Interview with Halo Director Neill Blomkamp

Hot on the heals of the big announcment yesterday, the good folks over at AICN were able to snag an interview with Neill Blomkamp, the new director of the Halo movie.

On the issue of if we will see the face of the mail character… I like what he said:

Quint: Will we see Master Chief’s face?

Neill Blomkamp: You’ll have to wait and see.

I like that… cause if we weren’t… then he would have said “no”. I’ve maintained form the beging that you need the lead main character to have a face… just my opinion. Anyway, you can read the whole interview with Neil Blomkamp over here. Enjoy.

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37 thoughts on “Interview with Halo Director Neill Blomkamp

  1. i think it depends on how mc face looks i think that a young person should depend on it as long as a girl is behind that mask that would be wierd

  2. It doesn’t matter what the Chief’s face looks like. His face is hidden for a reason. The Chief is a symbol of strength and bravery and his helmet symbolizes his power. It is like an unbreachable barrier. This is shown throughout the game & especially in the latest Halo 3 ad. Without his helmet, the Chief loses his power. Without his helmet, the Chief has his weaknesses exposed like everybody else in this world. Unfortunately he is not immortal, and he is not invincible. By keeping his face hidden, the Chief is still protected, helmet or not. It keeps his strength secret & leaves mysteries unanswered which is what most of the fans will be asking for

  3. actually, dumbass, they keep his face hidden 4 a reason, bcus it would suck if they didnt…wut if it wus someone sum1 hated, or sum1 that looks nerdish or disgusting

  4. i dont think we should uncover the mc’s face, it would make ppl hate the game, i mean, wut if he looked like a poser, or like a redneck, or nerd, or just flat out ugly, peeps like the game cus u cant c his face and ven tho ure diiiieeng 2 c it, u no u really dont want 2, no1 does………. im sorry guys, its just a load…..ill tell Jack Morax, lead designer. i cant uncover his face, he looks much cooler covered, and i say that like that b cus im with the Bungie Team…

    P R O G R A M T E R M I N A T E D

  5. THIS IS REALLY NOT JEREMY AND THE 1 ABOVE ME IS NOT JEREMY EITHER, I JUST USED HIS NAME SO I COULD FUCKING POST SUMTIN, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA….if u want 2 talk 2 me bout it, put WarpedHaywire on your f list on xbox live, ill b an alien, a silver 1, with a drone as my symbol, im online sum wut now………………….

    WELL REAL JEREMY, dont pee your pants, here u go….

  6. I know who is the 1 behind the master chiefs mask…..nubs….

    its….. Ah SHIT WE LOST THE TRANSMISSION! naw j/k -.-…..

    its the art designer, proof… in halo 1 on master chiefs RIGHT foot, if u look clooooseellyyy at it, it has initials, and by the way, halo 1 or 2, ever look at the scorpion? ever notice numbers on the side? there r six numbers, these: 030569, it just so happens, the art designer was born on March, 5, 1969….o every1, now u no, go and tell ure friends…..and so now, u can expect a nerd 2 pop out of his helmet

  7. OMFG!!! THEY NEED TO SHOW MASTER CHIEFS FACE!!! I CANT WAIT UNTIL THE GAME COMES OUT!!! by the way… i heard there was a halo MOVIE????? IM PEEING MY PANTS MAN TELL ME IF THERES A MOVIE, AND WHEN THEYLL HAVE THE COURAGE TO SHOW MASTER CHIEFS FACE!!! THANK YOU!! [email protected] EMAIL ME!!

  8. ok….I just thought about this the other day…and I have to put this up to be completely fair in my regards to this movie, no matter how much I hate it…

    …the dude who’s directing this flick has some really good experience with CGI, right…

    …well, if MC doesnt take off his helmet, that means Halo will more than likely be completely CGI or close to it…so hey…maybe they chose the exact right type of dude to do this thing…

    …I just thought about that yesterday and figured I’d share that with you. For all the bashing I give this flick, it’s fair that I say something positive when I realize it.

  9. alfie, I’m going to remind you that alot of people ( myself included ) really appreciate Bay’s work. Film is completely subjective.

    But I’m not going to say that the director they’ve chosen gives me any more ammo to bash the film. I’m going to be fair and admit that it’s not an entirely bad move.

    The guy’s proven he can pull small projects together. And working with Ad companies and execs to do what they want you to do proves that he can work with a company ( bungie in this case ) and give and take on the project.

    It’s not a great sign of things to come. But it’s simply news.

    I think it’s going to turn out to be a non issue as to whom plays M.C. if he leaves his helmet on. Let’s face it. It’s basically going to be a big CGI cartoon. Thats’ not an attack on the film, but it’s a fact.

    And, IMO, Michael Ironside would be a kick ass M.C.

  10. Campea laugh it up all you want … the guy has a hell of a visual style……

    sure we don’t know if he can tell a full length story yet but I love the look of this guys stuff…..

    Michael bay has had a great career and he is a terrible story teller…..

  11. So you dont think that the inter-planetary travelling, alien killing, human race saving Master Cheif has the right to be tired?
    Or is it that you really dont care about the helmet per se, but its more about who they hire to play him?
    Because if it was truly “sacred”, then it wouldnt matter who was underneath.

  12. I am sorry people the last thing I want to see is Master Chief with bags under his eye. In the Halo universe the mask is sacred. If you remove his helmet you better have the perfect actor that the fanbase can identify with. I’ve though about this very hard and Russell Crowe is the only one I can think of the could pull this off. He has the persona on and off the film (A take no shit attitude). If you cant get him just please leave the mask on.

  13. and plus, V’s mask was symbolic. Its purpose was to say that ANY-one could be V. Any and everyone has the ability to stand up in the face of oppression.
    I dont think the makers of the HALO film are for the same underlying themes as V foe Vendetta. And nor should they.

  14. Dude, you are absolutly right about the Kong thing. The only human I gave a crap about in those movives was ann darrow, and that was because of her connection to Kong.
    And I agree about the writing, it has to be good whether they decide to show his face or not.
    I’vs said before that I’m not a Halo gamer, so I dont have as much personal investment in this movie, but I bet I’m looking forward to it as much any HALO freak out there. And even if I was, I would think that it would just be the extra butter to the popcorn that is the HALO experience if I finally got to see his face.
    and hey, I got another example for ya if you want to hear it. either way, here goes.
    Both Vader and “V” were of single mind and purpose. V had no character arc, no real development and no great purpose altering epiphany. You knew he was about the same thing the whole length of his time on screen. From frame one to the end, his purpose and mindset did not alter. And the same idea goes for Vader. He was the baddest of the bad. Destroy the rebels and find Luke. And what did Lucas do when he did have his charcter altering epiphany? TA DA!!! they took his mask off.

  15. Alright, I can see where you’re coming from now. At least you gave a reason.

    If the writing’s good enough then audiences won’t have any problem connecting with a man in a mask. Shit, audiences connect with King Kong more then they do with any of the human characters in those movies.

  16. What if Wolverine wore a full face mask through the whole X-Men trilogy? What if Captain Kirk wore a mask in the Star Trek series and films?
    people playing games dont care if the mask stays on the whole game becuase they want to believe they ARE Master Cheif. Games are a different medium alltogether. People in the movie theater want the mask to come off because they want to CONNECT with Master Cheif.
    This is my opinion – please dont attack me for it – If the mask comes off in the movie it will be harder for the gamers to place themselves in the armour, and will instead always see “actor A” in the armour. Just my opinion, I am not trying to state a fact.

  17. Vader was not the hero of the Star Wars films. The bad guy can afford to be emotionally disconnected from the audience. think about it in terms of Luke wearing a mask all through the films. General audiences need to feel connected to their hero, and they do that mostly through the face. And I hate to burst anyones bubble but Halo fans alone will not make this movie a success. From what I’ve read on other message boards, not even all HALO gamers care if the mask stays on the whole movie.

  18. The ‘Apone’ comments are really accurate actually. Johnson is slightly more badass than Apone was in Aliens, but the first time I watched ALiens, I was stunned by the similarities.
    But Bungie have gone on record saying that the Alien franchise (along with many others) have been inspiration for features in Halo.

    Samuel L Jackson is my number one choice for Johnson. English motherf***** do you speak it?

    Jamie Foxx would also be awesome, think about his Jarhead performance.

  19. And you know if they offered Sam L. the role, he’d take it. That dude never turns down a paycheck.

    But c’mon- there’s more out there who could easily fill the role. I mean, Johnson is just an Apone sterotype drill sargeant. You could cast anybody in that role.

  20. Were people pissed off because they didn’t get to see Vader’s face? Did it take anything away from the movie? Yeah they showed it at the END of the LAST movie but I don’t remember anyone complaining about not seeing his face through the first 2 films. It made him that much more badass. Granted he was the villain but I always (until Jedi anyways) felt that it was kind of cool that you never saw his face. I think it would be cool as hell if they don’t show MC’s face. But if they do they’d better get somebody that fits the image. They have to get Sam Jackson for the Sarge. They HAVE to. There is no one else.

  21. I don’t want Chief to take off the helmet for the sake of seeing his face, theres a lot more reason why he should take it off. 1. We need to see his facial expressions. 2. We will need to see him without the helmet aynways if it does start at the begining of John’s(chief) life. 3. There was a time before the suits were made, before John put the helmet that needs to be covered in the movie. 4. To me the helmet will disconnect the character to me if he leaves it on all the time. 5. He has no real reason to hide his face in the movie.

  22. I just have to say, after reading the interview, i am extremely happy with the situation. Here we “seem” to have a director who cares about the source material, and some of the details he went into were very nice.

    Thanks for the scoop Campea.

  23. I don’t understand why it’s a problem either way, honestly. I’m (obviously) a big fan of the Halo Universe. It’s rich in backstory, character, sci-fi action, mystery and stuff blowing up real good. As far as I’m concerned- it replaced Star Wars.

    But people, please. Who cares if they show his face? What does that ruin?

    Who cares if they don’t- what does that ruin?

  24. Remove Master Chiefs helmet? No No No No NO NOOO.
    That maybe a bit extreme, but almost 99% of Halo fans would have a cornary in the cinema if this happened

    It won’t be done. Mark my words. Bungie would never allow it, Microsoft would never allow it. I would never allow it. I would march into Universals offices and steal every copy of it.

  25. I’m really not getting why some people think Chief should take his helmet off. It’s basically just ‘audiences need to see his face’, and then they don’t give a reason why.

    It’s basically like what happen to Judge Dredd.

    “You’ve got to take his helmet off. Audiences need to see what the hero looks like.”

    “Wha…? Why?”

    “Cuz.”

  26. I for one hope they show Master Chief’s face. I wouldn’t like him to hide behind that helmet for the whole movie. You really can’t do the whole film without seeing his facial expressions. And I know people will use Hugo as V as an example for not taking of Master Chiefs helmet, but in all honeslty V keeps that mask on for a reason and Chief has no reason to keep a friggin Helmet on himself all the time.

    From the interview, Neil seems pretty convindent and it sounds like he knows what he is doing, he seems focused on this project. But I won’t judge it until I see something from this Halo project.

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