Kubrick had his “Napoleon” opus, Jodorowsky couldn’t conquer "Dune," Orson Welles couldn’t venture into “Heart of Darkness” and Terry Gilliam is still tilting at windmills in his hopes to mount “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” (which he may or may not make next year). Almost every filmmaker of repute has a passion project he couldn’t get off the ground (here’s a recent feature The 25 Greatest Movies Never Made).
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. But he might take one more kick at the can.
Recently Jones tweeted, “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.” Obviously he’s referencing Gilliam’s still-unmade project as well. Will it get made? We’ll see, but fans of that screenplay will be happy to hear he’s still considering the project.
In other related auteur news… Derek Cianfrance’s "The Light Between Oceans" starring Michael Fassbender and Rachel Weisz will start shooting in late September.
The directors of the fifth season of “Game of Thrones” have been announced. Sadly, for all those that love Neil Marshall’s epic warring penultimate episodes, he won’t be coming back. Though fans of Neil Marshall, take note, that may mean he’s got a feature in the wings to contend with. Longtime series director Alex Graves is also taking the year off. Instead, fans of the HBO show will get Michael Slovis (“Breaking Bad”), Mark Mylod (“Shameless”), Jeremy Podeswa (“Boardwalk Empire”) and Miguel Sapochnik (“Fringe”).
Meanwhile, "Miss Violence" writer-director Alexandros Avranas will re-team with producer Faliro House Productions and actors Eleni Roussinou and Christos Loulis on his next film, another Greek-language thriller.
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.
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) July 15, 2014
