Moon inspired Mute to become a graphic novel first

29 May 2011

John Howell

Now that Duncan Jones’ second film Source Code has come and gone, I was curious to hear about what happened to his plans for a Moon follow up (originally called Mute Witness but now called Mute). Apparently Jones is having trouble getting the movie financed for a variety of reasons, one of which is that the main character in the film (as the name suggests) will not speak at all. The film’s budget apparently requires an A-list actor, but because of the non-speaking element it's been difficult to get anyone to sign on the dotted line.

IndieWIRE recently reported Jones’ thoughts on the project:

“I won't belabor the point but Mute is a very difficult sell,” he said. “There’s two main problems with Mute that make it a difficult film to get made: one it’s a science fiction film that doesn’t rely on a particular science fiction conceit or idea. It’s a film noir that just happens to take place in the future. So for film investors it's like, ‘Why are we setting this film in the future? Can’t we just do it ‘now’?’ But it’s like, ‘No, that’s not the point.’ And secondly, and this one I completely understand. When you’re trying to get a film made, especially these days at a budget, and by a budget I mean more than $5 million dollars like we did Moon, you need an actor of a certain level to bring in the financing to make the financiers feel confident the films going to make enough money to make it all back.”

In regards to finding an actor willing to take on such a large non speaking role, he said:

“To find an actor who is willing to put their career on the line, cause they’re doing that every time they do a movie, for a main protagonist who doesn’t talk at all, is difficult understandably.”

Earlier ScreenRant reported that Jones would be releasing the story of Mute as a graphic novel first.

“I can sort of tell you that I’ve been talking to my producer today and we have decided that we’re going to release Mute as a graphic novel,” Jones said. “Because we’ve had so many problems trying to get this film made, you know? The people who are involved with financing films have just been…shy…shy of making the script. So what we decided to do is we’re going to make a graphic novel of it, prove it…prove it to an audience that this works and maybe in the future get the chance to come back and make it.”

Here’s hoping he manages to wrestle his way through Hollywood’s development process and get this one made. Even if it’s not a direct sequel to Moon, something set in the same universe would be potentially compelling.

Mute reportedly is set in a futuristic, Blade Runner style Berlin, and tells the story of a mute bartender who takes to the streets and clashes with the city’s gangsters while searching for his kidnapped girlfriend.

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