Eminem and Ninja from Die Antwoord, First Choices for 'Elysium' Director Neill Blomkamp Over Matt Damon

Next month the movie "Elysium" will debut with a fairly standard actor starring in the lead role: Matt Damon. But director Neill Blomkamp had some less traditional ideas in mind for his male role before he settled on Damon however. Blomkamp first propositioned rappers Ninja (of South African rap duo Die Antwoord) and Eminem to star as protagonist Max de Costa. Surprisingly, both rappers showed at least a little bit of interest, despite little film experience. 

Ninja, a rapper less known to American audiences, was Blomkamp's first choice. The director himself is South African and became acquainted with the rapper when the performer admitted his love of Blomkamp's "District 9." Ninja is looking to begin a career in film but ultimately decided that "Elysium" wasn't the gig to make his debut. He wasn't a fan of playing an American character in a big-budget film.

"It was a f----d up, difficult decision," he said. 

The director then went to Eminem, who was interested under the condition that the film be shot in his hometown of Detroit. Ultimately the difficulties of shooting in the American Midwest versus more traditional locales like Los Angeles and New York City wasn't worth the cause for Blomkamp. The rapper of course has proven cinema gold, starring in the biographic "8 Mile" in 2002. Blomkamp eventually settled on Damon.

"Elysium" tells the story of Earth wrecked by environmental decay and poverty. Damon's character is diagnosed with cancer, and he hopes to break into a satellite utopia orbiting the planet so that he can get treatment. Jodi Foster also stars.