During his meteoric ascent through the filmmaking ranks, Duncan Jones has had one itch that he’s still to scratch. Mute, a small noir sci-fi that was shaping up to be the director’s homage to his beloved Blade Runner, slipped away as he shifted gears from Moon to Source Code and now onto Warcraft. Well, it’s slipped right back again. Talking exclusively to Empire at Legendary’s Comic-Con preview night, Jones revealed that Mute is back on the agenda.
“Dark Horse and Glenn Fabry and myself have been working on the graphic novel for [Mute] for years now – literally years – and 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.”
That period, of course, represents the gap between Warcraft being locked (and it’s only a few effects shots away now) and its release in June 2016. It’s a hiatus that promises Jones the chance to return to a passion project set in a future Berlin. “It’s 11 months to sneak in my little indie sci-fi before Warcraft comes out,” as he put it. “I got Moon done in 11 months.”
Back when it first surfaced, Jones and co-writer Mike Johnson’s story revolved around a mute bartender who finds himself lifted while out searching for his missing girlfriend. The villains were a pair of comedians. How much, if at all, it’s changed in the interim remains to be seen.
Back in late 2009, Jones’ production company Liberty Films shared this piece of early concept art showing an intriguing future cityscape replete with hover cars and ominous-looking heavies. Since then, those Hollywood projects have kept his dancecard full. This could be Mute’s moment.