Ever since Moon, a lot of people have been very interested in what director Duncan Jones would do. He’s nearly finished Source Code, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Vera Farmiga, and now it’s time to think about what comes next. Many assumed he’d make Mute, the film he was planning around the time he made Moon, but which got put on hold for Source Code, however it now appears that one’s getting put off again, largely because he’s having difficulty getting funding, so he can shoot what Jones describes as his ‘homage to Blade Runner’.
Jones won’t reveal the title of the film or much about the plot, just saying to We Got This Covered “One thing I can tell you about my next project is that I’m determined to do a future city film. I want it to be my homage to Blade Runner, even if it’s a bit bigger, it will be a city based future film.”
Duncan Jones channeling Blade Runner is certainly an interesting proposition, and it’ll be interesting to discover what he meas by that. He still seems keen on Mute thought, even if potential backers aren’t. He says, “Well its in a bit of a limbo actually. Ive always loved the script and felt it was a film worth making, but its a tricky one. Its a sci-fi film, and one of the drafts of the scripts got leaked a while back. The reaction was mixed. Most people didnt get the fact that yes it is sci-fi but its a futurist film. Its a thriller that happens to take place in the future, its not some amazing piece of technology that ya know the world is depending upon and the whole story revolves around some particular piece of technology or some sci-fi hook.
That was the whole idea, to tell a film that can be based in any period, but just HAPPENS to take place in the future. And its been very difficult to basically pitch that in a way where people understand why it needs to be done that way. People just say, why cant it be in a contemporary setting? But no, its about mood and atmosphere as much as anything else. Its also quite dark so its been a tough sell. Also, its not a big film, it has been designed to be sort of a smaller and more independent film. Budget wise, its in between Moon and Source Code.
I just need to get away from it for a while. Ill come back to it one day and hopefully itll work the way I see it working. In the meantime, I have another project that Im very excited about. It will address what people expect from sci-fi films but still does what I want it to do, and still has the heart and energy that Id wanna see in a sci-fi film.”
However there’s no news on when his Blade Runner-y flick might come out. Source Code however hits cinemas in on April 22nd.