Blomkamp: I messed up Elysium!

Neill Blomkamp says he “f***ed up” Elysium.

The director followed up his critically-acclaimed feature-length debut District 9 with the sci-fi offering starring Matt Damon in 2013.

The film, which also starred Jodie Foster, told the story of a world divided into two environments – the ravaged planet Earth and Elysium, a separate space habitat where the rich live.

But after the movie failed to live up to expectations, Neill has revealed in a candid chat that he thinks he “f***ed it up”.

“I feel like, ultimately, the story is not the right story,” Neill told Uproxx. “I still think the satirical idea of a ring, filled with rich people, hovering above the impoverished Earth, is an awesome idea. I love it so much, I almost want to go back and do it correctly. But I just think the script wasn’t… I just didn’t make a good enough film is ultimately what it is. I feel like I executed all of the stuff that could be executed, like costume and set design and special effects very well. But, ultimately, it was all resting on a somewhat not totally formed skeletal system, so the script just wasn’t there; the story wasn’t fully there.”

With a star-studded cast and incredibly advanced special effects team, Elysium had all the ingredients for a hit movie.

But Neill admits it was the concept of the film getting caught up with him that led to its downfall.

“The problem with me is I get so caught up in concepts and ideas,” he added. “Like I just said, the ring is so cool. The satirical idea of a diamond encrusted ring above, like, slums is such a satirically cool idea – I’m not like a normal person in the sense that I have to have a story for something to be interesting. Concepts are just as interesting to me as stories are.”