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| Director Duncan Jones (left) and journalist A.D. Amorosi |
Between David and his son Duncan (Jones), you can't keep the Bowie family out of the news. Just three weeks after David Bowie's surprise announcement of his first new album in a decade, The Next Day, came word that Duncan Jones – Zowie Bowie to longtime fans – would direct a live-action film based on the wildly popular video game, World of Warcraft.
Jones (Bowie's real surname) doesn't need his father's blessing or credits to succeed. After a lengthy and lucrative career in British advertising circles, Jones made his directorial and writing debut in 2009 with the gorgeously spare and celestially serene film Moon starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey. Moon and its tale of a lonely astronaut immediately drew comparisons to his dad's own 1969 recording, “Space Oddity”. That's a pretty shortsighted critique though, considering the stark originality of Jones' vision on Moon, doubly imprudent when you take in to consideration his flick, the explosive Source Code (2011) with Jake Gyllenhaal. That time-shifting action adventure with its shock ending proved that Jones could handle big, broad film making with the same invention he gave Moon.
Jones, who is currently in pre-production on an as-yet-unnamed drama based on the real-life adventures of the James Bond series author, Ian Fleming, just got the nod to make Warcraft his next film. The World of Warcraft (WoW) video game is an online sensation in which players from across the globe can access a single match in a battle that's part science fiction and part fantasy. "I'm a problem solver," Jones told me during an interview regarding Source Code, "The more complex the idea the better." That talent should serve him well when tackling WoW's maze of characters including zombies, werewolves, aliens and dragons. Warcraft has an expected $100 million-plus budget and a projected 2015 release date.
Photo ©Scott Weiner 2011
Posted on Friday, February 1. 2013
