ComingSoon.net caught up with Copley recently at the press junket for
Maleficent and learned a few interesting details about not only the world of
Chappie, but it's main protagonist as well.
"
I think we're finding our stride now on this third film," he says, "sort of going back to a smaller style of filmmaking. I'm doing the lead again... I'm playing a light character… A child-like robot, which is great. He only gets to about nine years in his emotional development. I got to run around in one of the most dangerous cities in the world being a child. It was awesome."
Given
Sharlto Copley's character,
Chappie, is an actual robot, and is being directed by
District 9 and
Elysium's own,
Neill Blomkamp, the process for animating Copley's character should come as no surprise.
"
The part that's blowing my mind is that they're animating over my movements," he continues, "So they're using absolutely everything I do in a sort of poor man's motion-capture style. I was never sure how this would translate, but the amount of me that is in the character is incredible... It's quite an amazing experience because you've created something totally different now. All you've had to focus on as the actor is the behavior. The essence of this being not all concerned about their appearance, which you normally would be concerned about as an actor."
The process seems to sound similar to that of the motion-capture work done on
Elysium as well; a procedure that was able to bring the
Special Ops Android's to life.
Copley then goes on to further reiterate the amount of detail this capture process holds.
"
I can see in a little sequence if there's half a second that there's a stunt guy [instead of me]," he says. "I can tell that it's the stunt guy from the animation. I can tell that it's the stunt guy there, because he moves slightly different than me. Because the performance is movement-based. The audience won't see it, but I see it."
The film is set for a
March 6th,
2015 release. The film is also is based on one of Blomkamp’s short films,
Tetra Vaal. Hugh Jackman, Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser, and Sigourney Weaver are also set to star alongside Sharlto Copley.
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Chappie tells the story of a robot imbued with artificial intelligence who is stolen by two local gangsters who want to use him for their own nefarious purposes. The film will star Sharlto Copley as the voice of Chappie, with Ninja and Yolandi Visser, voices of the South African Zef counter-culture movement and members of rap-rave duo Die Antwoord, as the two gangsters.