Looks like Dev Patel is trading one slum for another. THR is reporting that the SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE star is in early talks for the lead in Neill Blomkamp's CHAPPIE. The upcoming sci-fi movie is based on Blomkamp's 2004 short film TETRA VAAL, a fake commercial for a robotic police force in South Africa. If Patel does sign on he'll be playing a human in a shanty town. Neill Blomkamp's go to guy Sharlto Copley is already on board as a robotic police office patrolling the poverty-stricken area.
Other details are still limited but you can check out the video for TETRA VAAL below to see how CHAPPIE might look and feel. Blomkamp has ELYSIUM out next month with Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, and if that movie is a big hit hopefully things will move forward quickly for CHAPPIE. There was a four year gap between DISTRICT 9 and ELYSIUM and that's about four years too long in my opinion.
Neill Blomkam's ELYSIUM is out August 8th, 2013.