STRAP ON THE SIDE

And I agree entirely with his assessment. Here it is:

“A lot of the stuff I see now – I mean, the whole industry in general – is this kind of revolting, disposable approach to everything. The films are disposable. The marketing is disposable. And I feel the way the artwork within the films is created is disposable. A lot of that is because in 1979 there was Syd Mead and Ron Cobb and now there are probably 5-6,000 concept artists using Photoshop and banging out 300 images a day. There’s a formulaic, non-thought process element to that that really gets under my skin and drives me kind of crazy, because they are on autopilot. You’re like "design me a robot”, and they give you something that looks like you’ve seen it in 50 films. With Syd Mead, he will think about things. He was the person that started that process that now yields 5,000 concept artists, so he comes from a different place. He comes from, “Let me take your request and actually think about what that would look like, or what that would be”, and then hand it back to you. That was the main thing I wanted [referring to designing the space station in Elysium]. Something that didn’t feel like the disposable artwork that is so prevalent now.“

So basically, this is a middle finger to the "Brain Trust" concept that lazy, uninspired producers like Kevin Feige employ. Notice how all of the "Art of” Marvel films look completely the same? It’s because they’re trying to achieve the quickest and simplest result possible. They know they have a built-in fan base that will flock to their films no matter how lazily they’re put together. it’s partially responsible for the current decline in quality blockbuster cinema right now. The sci-fi genre is currently on life support, and Neill Blomkamp is one of a VERY small handful of filmmakers trying to keep it alive and kicking right now.