He's so war-torn and resigned, he can't talk anymore...
Screendaily.com has reported that Duncan Jones is expecting a budget of around $25 million for his next film: the sci-fi movie, Mute. The film will be a UK-German co-production set in Berlin at a variety of locations, including at Studio Babelsberg..
Describing it as a ?thriller-mystery?, Duncan had this to say regarding the budget for Mute: ?It will definitely be bigger than Moon, probably something up to $25 million.? Not wanting to give too much away, he said: ?Moon is about alienation and isolation. The next one will have a different vibe. It?s not about one actor on their own, it?s an ensemble piece.?
MOON producer Stuart Fenegan of London based Liberty Films was less guarded: ?Mute is about a woman whose disappearance causes a mystery for her partner, a mute bartender. When she disappears, he has to go up against the city?s gangsters.?.
Shooting of Mute is expected to start early next year.
Jones and Fenegan will be hoping to replicate the success of MOON after it scooped the Michael Powell Award for the Best New British Feature at the closing ceremony of the Edinburgh International Film Festival last week. (06.28.2009 NEWS: MOON WINS BEST NEW BRITISH FEATURE FILM AT EIFF)
The pair are pictured above with Sir Sean Connery who presented the award. Fenegan said ?We?re incredibly pleased to have won the Michael Powell award. I?m hoping that it is the first step of recognition from the industry of what we?ve done and what we do next. I hope it highlights an interest in us.?
Speaking of the Edinburgh audience reaction to MOON, Jones said ?It was fantastic, our first screening was back in the UK. We have been to a lot of festivals in the US and we hadn?t had the chance to do anything in the homeland. It?s been an interesting summer for science fiction.?
Meanwhile, Duncan has contributed some great stuff to 7x7.com, from where, this excerpt...
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On the inspiration for Moon, which he co-wrote with newcomer Nathan Parker:
?Quite a few years ago I read Entering Space by the renowned astronautical engineer, Robert Zubrin. Zubrin put forward a wholly scientific and engaging case for why and how humanity should be colonizing our solar system. It was a nuts-and-bolts approach to space exploration, and took into account the fiscal appetites that would make space colonization attractive in our capitalist world.
?The book made a real impression on me. I couldn?t help thinking that that first step into space habitation, a step that would be made for profit rather than purely scientific reasons, was a fascinating conflict of interests. Companies by their very nature would seek to extract the maximum amount of raw materials from any endeavor, for a minimum outlay of costs. That?s just good business. But without any locals, without human rights groups or oversight to keep an eye on things, what might a company try to get away with? What might even the most benign, ?green? corporation be willing to do? What would they do to a lone, blue-collar caretaker on a base on the far side of the moon?
?These are some of the basic ideas that informed the science fiction setting of Moon, but this belies the root of the film: its human element. Moon is about alienation. It?s about how we anthropomorphize technology, it?s about the paranoia that strikes you when you are in a long-distance relationship, and it?s about learning to accept yourself. A lot to take on for a little indie film, but maybe that was the best place to try. It is ?only science fiction,? after all.?
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You can read the full thing here.
