'Attack The Block' Aliens 'Unlike Anything You've Seen'

Director Joe Cornish tells MTV News that 'Starship Troopers' and 'Gremlins' provided unlikely inspiration for alien-invasion flick.
By Kara Warner, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

"Attack The Block"
Photo: Studio Canal

Although there are some big Hollywood names among this weekend's new releases "Cowboys & Aliens" and "Crazy, Stupid, Love.," there is an equally intriguing, if slightly lesser-known film hitting select theaters called "Attack the Block."

What sets "Block" apart from all of the others is that it was shot on a small budget and features a cast of mostly unknown actors. MTV News recently caught up with first-time feature director Joe Cornish to find out how he accomplished so much with so little, and why he thinks his alien-invasion action movie is the best of the summer.

"You're right to observe that this movie cost probably the amount that one of Bruce Willis' shoes cost," Cornish joked when asked about the challenges of working on a limited film budget. "Like I say, that was something that excited me; I wanted to do ambitious stuff in an inventive way."

Cornish explained that he and his crew took a unique approach to their aliens, drawing inspiration from a couple of unexpected cult favorites like "Starship Troopers" and "Gremlins."

"We have an alien design we're proud of. It's unusual. It's very different. It's unlike anything you've seen before," he promised. "I like when movies withhold the monster, but I also like — 'Starship Troopers' is one of my favorite films, and there comes a point in that movie or in 'Gremlins,' where they just show the monster and it becomes about quantity," he said. "We designed our monster in such a way that we could do that. So we don't hide it for the whole movie, we expose it and you see them in numbers and in force."

Newcomer actor John Boyega said the film is a thrill ride full of unexpected surprises ... and warm hugs?

"We were put at ease by [co-star] Nick Frost's constant hugs and his words of advice and Joe Cornish's enthusiasm on set," Boyega said. "It was great to work on that project, it was a great experience," he added. "It just felt like a fun ride."

Check out everything we've got on "Attack the Block."

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Ali Campoverdi