Although the much talked about District 9 is dominated by men, it is the feminine touch and motherly instinct of Canadian screenwriter Terri Tatchell that resulted in the creation of the baby Alien that is stealing human hearts all over the world

Daniel Dercksen shares a few thoughts with Terri Tatchell, who co-wrote the screenplay of District 9 with writer-director Neill Blomkamp.

Was it fun to write District 9?
Oh, definitely, yes! We had a good time with it - writing partner to Neill Blomkamp, she has co-written much of his past work. It took us a year to write the script and probably the most fun for me was actually being on set and seeing these things made up in our imaginations to come to life. That to me was probably the best element. My first day walking on set.

What was your reaction after watching the film? How do feel about the translation from page to screen?
I've been pretty lucky in that - it isn't always the case with writers - but I have a personal relationship with the director, so I have been able to every step of the way, he's brought me into the edit room and I've been given notes and feedback, so I almost feel cheated in a way, because I wish that I could just have not seen anything and then seen the finished film like all the actors are seeing. But, in a different respect, for a learning experience to be involved in every step of the way and see what works, what doesn't, and be involved in the solution of fixing things is just … I mean, 10 years of film school couldn't have given me that.

It is obviously important for you and your director to see eye to eye and be on the same page?
When we were writing it was number one because Neill is the director, and number 2 because Neill is South African. There was no question that his say was final. Shockingly, we really did agree with each other most of the time. There were very, very few things we did not agree on. The way we wrote, is that we spent about a month in story meetings, just talking about the world and the story, but when it actually came down to writing the script, we'd pass things back and forth, so he would have it for maybe four days, then I'd have it for four days, and the only time we really ran into arguments, and our big point of contention - and he'd only come to my side last week - was little CJ.  And I fought, and I fought to keep little CG in the film, because being a mother, it was my best way to humanise the aliens. For me in writing to be able to relate to them and Neill just wasn't sure - number one visual effects wise - to have a baby alien would bring the budget up quite a bit.  Even after the first screenings Neill still said that he did not know about that little alien. Just last week I heard him say in an interview that he loved the little alien (laughs). It took me two-and-a-half years but I finally got him on board.

CJ will always be a part of your life.
When I finished writing and moved to back to Vancouver my going-away-present - because everyone knew little CJ was mine - the Weta design team gave me a pencil sketch from the artist, so I have had him for the last year and a half behind glass in my living room. I smile every time I look at him. If ever there's a sort of little CJ dolls made, I want the first one off the assembly line.   

Were you familiar with South Africa when you wrote the script?
I have visited South Africa five times before and Neill is obviously obsessed with South Africa having grown up here, so I've had countless, countless conversations with his take on it. I actually have a bit of a mining background, so I knew a little bit of South Africa from that way as well. But, once I found out that I had this opportunity to write this film, I absolutely threw myself into as much as I could to learn. When we came back, we did the tourist trips to Soweto, but we actually spent a couple of days in Cape Town with the locals. I did a lot of reading and definitely immersed myself in as much of it as I could. But, writing with Neill, it was like he was the best barometer.

Tell me about your mining background in South Africa?
I wasn't a miner in South Africa (laughs), just at one point very early in my life I had a job in the investment bank in mining and so I had to learn about the mines. It was a lifetime ago.

Where did you draw your inspiration from when writing District 9?
My inspiration I would have to say came from … I had to search for a while and what was part of my invention of inventing little CJ, so definitely on that parental relationship, being a mother. I also, for some reason, maybe all children are like this, but when I was little, I was obsessed over stories of oppression. In fact, I even have a play about women who suffer oppression. When I am in Europe, I don't ever go there without going to see a concentration camp. I just can't believe … it's just a very interesting side of humanity to me … so, that was absolutely a natural interest that I'd had that I drew upon in creating Wikus' character. I just got very interested in what exactly gives us the right to humanity … human … sometimes I think we aren't human, we don't behave in a humane way, and would make us human and what would give us the right to be.  I think Neill is a little bit more excited about making science-fiction whereas I think I was more drawn to the political side of the story, which he denies … I wouldn't say political, but more emotional, humanity side of the story.

Were you attracted to the genre, to science fiction? To Orson Welles's War of the Worlds?
That wouldn't have been my choice to write.  It really wouldn't, I have to be honest.

If you had a choice of genre, what would it be?
I hope I have a career of writing in every different genre, but right now I'm writing this - I suppose it is kind of science-fiction/ romantic comedy that is weird, but honestly, at the end of the day, if at my funeral people can say what I have done, it would be children's literature and family entertainment. So it's very ironic that I've just had an R-rated film come out. (laughs)

Why do you think District 9 has been so successful?
We talked a lot, wondering how it would be received all over the world, and we always … my expectations would always be that you would love it or hate it, and that kind of has been the case, although the love is a lot stronger than the hate. There doesn't seem to be any in between reactions at all. It's all love or hate, but I think in going on a press junket across the states and listening to audiences, I think that the biggest thing I've noticed, that we weren't necessarily expecting, is that women, who are not receptive and think they don't like science fiction, are responding to this film. I think that that is helping the box office a lot, that there's an emotional connection. I also have to say that Charlto's performance, the way they interact with him and the way Charlto performs has done a lot to make the film appeal to the non science-fiction lovers.

Do you think it's also partially due to your instinct of including little CJ?
I would like to say that if there's anywhere that I do deserve credit, yes, I do think I've probably made the film more appealing to women, just because in order for me to write it, I mean South Africa is very much Neill, but the film has definitely a lot of me in it. When my mother sat down to watch it and I warned her about the R-rated swearing and that she might not like it, but she agreed that it was so obvious what was Neill and what was me, and I think the parts that are me are definitely what is speaking to the women. I did not have anything to do with the gore or explosions; I'm more the character development, the emotional side of things.

There are a lot of particular South Africanisms in the film, like the word 'prawn' which might be strange to the rest of the world outside South Africa?
I had an interview in Miami and before they interviewed me, they said that they were going to use the word 'prawn', and if that's derogatory, and it would offend me if they would be talking about it, so they're not sure about it, but they seem to like it, because there's the one part in the film - the documentary part - where he says "Well, that's what they look like." So I think that they are actually enjoying that.

Do you like writing as a team, or do you prefer working on your own?
That's an interesting question because when I was writing as a team with Neill, I would have told you that I want to write on my own, 'This is terrible!', but now I am writing on my own - I am nearing completion on a project - and I am miserable, I miss having Neill's input and somebody to take the script away from me for four days and send it back even more brilliant, so I think it is … I can see that perhaps on the next film I would like to collaborate. I think Neill is going to do one on his own and then we'll collaborate again and probably after collaborating I'll say that I want to work alone again. There's definitely benefits to both. 

What are you working on at the moment?
It's an adaptation of a short film called Terminus, which coincidently enough is a director (Trevor Cawood) who has worked with Neill a lot, a good friend of ours. It's an odd piece that has been very well received around the world at festivals about a man who is followed by a cement creature. The feature version of it is a lot more commercially viable, it's more of a dark romantic-comedy/ horror, so we'll see how that goes.

It seems that you are still drawn into the fantasy realm and not getting back to your children's stories?
I mean.. even in my play, the woman time-travels in it, so maybe I am a secret science-fiction lover and just wasn't aware of it. (laughs)

How do you think South Africans will respond to District 9?
Because I am not South African I would never be so presumptuous as to even begin to guess what they would think.

What do you hope they would get out of watching the film?
I hope that they will .. I've been eavesdropping on a lot of interviews and there seems to be a national pride that something is coming out of South Africa that is receiving international credit and appreciation, so I hope that comes out. The one fear that we did have, was … I mean, we wrote this story and at one point, the week before shooting started, the Xenophobic attacks started, and the film is very satyrical, and our only fear was that anybody would think we were making light of that situation.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Actually, I always wanted to be a writer of children's literature, but I sort of almost on whim entered a scholarship competition - ten years ago -  and won a scholarship to film school for screenwriting based on a screenplay that I put together. Even before that, I was bitten by that bug and always loved movies. I think story is my thing.

Where do you think this all started? Your love for movies?
I look back and remember my very first movie was when I was three. It was at a drive-in theatre and my parents thought I was asleep in the back of the car. It was the Poseidon Adventure. I was an only child and they loved movies. There weren't a lot of family around for babysitters, so they would take me to movies I wouldn't have seen otherwise.  Nothing horrible or scary, probably drama and that type of thing. So I was just constantly going to see movies and when I was about 9, I look back at my diary and when most girls would be writing about boys, instead I was doing movie reviews, which really cracks me up. It was obviously always there.

Any final comments?
It is my absolute heartfelt gratitude, I feel so fortunate to have been involved in this film and it's like the world that I was given, is just amazing and yes, it's science-fiction, but no it's Johannesburg; to have that as a jumping off point, is the greatest gift any writer could hope for.

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