Netflix has added another jewel to its crown of high-profile original feature films. While the streaming empire built its foundation largely on original TV series, Netflix has begun diving into films as well. Last year saw the release of True Detective director Cary Fukunaga’s African war drama Beasts of No Nation, starring Idris Elba. They also have projects on the horizon from folks like Brad Pitt and Christopher Guest. Now you can add Moon/Source Code director Duncan Jones to the list.
During an appearance on the Empire Podcast, actor Alexander Skarsgard revealed that Netfix will release and distribute Duncan Jones’ new sci-fi noir flick Mute. Skarsgard told Empire he expects Netflix will follow the same template they did with Beasts, “where they do a theatrical simultaneously to a Netflix release.” The film, which stars Skarsgard alongside Sam Rockwell and Paul Rudd, is currently filming in Berlin.
Skarsgard stars as Leo Beiler, a mute bartender living and working in a dystopian Berlin several decades in the future. Skarsgard told Empire, “It’s about a guy who was in an accident as a kid. He’s ex-Amish, so he lives a very monastic life: he doesn’t have a cellphone or anything like that. He’s left the [Amish] community but he still kinda follows the rules.” The story of Mute follows Beiler’s search for his girlfriend, who has gone missing. His search eventually leads him to Rudd’s character, an American surgeon who may hold the key to solving the mystery.
Another fascinating element of Mute: it takes place in the same universe as Duncan Jones’ breakout cult sci-fi hit Moon, which also starred Sam Rockwell. Even more intriguing, Mute will reportedly touch on the events of Moon — it takes place a decade or so after it — and will even set up a planned third connected film as well. Sounds like Duncan Jones is carving out his own little sci-fi cinematic universe, and that sounds grand to us.
