After a screening of some footage from his upcoming sci-fi feature Elysium, writer/director Neill Blomkamp (District 9) talked about other projects he has varying levels of involvement in.  He touched on his learning experience with the defunct Halo picture, possible sequels to his breakout film District 9 and his stance on directing original material, sequels to his own films and adapting popular properties.  Blomkamp also teased a bit about iconic cinematic characters that he would love to get his hands on but is a bit too apprehensive about taking them on completely.

Hit the jump to see what he had to say and be sure to check back later for more on this special event for Elysium, due out August 9th.

When asked whether he preferred to continue doing original films or to adapt popular properties, Blomkamp spoke briefly about the Halo film and more, saying:

I don’t think I actively sit down and say, "I’m going to do my own stuff and that I want everything to be original." One of the things I learned with Halo … I actually still really like the universe and the world of Halo and the mythology of Halo.  If I was given control, I would like to do that film, but that’s the problem. When something pre-exists, there’s this idea of "I have my interpretation of what that is," but along with it comes like 150 other people involved with the film’s interpretation of the same intellectual property and then the entire film-going audience has their interpretation that you can live up to or fail in their eyes. And that part of it isn’t appealing to me. But the original pieces are appealing.

Although popular adaptations don't seem to be of particular interest to Blomkamp, he appears willing to further explore his own material for sequels if the story warrants it:

In terms of sequels to my own stuff, I think a lot of it just comes down to if there’s just more to say. I think the world of District 9 has a lot of very interesting race and oppression-based ideas that I would still like to explore in that world. Again, I have zero problems... I’ll make my own stuff or whatever you want to call it, sequel-ize my own stuff.

Finally, Blomkamp talked about his eagerness and anxiety in adapting some iconic Hollywood characters, but wouldn't give any details as to which ones he was considering:

And then there’s a few pieces of cinema history that I like so much, I don’t know whether I could be involved with them. There’s iconic characters that I really like that I would love to get closer to and make a film about. When I start dipping my toes into it, I get this allergic reaction. Maybe one day I’ll end up doing something like that.

For more on Elysium, click here.