It's a pretty safe bet that nobody named Sharlto ever became a movie star. Sharlto Copley never planned to be the first. The 29-year-old South African didn't even know he auditioned for the lead role in his lifelong friend Neill Blomkamp's stunning sci-fi allegory, District 9.

The movie, its creator and star have seemingly emerged from nowhere over the past two weeks. Copley even made the cover of this week's Entertainment Weekly, an honor usually reserved for the Pitts, Cruises and Twilight stars of Hollywood.

I suggested to Copley during a telephone interview that he's probably the least-known person to ever grace the cover of EW. The guy Blomkamp compares to Sacha Baron Cohen for his improv and wit burst into long, hearty laughter.

"I love that!," he said after catching his breath. "One reporter said: 'So, you're an
accidental actor that almost becomes a hero in this movie,' which I
just loved. I told him: 'I'm going to steal your line, dude.

"Now you've just given me another
one: 'You're the least-famous person I've ever known to make the cover
of Entertainment Weekly.' That's awesome."

Over the next few minutes, Copley discussed his friendship with Blomkamp and how he was tricked into playing Wikus Van De Merwe, a bureaucrat assigned to evict 2 million aliens from a Johannesburg ghetto. District 9 is inspired by the friends' early exposure to apartheid but resonates with discrimination in any era or place.

So, you and Neill were friends through childhood?

Basically that's true, although he left (for Canada) when he was 17, so we didn't have too many years together in South Africa. Probably about three years or so. We kept in touch -- and I'm going back a long time now -- by sending faxes: 'How's it going?' Then e-mails, then Neill would generally come to South Africa about once a year, and I went out to Canada once or twice."

You produced Neill's short film, Alive in Joburg that expanded to District 9, but how did you get the role of Wikus?

It was a very strange experience because Neill actually shot a short test with me without telling me exactly what it was for. He told me in the beginning: 'I just want to explore an idea for a character in the film. Why don't you play him for right now.' That was the context, so I thought at some time some A-list actor would get involved, and I would be involved behind the scenes, what I usually do.

So, I jumped on-camera and did this character, basically improvised for a couple hours. When Neill edited that together, he basically thought I should be the guy. He showed the footage to (producer) Peter (Jackson), and started writing the script with Terri (Tatchell), with me in mind but they weren't telling me. They didn't tell me for months.

Why do you think Neill held back?

I recently asked him: 'Dude, what was going on? Why didn't you tell me?' He said he was concerned that it wouldn't get through the Hollywood system; his thing about wanting to improvise all the dialogue and wanting an unknown guy to do that. It seemed like such a longshot. In the end, Peter just said go for it.

But you'd never acted before. How did you know how to create the Wikus character?

I'm now having to try and understand all this, so I can answer the question: (in a stuffy actor's voice) 'As an actor, my process is...' But I don't have that yet. What I always did in my life -- and what Neill spotted, I guess -- is I've always done characters. If you visited me at my office at any time, I would be a particular character that I would switch off and on for a month or two. Just messing around with my staff; comedic stuff, massive pranks, just to be drastically different.

You've produced, written and directed (the unreleased Spoon), done visual effects effects and now acting. I imagine District 9 has people from Hollywood chasing you.

Oh, they are.

For which talent?

It's sort of everything right but but (acting) is the big ticket for everybody. That's where things are just flying in quickly, the offers piling up. It's crazy.

Wikus looks nerdy but you're a good-looking guy. Would you want to be a leading man?

I definitely wouldn't. I'm a character actor. I'm not interested in that sort of role. I do voices, and I want to do characters that I can really get into. That's what I feel natural doing.