Audiences will meet a new cinematic robot named “Chappie” March 6th as the latest film from director Neill Blomkamp (“District 9”) heads to theaters. In addition to being big-screen entertainment with its story of a robot given the ability to learn and grow up in the human world, the film lends itself to plenty of conversation over our fascination with the pros and cons of the future of Artificial Intelligence. So FOX411 brought this discussion to the cast. Actress Sigourney Weaver shares her thoughts on AI, the future of robotics, whether she’s someone who embraces all the latest technological advancements and wants the next new thing. Plus we talk about her Sci-Fi expertise and her first real fan experience at Comic-Con.
FOX411: We’ve had this fascination with exploring the pros and cons of the future of Artificial Intelligence in cinema or otherwise. Is it something that interests you?
Sigourney Weaver: Yes. I'm waiting, I'm impatient. I went to the Microsoft home of the future and so much of it has technological assistance to people for things we really need. Robots I think, are part of that and I think if they’re programmed by humane people, they can be very useful to us and I don't think there's any reason for us to be afraid of them.
FOX411: So is this something that you see as feasible?
Weaver: I think it's going to happen in about five minutes. And as long as your robot isn't programmed by like Dr. Evil, I think you're going to be fine.
FOX411: In general, are you someone who embraces all the advancements in technology, gadgets, do you want the next new thing?
Weaver: No, I don't want the latest new thing because I feel like it's got problems. I'll wait until they work it out. So I also keep things for a long time. I have a car I've had for years and years. Everything I have I keep for years and years. So I might want a used robot.
FOX411: As you have expertise in Sci-Fi films, what have you learned firsthand about this fan-base, how passionate they are, the questions they ask, how they get immersed in these worlds?
Weaver: It's interesting that you say that because I hadn't actually been to a Comic Con or anything in person, meeting the fans and everything, until this past year. It was really quite exciting and moving to meet all these different families who’d all seen these various movies and they're so passionate about them and I really, I knew we had a passionate fan base for these movies, but I didn't realize quite how powerful they are within our society.
So I think it's great that Neill particularly makes these Sci-Fi films which are very entertaining, thrilling, but they’re really about something. They’re about issues that we really do all need to talk about. “District 9” set in the future was actually about discrimination and all these other things, haves and have nots, so was “Elysium”. And “Chappie” is about you know, nature versus nurture, and all these other things, and here you have this robot ending up being the most compassionate of everyone in the movie. So it’s good, it’s going to start a lot of interesting dialogue.
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