After helming a series of short films for his own film production company, Oats Studios, as well as a short for the action sci-fi video game Anthem, filmmaker Neill Blomkamp (DISTRICT 9, CHAPPIE) has announced plans to develop INFERNO, an upcoming sci-fi thriller for Stuart Ford's AGC Studios.
Set to star in Blomkamp's latest feature is Taylor Kitsch (WACO, TRUE DETECTIVE. According to Deadline, Kitsch will play a cop who is called to investigate a seemingly ordinary murder in the New Mexico desert. The arrival of the FBI confirms his suspicions that something bigger – perhaps extraterrestrial – is at play. The hunt for the killer puts him face-to-face with a humanoid beast who will stop at nothing to exterminate the one witness to the crime.
Production for INFERNO is expected to ramp up in early 2020. Word of Blomkamp's INFERNO project comes not long after the ELYSIUM helmer announced that he is no longer directing ROBOCOP RETURNS due to scheduling conflicts. As the story goes, MGM wanted to begin work on ROBOCOP RETURNS without delay, only Blomkamp was already quite busy readying his next feature and was unable to participate.
Blomkamp was confirmed for the project in July of last year, and was set to direct a new entry in the series from a script by Justin Rhodes (TERMINATOR: DARK FATE), who was, in turn, adapting an idea from original series writers, Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner. Of the project, Neumeier (who is on RETURNS as a producer) said in January that Blomkamp "really really wants to make a good RoboCop movie, " and one that "should be the proper Verhoeven [Paul Verhoeven] if Verhoeven had directed a movie right after RoboCop."
While speaking about his latest project, Blomkamp stated, “I am very excited to be getting behind the camera and making Inferno with AGC. The film is filled with themes and concepts that I find deeply fascinating, I feel lucky to be shooting it.”
Stuart Ford of AGC Studios then expressed his excitement about working with Blomkamp by saying, “Over the last decade Neill Blomkamp has proven himself to be one of the most innovative creators of science fiction cinema in the world and I’m convinced that Inferno is going to break new ground and take Neill’s body of work to even greater heights.”
In the past, Blomkamp has demonstrated his knack for creating riveting and original sci-fi spectacles, so it's my hope that INFERNO will arrive as a bonafide blast for fans of the genre. Taylor Kitsch is certainly a good get for the feature, though I'm eager to learn of who else will join the effort, as well as what this "humanoid beast" will look like on the big screen.
Are you excited to know that Blomkamp is taking a break from making short films so that he can focus his talents on a bombastic blockbuster? Let us know in the comments section below.