While it’s true one can’t always base a director’s career solely on his past achievements, there are some assumptions to be made. Following such imaginative and well-crated sci-fi films such as 2009’s Moon and 2011’s Source Code, director Duncan Jones certainly seemed destined for a big budget hullaballoo. So, it’s no surprise that Legendary and Universal’s upcoming video game adaptation Warcraft is taking precedence, and Jones is forced to end his attachment to the biopic Fleming, about Ian Fleming, the famed creator of world-famous superspy James Bond. It’s a shame, as I was kind of hoping he’d add some weird sci-fi twist to the man’s life.
It wasn’t for Jones’ lack of want in helming the feature, but scheduling problems became overwhelming, and no one involved with Fleming was willing to wait. Warcraft is scheduled to go into production in January, and the post-production process will probably take him through the end of the year. It isn’t scheduled to come out until December of 2015, which would conceivably leave part of the year open to get the Fleming project, but producers aren’t willing to let that much time pass. That’s best, as Duncan’s imagination is more geared towards fantasy than biopic, though I hope he returns to the small-budget world after this.
TheWrap reports the hunt is now on for another director willing to tackle Fleming, which is based on the biography of the same name by Andrew Lycett. The story will follow the author’s past as an international spy, which obviously inspired the fourteen novels he wrote about the smoothest and most gadget-friendly mofo in the world. It seems ridiculously unlikely that recent Bond film director Sam Mendes would step in, but that would make for a really interesting parallel with the series itself. The BBC also has a four-part miniseries coming out about the esteemed author and spy next winter. You can see a teaser below.
Speaking recently from Blizzcon, Jones assuaged some fears of the fans of the MMORPG World of Warcraft, stating his film will focus on both the Alliance and the Horde, rather than either/or. As well, he said they’ll be using a lot of motion-capture and will push the envelope for what kind of violence a PG-13 film can get away with.
Below is a trailer for the upcoming WOW expansion Knights of Draenor, which is certain to keep fans interested until Jones’ film comes out.
