Duncan preps Mute

Back before MOON was ever made, director Duncan Jones approached actor Sam Rockwell about a starring role in another script titled MUTE. Rockwell wasn’t interested in playing a villain (the role Jones had offered him) but the actor liked the script so much, they had a few meetings and eventually MOON was born. Now that MOON has become a critical success (with commercial returns still to be determined), Jones will look back to MUTE for his next film.

Though Jones had been attached to the WWII action/thriller ESCAPE FROM THE DEEP, Screen Daily reports that the director will actually begin filming on MUTE in early 2010. The film has a budget of $25 million and he’s already sent the revised script out to a new crop of potential actors (when we spoke to him, he pretty much knew who he wanted to cast but he wouldn’t give up any names).

The film, according to one of the producers, 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.” While that might sound fairly basic, it’s also been described as a futuristic sci-fi/action/thriller with hints of BLADE RUNNER.

I’m always a big fan of director’s working on their passion projects so it’s good to see that MUTE will finally get made. And, wouldn’t you know, it seems that Sam Rockwell may find a small part in the film after all…