It wasn’t so long ago, really, when Duncan Jones was a filmmaker people were intently training their eyes on. But since 2009’s excellent Sam Rockwell vehicle Moon and, in 2011, the larger-scale, plenty admirable sci-fi thriller Source Code, efforts have been focused on Warcraft, an adaptation of the popular fantasy video game that, unfortunately, I struggle to muster much enthusiasm for. (Blame this on the quality of most video-game adaptations.) It seems that most of us who enjoyed his earlier work have been waiting for Mute, the story of a mute bartender in a futuristic Berlin searching for his girlfriend, who’s been kidnapped by gangsters.
After putting it on the back-burner (save for a still-pending graphic novel), Jones is not only approaching the material once more, but might even have it before our eyes within the next year. Speaking to Empire, he stated, rather broadly, “there’s a very good chance, if I can squeeze [it in] in these 11 months, that you’ll see the film before you see the graphic novel.” Why that marker? Warcraft will be released in June of next year, leaving him “11 months to sneak in my little indie sci-fi.” A bold claim for what sounds like a high-concept project demanding some financial backing; let’s just hope Jones doesn’t fail, thus living up to the promise of Mute becoming his The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. (Then again…) It’s about as promising as any sci-fi picture currently in development, and the wait for fans of his work has, by now, been more than long enough.
Below, have a look at concept art and a preview of the comic, co-created with Glenn Fabry:
