ATTACK THE BLOCK Director Wants the Sequel to Hit the Same Highs as ALIENS and TERMINATOR 2
Attack The Block writer and director Joe Cornish is hard at work developing the long-awaited sequel to the sci-fi action-adventure movie. That first movie was just so much freakin’ fun, and it’s crazy that we’ve had to wait this long for a sequel, but it’s coming, it will eventually get made.
The original film followed a teen gang in South London who set out on a mission to defend their block from the monstrously terrifying aliens who invaded the area. While a guest on The Kingcast podcast, Cornish talked about the original film and offered up an update on the sequel. He said:
"The nice thing about the first movie was, nobody was expecting it. Nobody knew who John [Boyega] was or who I was, certainly, outside of UK comedy circles. And we put a lot of work into the first one! Obviously, I can make stuff up about aliens quite easily, but the other stuff — the aspects of reality that we folded the fantasy into — we did a lot of research for, and so we are currently doing that same thing. We have a very detailed treatment and a storyline we're very, very excited about — and when I say 'we,' I mean me and John Boyega, who [I'm co-producing the film with] and consulting very closely with — and we're doing all the research to make sure we get it right."
He went on to talk about the type of research he’s doing and also shared that he wants Attack The Block 2 to hit the same highs as James Cameron’s sequel for Terminator 2 and Aliens. He said:
"This very afternoon I spent two hours interviewing someone whose life intersects with one element of the story, and when we're done here I'm gonna go home and transcribe that. So, we're doing our due diligence in building the screenplay and taking the same amount of care we took with the first one, but we're very, very quietly confident and excited about what we've got. We think about 'Alien' and 'Aliens' and 'Terminator' and 'Terminator 2,' and we wanna take a shot at doing our version of what people did for those movies."
That sounds exciting! It’s going to be really cool to see what they’ve got cooking and see how the story continues to play out. When previously talking about the development of the sequel, John Boyega said:
“We’re quite close. We’re gettin’ there. Obviously, we don’t wanna release no dates to anybody because we wanna take care of the creative process. We have the main spine of the story, but we’re still in the lab, just making sure the story is right. Story is everything. But it won’t be too long. I’ve given them the drums to speed up the process. Hopefully soon, we’ll have an announcement for when we’ll be around London, messin’ stuff up.”
When asked if he gets a say in the development and story as a producer on the film, Boyega explained how he’s been enjoying the collaborative process.
“Yes. This process has been fantastic. The story has actually been presented by myself and Joe Cornish. We’ve collaborated heavily on making a story that makes sense for Moses and the other characters that will come onto the second [film], and the new characters that will be coming up in the sequel too. And then, also, there’s different perspectives in writing it, with Joe having his perspective and me having mine. London has changed so much, in so many different ways, over the years since the first movie. We’re just tryin’ to make sure we explore all of that, while bringing in a whole different vibe to that crazy ass first movie that we made.”
Are you excited about Attack The Block 2?