To say that Mute, the fourth feature film from Duncan Jones, has been a long time coming may read as something of a colossal understatement.
Though he’s been busy launching Moon, Source Code and the big-screen adaptation of Warcraft, Jones’ work on the sci-fi oddity dates back to 2003, when he initially approached Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) about playing mute bartender Leo – a role that would later go to Alexander Skarsgård.
Fast forward to 2018, and all of the pieces have ostensibly fallen into place for what is undoubtedly a passion project for Duncan Jones. It’s a visual delight, too, as the newly-unveiled teaser trailer shows Skarsgård’s silent protagonist walk the streets of a near-future Berlin.
Whisking viewers off to the year 2052, Mute chronicles the story of Skarsgård’s Leo, who gets caught up in the city’s seedy underworld when his girlfriend, Naadirah (Seyneb Saleh), is abducted by a gang of crooks. And so begins a journey into Berlin’s underbelly as Leo encounters a loud-mouthed surgeon named Cactus Jack (Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s Paul Rudd) and another equally mysterious man who goes by the name Duck Teddington (Justin Theroux).
It’s also said to be set in the same universe as Moon, Duncan Jones’ phenomenal directorial debut. So don’t be too surprised if the long-lost Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) crops up via some form of cameo appearance.
With Altered Carbon set to premiere later this week and Mute on course for February 23rd, it’s shaping up to be a huge four weeks for science fiction enthusiasts and Netflix subscribers, in general.