Tourné au printemps 2008 en Afrique du Sud sous l’égide de Peter Jackson et Wingnut Films, District 9 est directement inspiré du court-métrage de Neill Blomkamp, « Alive in Joburg« .
Il raconte la survie de quelques extra-terrestres qui ont trouvé refuge à Johannesburg et sont traités comme des immigrés clandestins obligés de travailler pour le MNU (Multi National United). Un agent du gouvernement les prendra davantage en considération en s’intéressant à leurs biotechnologies.



ACTEURS
William Allen Young : Dirk Michaels
Robert Hobbs : Ross Pienaar
Jason Cope : Christopher
Sharlto Copley : Wikus
Kenneth Nkosi : Thomas
David James : Koobus
Venessa Haywood : Tania


Réalisation Neill Blomkamp
Scénario : Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
Musique : Clinton Shorter
Décors : Philip Ivey
Photographie : Trent Opaloch
Montage : Julian Clarke
Production : Peter Jackson
Société de production : QED International, WingNut Films
Société de distribution : Metropolitan FilmExport
Budget : 30 million de dollars

Durée 1h52 minutes

16 septembre 2009
Langue(s) originale(s) anglaise
nyanja
Pays d’origine Nouvelle-Zélande

Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth.

Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them.
Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens’ welfare – they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens’ awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA.
The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable – he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9.


District 9 is based on Alive in Joburg (video), a short film directed by Neill Blomkamp, Sharlto Copley, Simon Hansen and Shanon Worley. The title is influenced by real life District Six, Cape Town. Copley also portrayed one of the interviewed policemen. The short film is about aliens landing in South Africa and becoming confined to a specific area and forced to work.
In the movie, aliens make first contact with Earth twenty-eight years prior while humanity waited for the hostile attack or for giant advances in technology, though neither came. Instead, the aliens that arrived were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them. Patience over the alien situation ran out and control over them was contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens’ welfare. MNU stands to receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens’ advanced weaponry work.