Moon sequel Mute Witness a homage to Blade Runner
- 01 March 2010
- John Howell
Duncan Jones is the director responsible for one of the standout films of 2009, a well crafted science fiction thriller called Moon. If you're a fan (which I definitely am), you'll be glad to hear that he plans to return to the same universe with a new film called Mute Witness. Jones told SFX magazine that Mute Witness bears some notable similarities:
"It takes place in the same timeline as Moon," Jones said. "In fact, Sam Rockwell's character makes a cameo appearance in the plot. I have asked Sam to reprise the part, and he seems happy about that."
"Like Moon it is a very human story - and one of the big reasons I like SF is because it allows you to do that while offering audiences the chance of escapism," he said.
In Moon, Rockwell plays Sam Bell, caretaker of the Sarang moon base owned by the Lunar Corporation, who investigates some strange occurrences on his watch. Moon explores genetic manipulation, corporate ethics, cloning, and the psychological effects of isolation, with plenty of twists and turns along the way. It also features the voice of Kevin Spacey as Gerty, Sam's robot helper.
He calls the sequel, Mute Witness, his "love letter to Blade Runner" and said that "just like the Ridley Scott movie, Mute is also a thriller, which takes place in the future - although my film is set in Berlin".
He intends to set his sights high, just as he did with Moon, aiming for an intelligent audience, and is determined to avoid the usual dumbing down that occurs with big budget science fiction films.
"When studios make science fiction they invest a lot of money into it," he said. "They also have to make sure that the audience for their films are as big as possible and the way to do that, usually, is to dumb everything down. So the sorts of things that sci-fi fans love are not being made anymore. For example, it's difficult to imagine Blade Runner coming out now. But one of the interesting things that is currently happening is that a lot of special effects are getting cheaper - and as that happens I think you will see more independent films tapping into that and making more engaging and intelligent films. I think it is an interesting time for fantasy cinema and I hope that Mute will show that to people."
Jones revealed to the Suicide Girls website that Rockwell's appearance "will be an epilogue of what happens to Sam Bell when he returns to Earth".
Before his Moon sequel, Jones is working on a science fiction project called Source Code staring Jake Gyllenhall, about a soldier who wakes up in a commuter’s body and has to keep reliving a train bombing until he can work out who is responsible for it.
Both the Moon sequel Mute Witness and Source Code sound promising. The more we see of Duncan Jones' movies the better. If you haven't already watched Moon, be sure to catch it on DVD or blu-ray. It never really received the promotion and attention it deserved.
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