HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, the legacy of which everybody is familiar with by now; last year a short film called MAMA was seen by Guillermo del Toro, who decided to usher it into a feature film; also last year, an epic short called PANIC ATTACK made its director, Fede Alvarez, a hot item and opened the door to almost every studio in town for him (Sam Raimi’s Ghost House eventually bought the rights to the short).

The lesson? You just never know what can happen, folks. So keep at it!