Duncan Jones Says He May Try To Make His Passion Project ‘Mute’ After ‘Warcraft’
Duncan Jones, the filmmaker behind the underrated sci-fi pic “Moon,” “Source Code,” and the upcoming adaptation of the “World Of Warcraft” video game (now just titled “Warcraft”), has one too. Following the Sundance success of “Moon,” Jones tried to mount a “Blade Runner”-ish sci-fi project set in Berlin called “Mute.” But the movie, at the end of the day, was really more of a thriller and mystery in a Hitchock-ian vein with a futuristic milieu to it (the script leaked online ages ago). The story centered on a mute bartender who took to the streets and clashed with the city’s gangsters while searching for his kidnapped girlfriend (it was also said it would inhabit the same universe from “Moon” with a possible cameo from Sam Rockwell).
Of course, because the lead character couldn’t utter a word, other than writing things down, financiers eventually shied away from the movie because even a big star (which the film would most certainly need) wouldn’t be speaking in the movie. Jones has considered the movie every step of the way, but has described it as “being in limbo” often. In fact, one of the last major updates on the film in early 2011 was that Jones was considering making it a graphic novel first (an idea that helped Darren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain” and “Noah” get made) or even an animated cartoon.
Thinking about what film I want to try and do after Warcraft. May give Mute one more push before I put it on the "Don Quixote" shelf.
Alexander Skarsgard, Paul Rudd board Duncan Jones’ ‘Mute’
The film is set in Berlin, forty years from today. A roiling city of immigrants, where East crashes against West in a science-fiction Casablanca. Leo Beiler (Skarsgard), a mute bartender has one reason and one reason only for living here, and she’s disappeared. But when Leo’s search takes him deeper into the city’s underbelly, an odd pair of American surgeons (led by Rudd) seem to be the only recurring clue, and Leo can’t tell if they can help, or who he should fear most.
“I’ve been working towards making Mute for 12 years now. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am that we’re finally going to shoot this utterly unique film,” said Duncan Jones. “The fact that I get to make it with Alexander Skarsgard and Paul Rudd makes it all the more exciting! Mute is a film that will last. It is unlike any other science fiction being made today.”
nolannolanchrischris wrote:Alexander Skarsgard, Paul Rudd board Duncan Jones’ ‘Mute’
The film is set in Berlin, forty years from today. A roiling city of immigrants, where East crashes against West in a science-fiction Casablanca. Leo Beiler (Skarsgard), a mute bartender has one reason and one reason only for living here, and she’s disappeared. But when Leo’s search takes him deeper into the city’s underbelly, an odd pair of American surgeons (led by Rudd) seem to be the only recurring clue, and Leo can’t tell if they can help, or who he should fear most.
“I’ve been working towards making Mute for 12 years now. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am that we’re finally going to shoot this utterly unique film,” said Duncan Jones. “The fact that I get to make it with Alexander Skarsgard and Paul Rudd makes it all the more exciting! Mute is a film that will last. It is unlike any other science fiction being made today.”
