‘Elysium’ Featurette: A Less Than Bright Future

By  · Published on July 12th, 2013

Man, they said that the economy was starting to get better.

But from the looks of the new featurette from writer-director Neill Blomkamp and the stars of Elysium, the world in 150 years is a far bleaker place. In the sci-fi film, which stars Matt Damon and Jodi Foster, Earth has become a “third world planet,” devoid of fresh resources and plagued by overpopulation and poverty.

Those with the most means have fled the planet to an exclusive space station called Elysium, where they have created a new society that the people of Earth only dream of visiting – and the people of Elysium will do whatever it takes to protect their beautiful Utopia.

In the featurette, Blomkamp explains how he tries to turn the “metaphor of the haves and the have-nots” into a way to visually represent the disparity of poverty and great wealth. Blomkamp, the writer and director of District 9, has already done this well once before, albeit Damon and Foster are a bit different than prawns.

Elysium is in theatres August 9th.