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Second poster for Josh Trank's Chronicle, starring Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly and Alex Russell This intriguing sci-fi thriller actioner from 20th Century Fox follows three friends who gain superpowers from a mysterious substance. They end up turning against one another after personal problems. Joe Vaz, Luke Tyler and Ashley Hinshaw also star. Good to see my friend of many years, whom I went to school with - Simon Hansen (director of Spoon, segment of District 9) on the project as Visual Effects Supervisor. Expect great things from this one. Max Landis wrote the script for the film produced by John David and Adam Schroeder. Catch Chronicle in theaters from February 3rd, 2012.

Second poster for Josh Trank's Chronicle, starring Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly and Alex Russell This intriguing sci-fi thriller actioner from 20th Century Fox follows three friends who gain superpowers from a mysterious substance. They end up turning against one another after personal problems. Joe Vaz, Luke Tyler and Ashley Hinshaw also star. Good to see my friend of many years, whom I went to school with - Simon Hansen (director of Spoon, segment of District 9) on the project as Visual Effects Supervisor. Expect great things from this one. Max Landis wrote the script for the film produced by John David and Adam Schroeder. Catch Chronicle in theaters from February 3rd, 2012.

Second poster for Josh Trank's Chronicle, starring Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly and Alex Russell This intriguing sci-fi thriller actioner from 20th Century Fox follows three friends who gain superpowers from a mysterious substance. They end up turning against one another after personal problems. Joe Vaz, Luke Tyler and Ashley Hinshaw also star. Good to see my friend of many years, whom I went to school with - Simon Hansen (director of Spoon, segment of District 9) on the project as Visual Effects Supervisor. Expect great things from this one. Max Landis wrote the script for the film produced by John David and Adam Schroeder. Catch Chronicle in theaters from February 3rd, 2012.

South By Southwest is largely awesome as a condition of place. Austin is an amazing case study that has much going right. It is a city of filmmakers, lovers and scholars with public and private support. An organization with the most visible influence is the Austin Film Society, which sponsors filmmaker financially through the new Texas Filmmakers Fund (partly funding two strong films I saw – Where Soldiers Come From and Five Time Champion) amongst other initiatives. I think SXSW Film has grown partly because Texas filmmaking has grown. There is a large display of strong work including the festival’s Lone Star States showcase. This is as much a local festival as it a national festival (and shockingly less so an international festival, with very little work from other non-traditional Hollywood funding bodies like Europe).

The flexibility of SXSW to discover new voices is one of their leading strengths. If...

"District 9" was, in my opinion, one of the strongest movies of last year. Largely thanks to the performance of then-newcomer Sharlto Copley, a dude who has since gone on to land a lead role in "The A-Team." Making all of this even more impressive is the fact that Copley never even intended to act in the first place! As he told us last year, he was originally set to produce, and it was Peter Jackson who pushed for him to star. It's clear though that Copley has hopes of working behind the camera as well as in front of it.

In fact, he already has! A trailer for "Spoon" has surfaced online, a supernatural thriller starring Rutger Hauer and written/directed/produced by Copley. A debut trailer is now up online too, thanks to Twitch.

Man, Sharlto Copley seems determined to take the world by force. First he blew us away with his surprisingly nuanced portrayal of Wickus in the outstanding District 9, next he's playing Murdock in The A-Team (Ok, they can't all be winners. Dude's gotta eat, I say), and now he's nearing the completion of his first directorial film, Spoon. Incidentally, I love the title. I'm a big fan of strange, cryptic titles.

Anyway, the film stars the blind Dutch samurai himself, Rutger Hauer (!) and a bunch of actors that I've never heard of. You gotta love Rutger Hauer, man. For every crapulent SyFy flick he does, he's also got things like roles in Batman Begins. The dude is ubiquitous. He'll outlive us all, the bastard. Anyway, the synopsis goeth thusly:

A thriller with supernatural overtones about a man with a medical condition that causes him to black out during moments of...

Way before we all came to know and love Sharlto Copley as Wikus in District 9, he was actually working on a budding career as a director. Back in 2006, Copley co-directed a feature with production partner Simon Hansen, a thriller starring Rutger Hauer and Darren Boyd ("Personal Affairs") called Spoon. And after many years of waiting, an early teaser trailer has hit the web, courtesy of Twitch, giving us our very first look at Rutger Hauer as Victor Spoon. It's kind of creepy in a sense, almost in a Cronenberg kind of way, and it's about a guy who blacks out during moments of extreme stress. So uh, just check this out, if you're curious. Watch the teaser trailer for Simon Hansen & Sharlto Copley's Spoon: A thriller with supernatural overtones about a man with a medical condition that causes him to black out during moments of extreme stress,...

Before District 9 blew us away, the vast majority of us had no idea who Sharlto Copley was. But the hapless alien-displacer has bigger ambitions than just being in front of the camera. In fact, Copley has already completed co-writing, co-directing and co-producing an indie feature called Spoon, a "thriller with supernatural overtones about a man with a medical condition that causes him to black out during moments of extreme stress and leads him to make a remarkable discovery about...

Prior to last August, if you were to mention the name "Sharlto Copley" to a friend, they would probably shoot you a confused look and ask if that.s the name of the new crater they've discovered on Mars. Now, of course, he.s becoming a major name thanks to both District 9 and the upcoming A-Team. But while the Neill Blomkamp exposed him to audiences as an actor, Copley has been trying to make a career as a director for years, having started work on his first film, Spoon, back in 2008. Now, two years later, the film is complete and here.s the teaser trailer. Spoon.s looks, to put it mildly, quite creepy. The trailer is only 34 seconds long and features a straight-jacketed Rutger Hauer speaking about humanity and sacrifice. The film is being described as a "thriller with supernatural overtones about a man with a medical condition...

Twitch Film has scooped the teaser for the supernatural thriller Spoon, which marks actor Sharlto Copley’s (District 9, The A-team) directorial debut. The film stars Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner) and English TV icon Darren Boyd “about a man with a medical condition that causes him to black out during moments of extreme stress and leads him to make a remarkable discovery about himself.” Boyd plays the inflected man named Daniel Spoon with Hauer playing his father Victor.

Read more on Teaser for Spoon, a film by Sharlto Copley…...

South African actor Sharlto Copley came out of nowhere to amaze people with his performance as Wikus Van De Merwe in Neill Blomkamp's District 9 and has since gone on to land the role of Murdock in The A-Team. But did you know that before District 9 he was already hard at work writing and directing a movie of his own? Copley and partner Simon Hansen have been developing a mysterious project called Spoon for a few years now, and it sounds like it will finally be released sometime in the near future. The good folks over at Twitch [1] got their hands on the very first teaser trailer, and although it doesn't show much, the premise is intriguing. Spoon is a supernatural thriller revolving around a man with a strange medical condition who blacks out during periods of extreme stress, causing strange things to happen. It stars TV actor Darren Boyd (Saxondale,...

Twitch has snagged an exclusive first look at the teaser trailer for Sharlto Copley’s directorial debut Spoon. Copley was looking towards a career behind the camera before he was cast as protagonist Wikus in District 9, but his first feature-length project as a director is nearing the end stages of completion (seemingly). Spoon is apparently a [...]...

Prior to his breakout as an actor in District 9, Sharlto Copley was pursuing a career intended to be located behind the camera rather than in front of it. He worked behind the scenes on Alive in Joburg and District 9 (and directed himself as D9's Wikus in a brief comedy piece) and has been working on his directorial debut for some time with co-director and production partner Simon Hansen. Called Spoon, the film is either complete or approaching completion, and there is a short teaser to announce the project to the public. The teaser, via Twitch, is all-too brief, but it is wonderful for focusing on Rutger Hauer, who plays one of the film's two primary characters. Spoon is "a thriller with supernatural overtones about a man with a medical condition that causes him to black out during moments of extreme stress and leads him to make a...

You may know Sharlto Copley as the hapless bureaucrat who gets exposed to an alien chemical in Neil Blomkamp's District 9. But before winning some degree of stateside recognition as the star of that film, Copley was somewhat of a media magnate in his native South Africa, producing and directing shorts and commercials through his production companies. Somewhere in there, apparently before District 9 took off and Copley was cast in The A-Team, he also directed a feature: a science-fiction thriller called Spoon, starring Rutger Hauer and British TV vet Darren Boyd. "Spoon" is the last name of the two main characters -- Hauer the father and Boyd the son.

The movie is described on IMDb as about "a man with a medical condition that causes him to black out during moments of extreme stress and leads him to make a remarkable discovery about himself," which is frankly enough of...

I didn’t know Sharlto Copley had any interest in directing. Since District 9, he’s landed the role of Murdock in the upcoming A-Team reboot. But he also found time to direct a “supernatural thriller” titled Spoon. The film is about “a man with a medical condition that causes him to black out during moments of extreme stress and leads him to make a remarkable discovery about himself.” Brit TV actor Darren Boyd stars in the lead as Daniel Spoon, and Rutger Hauer as his father Victor. The film is reportedly complete, although, no word on what happens next, other than the teaser below:

h/t Twitch...

Star of 'District 9' & 'The A Team' Sharlto Copley along with Simon Hansen have released a teaser trailer for their directorial debut 'Spoon.' Its described as a "thriller with supernatural overtones about a man with a medical condition that causes him to black out during moments of extreme stress and leads him to make a remarkable discovery about himself.'

Starring in the film are Darren Boyd, in the lead as Daniel Spoon and Rutger Hauer playing his father Victo. Official website for the film is here.

I gotta say, I’m loving the trajectory of Rutger Hauer’s career over the last few years. The aging action star is popping up in all sorts of great films and this could well be another.

South African actor Sharlto Copley (now semi-recognized for his performance in last year’s District 9 (review)) didn’t always want to be a movie star; he actually started his career as a producer with aspirations of directing and here’s his first effort. Spoon stars Hauer as Victor Spoon and Darren Boyd (familiar to me from his appearances in the great Canadian show “ReGenesis” though others may recognize him from his regular appearances on a number of British shows) as Daniel Spoon, a man with a medical condition which causes him to black when under extreme stress. When he sets off to figure out what's happening to him, he makes a "remarkable discovery about himself.

Before he rose to fame as the leading man in District 9 and long before he was cast as Mad Murdock in Joe Carnahan's revival of The A-Team, Sharlto Copley's future plans involved working on the other side of the camera. Along with Simon Hansen - his partner in South Africa's Inspired Minority production house - Copley had his beginnings as a producer and effects geek, with both Hansen and Copley heavily involved behind the scenes in both District 9 and Neill Blomkamp's short film precursor Alive In Joburg. Copley and Hansen are both credited as producers on Joburg and both were heavily involved in the effects as well, with Hansen later given directorial duties on the interview segments of District 9. And while fame and other projects have stretched out the timeline a bit the duo's post-Joburg plans revolved around co-directing a supernatural thriller titled Spoon.

Far from Cape Town, South African film artist Simon Hansen finds open arms at Sundance. Park City, Utah. Days prior to the multiple Oscar nominations for the science-fiction drama "District 9" (adapted screenplay, visual effects, film editing and most importantly, best picture), Cape Town-based filmmaker and producer Simon Hansen and his producing team from Inspired Minority Pictures, Hannah Slezacek and Amira Quinlan, traveled to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. Like many industry attendees, they came to Sundance in support of a film they produced, in their case director Wanuri Kahiu’s futuristic short “Pumzi”, part of the New African Cinema program. They also traveled halfway across the globe for reasons beyond personal networking and self-promotion. Hansen and his female cohorts crisscrossed Park City talking with fellow filmmakers, producers, agents and anyone who will listen about the promise of the fast-rowing South African film community as well as...

Far from Cape Town, South African film artist Simon Hansen finds open arms at Sundance. Park City, Utah. Days prior to the multiple Oscar nominations for the science-fiction drama "District 9" (adapted screenplay, visual effects, film editing and most importantly, best picture), Cape Town-based filmmaker and producer Simon Hansen and his producing team from Inspired Minority Pictures, Hannah Slezacek and Amira Quinlan, traveled to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. Like many industry attendees, they came to Sundance in support of a film they produced, in their case director Wanuri Kahiu’s futuristic short “Pumzi”, part of the New African Cinema program. They also traveled halfway across the globe for reasons beyond personal networking and self-promotion. Hansen and his female cohorts crisscrossed Park City talking with fellow filmmakers, producers, agents and anyone who will listen about the promise of the fast-rowing South African film community as well as...

While there's no doubt at all that Neill Blomkamp deserves every scrap of praise that he has received for the fantastic District 9, there is also no doubt that these sorts of creations never happen in a vacuum. There are absolutely always other hands involved. And one pair of those hands belong to Simon Hansen, the visual effects artist who co-produced District 9 precursor Alive In Joburg and is currently wrapping post production on Spoon, a film he co-directed with District 9 star - also an effects whiz - Sharlto Copley.

Hansen is currently in Sundance with yet another project, the science fiction short Pumzi. Directed and written by Kenya's Wanuri Kahui with Hansen on board as both effects man and co-producer, the word is coming back very strong.  And judging by the just-released trailer it's easy to see why.  Get ready for a wave of African film, people ... if...

Who is Simon Hansen and why should you care that he's produced a short film?  Well, in 2005 the South African producer and special effects artist had a hand in a little film called Alive In Joburg, which may jog a memory or two.  No?  Well, Joburg's director was Neil Blomkamp and this is the short that would go on to later be expanded into District 9.  And right now Hansen is wrapping up post production on a little feature titled Spoon, a film that stars Rutger Hauer and that Hansen co-directed (and did the effects) with Sharlto Copley - anopther South African effects whiz who took his first headlining acting gig as the lead in the aforementioned District 9.  So, these are the circles Hansen runs in.

And on we go now to Hansen's Sundance entry, a science fiction short titled Pumzi which Hansen co-produced and did the effects work...

With one role left to cast for The A-Team, all the speculation is now centering on who will or should play "Howling Mad" Murdock for director Joe Carnahan. We're open to your suggestions...

Blackfilm cites a source saying that District 9 star Sharlto Copley has been offered the job. There's less confirmation than we'd like, and we wouldn't even bother with it if the rumor wasn't so interesting. I don't know how it would work in practice but in theory...hell, yeah.

Copley isn't a veteran actor; District 9 is his first film. At least, it's his first film in front of the camera. He was a visual effects guy on the New Age garbage dump that is What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?, and he wrote, produced, and directed his own flick called Spoon. But he was something of a revelation in D9, but then again, what wasn't a revelation in that film?...

'I was never set to star in the film,' Copley says of producer Peter Jackson pushing for him to get the role.

By Christopher Campbell

Sharlto Copley and peter Jackson

Photo: Chelsea Lauren/ WireImage

Everyone's talking about the new movie opening Friday starring Sharlto Copley. But few people are mentioning the actor by name while discussing the much-buzzed-about "District 9," because nobody has ever heard of him. In fact, he's never even appeared in a feature film before. So how'd he get the part? Well, he was already on set, for one thing.

"I was never set to star in the film," Copley explained to MTV News. "I was always going to be a producer on it, in my mind."

But Peter Jackson liked the idea of Copley playing the lead and he told the film's director, Neill Blomkamp, who offered the role to his longtime friend and producing partner by saying,...