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Neill Blomkamp: Chappie Was Originally Set In America (Exclusive)

South African director Neill Blomkamp says he didn’t want to set his new film ‘Chappie’ in his home country – as he did with his debut film ‘District 9’ - and had originally planned to film it in the United States.

He explains in our exclusive video above that he changed his mind in order to accommodate Die Antwoord, the South African rap duo, who play loose versions of themselves in the film.

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“I didn’t want to go back to South Africa,” explains the 35-year-old filmmaker, “I actively did not want to go back to Johannesburg, but Die Antwoord were so core and essential to the movie.

Above: Ninja and Yolandi of Die Antwoord

“We actually did a draft of the movie that was set in America with [Ninja and Yolandi] in America – so that I didn’t go to South Africa – and they felt like this fish-out-of-water thing that didn’t feel accurate, so I was forced to set it back in SA, because I didn’t want to lose them.”

The controversial group whose name is Afrikaans for “The Answer” make their movie debut in the film playing gang members Ninja and Yolandi – also their band names – who adopt the childlike Chappie, a robot recently imbued with artificial intelligence.

Above: Sharlto Copley with Chappie

Blomkamp employed regular collaborator and fellow Saffer Sharlto Copley to play Chappie using performance capture and co-star Hugh Jackman says the actor used an unusual aid to help get into character.

“Sharlto fully inhabited that character,” says the Aussie who plays the villainous Vincent.

“He was not only in a grey [performance capture] suit when I saw him, because my character interacts with [Chappie] when he’s more like an adolescent teenager, so [Sharlto] was wearing these grey shorts hung low down over his butt, so that he kinda got that gangster walk!”

‘Chappie’ is in cinemas nationwide from today.

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Image credits: Sony Pictures/Rex Features