We may have been waiting a while for Duncan Jones to make MUTE since we first heard about it after MOON came out in 2009, but Duncan has been waiting to make MUTE for 13 years.
MUTE was originally planned as Duncan’s first feature but the size of budget required for a first feature was out of reach so Duncan got to work on something smaller in scale but no less ambitious in terms of subject matter and ideas and we got one of the greatest debut features in many years with MOON. MUTE bubbled away in the background as offers started to come in from studios eager to get Duncan on board to direct for them after the success of MOON. So MOON was followed in 2011 by Source Code and this year with the big budget adaptation of Blizzard Entertainment’s MMORPG game World of Warcraft. Warcraft was released in June of this year after nearly three and a half years in production and post production. Mr. Jones was due a break after a gruelling schedule on Warcraft and of course the recent arrival of baby Stenton on July 10th. MUTE still remained in Duncan’s sights all the way through though and it was announced on November 3rd 2015 that MUTE was back on with Paul Rudd and Alexander Skarsgard on board.
At the time of the announcement Duncan said
“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. 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.”
That excitement has not diminished and yesterday Duncan announced via his Twitter account that he is heading to Berlin this week to get settled in ready to begin production.
Can't believe @MUTE_Film is finally happening! Head to Berlin this week. So, so excited!
Decided I'll do a blink & you miss it cameo too.— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) September 12, 2016
He also confirmed that he’ll be reuniting with MOON Director of Photography Gary Shaw.
@Laurie_Rose @MUTE_Film would love to work with you one day! Am a fan! My old muck Gary Shaw from Moon is doing this one with me though!
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) September 12, 2016
Gary is not the only member of the MOON gang to join Duncan for MUTE, as previously announced the brilliant Clint Mansell returns to weave his magic on the soundtrack AND Sam Rockwell returns to possibly reprise his role as Sam Bell…
Further details and cast members are due to be announced soon.
Keep up to date with what’s what by following Duncan on Twitter and the dedicated MUTE account on Twitter.