HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Sony pictures released a second trailer for Neil Blomkamp's upcoming science fiction film Chappie, with CNN's Anderson Cooper ushering audiences into the dawn of fully realized artificial intelligence.
"The deployment of the planet's first robotic police units became the focus of the world in 2016," Cooper narrates, harkening back to the recent-history newsreel framing of Blomkamp's 2009 film District 9.
Cooper then introduces the film's two main players, Hugh Jackman as anti-A.I. law enforcement agent Vincent and Dev Patel as idealistic computer engineer Deon. Deon creates Chappie, an intelligent robot not unlike the police robots, except it is capable of learning and independent thought. Chappie gets kidnapped by a pair of gangsters played by South African rappers Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er of Die Antwoord, kicking off what appears to be the film's central plot.
In addition to its visible cast members, Chappie also stars Blomkamp-favorite Sharlto Copley, who played the starring role in District 9 and had a supporting role in Bloomkamp's 2013 action film Elysium. Copley plays the title role in Chappie, physically portraying the movements of the newly-developed technology as it learns to how to interact with the world around it.
"We didn't do traditional motion capture," Blomkamp explained to HeroComplex.com.
"[Copley] was physically interacting with other actors. There' no tennis ball situation where they're acting off of nothing ... He was in a gray Lycra suit that gives us lighting information .. We would just film it like normal, then give those shots to animators to basically trace animate on top of Sharlto."
Chappie premieres in theaters March 6.
