Personal details
- Birth Date: 1979-09-17
- Height: 5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
- Birth Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
- Children: (1 child) Cassidy Blomkamp
- Professions: Director, Writer, Producer
Neill Blomkamp is honestly one of those directors who just does whatever the hell he wants, and it kind of works. Born in South Africa but hanging out in Canada these days, he’s the guy behind District 9—the one with the prawns and all that crazy, gritty alien shantytown chaos. If you haven’t seen it, what are you even doing? That movie basically redefined what sci-fi could look like—gritty, messy, a bit gross, but weirdly real. Then he followed up with Elysium, which, yeah, was a little less subtle about its whole “rich people live in the sky, poor people rot on Earth” message, but the visuals slapped, and Matt Damon running around with a shaved head and exosuit? Absolutely iconic. Chappie is the weird cousin in this family, with a robot who talks like a kid and is raised by South African gangsters. Some loved it, some hated it, but nobody can say it was boring. Blomkamp’s style is in-your-face—shaky cameras, gritty effects, and a vibe that’s part documentary, part fever dream. Demonic, though? He really flipped the script and dove into supernatural horror, throwing digital effects and sci-fi into the mix like he’s making a weird genre smoothie. He even did a Halo short film, which honestly made fans beg for a full movie. Outside of movies, he’s married to Terri Tatchell and they have a kid, just living that low-key family life when he’s not blowing up dystopian landscapes on screen.
Neill Blomkamp almost got to direct a massive movie adaptation of Halo: Combat Evolved, with Peter Jackson backing him up as producer and a script from Alex Garland. Thing is, Microsoft came in swinging with a laundry list of demands: they wanted $10 million just for the script, a chunk of box office profits, a minimum $75 million budget, and a ton of creative say. Most studios just noped right out, until Fox and Universal finally jumped in together. They dropped $10 million on early development, and Blomkamp even packed his bags for New Zealand to start work at WETA. Then Universal freaked about the budget, wanted to slash costs, and suddenly everything ground to a halt because Jackson and Microsoft wouldn’t budge. The whole thing fell apart. Jackson, not one to waste talent, asked Blomkamp what else he had up his sleeve. That’s when Blomkamp pitched turning his short film Alive in Joburg into what would become District 9. Now that was a plot twist.
Johannesburg’s got this split personality thing going on, honestly. On one side, you’re cruising through these neighborhoods that wouldn’t look out of place in Beverly Hills—flashy cars, manicured lawns, the whole “rich and shiny” package. Then, like, a couple blocks over, bam, you’re dropped into these chaotic, crowded streets that feel more like the wildest corners of Rio; everything’s packed tight, there’s a hustle everywhere you look, and it’s just this wall of noise and color. The city doesn’t really pick a side—it just lets both realities crash together, almost like it’s daring you to keep up. It’s weird, kind of fascinating, honestly a little bit jarring. You get these wild contrasts all the time: money and poverty, hope and struggle, all mashed up side by side. That’s Johannesburg for you—never boring, always a bit off-balance, and packed with stories.
September 17, 1979
5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
Konidela Ram Charan
Johannesburg, South Africa
Yes, Cassidy Blomkamp
45 years old