Neill Blomkamp grew up in South Africa before he moved to Canada to work in VFX, and found his natural path into filmmaking.

Known for the science fiction fable, he’s created iconic movies like District 9, Elysium, Chappie, and most recently, Demonic.

In District 9, an extraterrestrial race is forced to live in slum-like conditions on earth. In Elysium, the wealthy live in a man-made space station while the poor live on a ruined earth in 2154. In Chappie, crime is controlled by a mechanized police force.

In his latest film, Demonic, “A young woman unleashes terrifying demons when supernatural forces at the root of a decades-old rift between mother and daughter are ruthlessly revealed.”

In this interview, he talks about leaving Hollywood to create Oats, his interest in sociopolitical topics, the importance of creative limitations, rules more important than structures, and making films for hyper specific audiences.

If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below…

Follow us on Instagram: @creativeprinciples

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!