Sam Raimi to Use 'District 9' Model for Uruguayan Director?

Count Sam Raimi among the people who saw District 9 and thought, "Gee, why can't more studios put out budget-conscious gems like this?" The Spider-Man director will be playing Peter Jackson to his own Neill Blomkamp of sorts, a Uruguayan director by the name of Federico Alvarez. After the buzz around Alvarez's alien invasion short (posted below for your viewing pleasure) Panic Attack! had him making rounds in Los Angeles, Raimi's production shop Ghost House Pictures signed the director for what will be Alvarez's feature film debut.

The reports have been translated from Uruguayan newspaper El Paris, but here's what everyone seems to agree on -- the feature, like District 9, will be budgeted in the $30-40 million neighborhood and Raimi will take on a mentor role, thus saving Alvarez from the ugly, business part of things. The picture will shoot in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay and will likely involve giant robots, which play a big part in Panic Attack! What is unclear is if this feature-length will be based on Panic Attack! at all.



Maybe it's just me, but I don't see what all the hubbub's about on this one. Blomkamp's Alive in Joburg demonstrated a vision we hadn't really seen before. Nothing about the film or the design elements within it really stand out from similar genre entries. Take away Panic Attack!'s foreign setting and shaky-cam, and I see a close cousin of Roland Emmerich. The "District 9 model" is a smart one, and I'm definitely curious to see what Alvarez can do with a considerable (but sensible) chunk of change, but nothing in Panic Attack! grabs me quite in the way Alive in Joburg's richly imagined world did.

Watch the short and judge for yourself though. Perhaps I'm missing something and Panic Attack! heralds this guy as the indie sci-fi second coming.






(via El Paris by way of Film Junk)