'District 9' Director Neill Blomkamp Has A Prosthetic Ear Because Of Halo

Neill Blomkamp, director of blockbuster films such as District 9 and Chappie has a prosthetic ear due to the filming of Halo shorts. In an accident that happened around the era of Halo 3 (2007) the director was in a Warthog when a manoeuvre led to part of his ear being ripped off - ouch.

In an interview with Game Informer, for the lead-up to his new film Demonic, the director recounted the accident that led to his plastic surgery. Though Blomkamp's Halo film that followed the events of the original game was cancelled, he did film a short with Bungie called Landfall which you can still see on YouTube.

Here is the trailer for Neill's latest film, Demonic...

In the interview, Blomkamp says that when he was getting a shot from the back of the vehicle he probably became the only person to ever bleed on a Warthog while in a form of combat, which is a nice silver lining to the ordeal.

"I had to have my right ear re-built with a prosthetic with plastic surgery, it completely destroyed my right ear making these shorts," said the director. "I was physically in the Warthog. There was the read gun on the mound, which was locked in place. Because it was a pin release, you can swivel it on its head. I remember it was locked because we had stunt drivers driving it and I was strapped down in the rear with a camera. And the director of photography was strapped on the other side with his own camera and we were filming pieces of that short film.

"Then the stunt driver hit a bump at really high speed and launched both of us up out of the back of the Warthog. Based on how we hit the bump, I was thrown right into the gun. So the lockdown rotating gun, which is solid steel gear, mind you, and it just offs a piece of my ear. So then the medic on set had to take me out, we finished shooting and that night I had to go get plastic surgery."

I mean, yeah sounds like that would hurt a lot but from the tone of the interview, he still very much loves the games and the projects that he worked on when he was involved with the franchise. The director has since moved onto other work like Demonic, but he also still does experimental shorts (including some that look a little like Halo) that you can watch here.

Topics: Halo, TV and Film