Hugh Jackman is going sci-fi. According to Deadline, Jackman has joined the cast of District 9 director Neill Blonkamp's next film, Chappie, a sci-fi comedy that's being described as — get this — a mix of Robocop and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. There is no way that this will not be awesome.
The film, which is set to be shot in Blomkamp's native South Africa, will star Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel in an unspecified role (it's being described as the lead), as well as District 9 star Sharlto Copley and Die Antwoord's Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser. As for the plot, not much as been released, but the film is set to be about a artificially intelligent robot cop (voiced by Copley) who is kidnapped by two thugs (Ninja, Visser) that want to use him for their criminal activities. It's not clear who Jackman will play either, but Indiewire notes that the role sounds pretty small.
Chappie will be Blomkamp's third feature-length film, following 2009's District 9 and this year's Elysium. Though Elysium wasn't the huge U.S. success that Sony had hoped it to be, but it did manage to gross a substantial amount of money overseas so Chappie remains highly anticipated. Blomkamp has previously described the film as "if you mixed 'RoboCop' with 'E.T.' and it was... funny, that’s what it is," and revealed that there would be no majorly political themes like in his last films.
Chappie will begin filming sometime in early 2014.
