For now, Duncan Jones is still locked into marketing and pr, to say nothing of post-production, on the anticipated Warcraft adaptation, but such a talented young director has to keep busy to remain in the game. Luckily, Jones' next project will be a film he's been wanting to make for quite some time now, namely Mute, a sci-fi thriller set in Berlin, Germany. Jake Gyllenhaal was originally cast in the project, following his collaboration with Jones on the quite excellent Source Code, but the mantle of lead actor has been passed off to Alexander Skarsgard, who just recently wrapped work on David Yates' take on Tarzan. Joining him will be Paul Rudd, Ant-Man himself, who is set to play one of a pair of surgeons that Skarsgard's character, Leo, keeps bumping into along his journey through the futuristic underworld.
Here's the official synopsis from the press release:
Berlin. Forty years from today. A roiling city of immigrants, where East crashes against West in a science-fiction Casablanca. Leo Beiler (Skarsgard), a mute bartender has one reason and one reason only for living here, and she’s disappeared. But when Leo’s search takes him deeper into the city’s underbelly, an odd pair of American surgeons (led by Rudd) seem to be the only recurring clue, and Leo can’t tell if they can help, or who he should fear most.
There's plenty to be excited about with the Warcraft film, but to see Jones return to small science fiction, where he made his name, is thrilling, all the more so considering that the film has been on the director's brain for well over a decade at this point. Written by the filmmaker and Mike Johnson, Mute sounds like his most ideologically ambitious film to date, though the scope of Warcraft certainly gives it a run for its money. Here's what Jones had to say about the news:
“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."
