Interview (Written): Terri Tachell (“Chappie”)
A Mental Floss interview with Chappie co-writer Terri Tachell:
Chappie was inspired by a short. How did you and Neill develop the idea further from that, and how did it evolve as you were working on the script?
When Neill made the short [in 2002 or 2003], it was specifically to get himself repped to do commercials — it’s not like we looked at the short and said, “What can we do with this?” There just happens to be a policing robot in that commercial. So we didn’t approach it in a way of doing an adaptation. Neill literally woke up one morning, came down the stairs, and said, “I have this idea.”
At this point [after co-writing the script for District 9], we were never working together again, ever, ever, ever. And he’s always pitching ideas, every single day — he’s so fun to be around because he’s always got different ideas. Usually, I’m like, “That sounds great,” but this one, he didn’t even make it down the stairs. I’m like “OK, time out on the not working together — I need to work on this with you.”
[We wrote] the first draft in three weeks, and we re-wrote it again to set it in LA — because there was a point where we didn’t think we were going to be able to shoot in Johannesburg. That took a little bit longer, just because it wasn’t right. I still liked that version — it had the same players coming to LA, but then they [moved] it back. I would say what ended up on the screen is pretty much exactly what that first draft was. It was one of those, I think, very quick easy processes that you’ll never experience again in your life. Even re-writes or changes felt kind of easy.
Director Neill Blomkamp’s third film, Chappie — about a sentient police robot in a near-future Johannesburg overrun by crime — hits theaters today. We sat down with Terri Tatchell, Blomkamp’s partner and co-screenwriter, to talk about script changes, writing for non-actors, and how to make robots sympathetic.
When you and Neill were working together on a script, what is the process like? How does that work?
That process is kind of funny. With District 9, we would be locked in what we called our bell tower in New Zealand. Neill’s very calm, and I’m very heated, and I’d wake him up in the middle of the night with ideas — and he can’t stand that. He’s like, “I do not like your work personality.”
[Laughs] So, now, we e-mail. We do not write together, in the same room, ever. Sometimes if I really want to prove a point, I will go into the bathroom when he’s in the shower, and I’ll sit in there and be like, “Just say we can do this!” And he’s like, “Yes, just go away!”
The movie trailer:
For the rest of the interview, go here.