'Moon' Director Takes Cue From Aronofsky's Play Book, Turns Spec Script Into Graphic Novel

In 2005, director Darren Aronofsky pulled a surprising move, releasing his screenplay for "The Fountain" as a graphic novel after Warner Brothers shut down production of the film in 2002.

Many credit the graphic novel as one of the reasons "The Fountain" was eventually, finally filmed. Looking back, it seems oddly prescient, as many studio executives are now more likely to take on a risky story if they can see it's been published as a comic book first.

Aronofsky is trying to same tact with his take on Noah (yes, as in the guy with the Ark), and now, in an interview with Gordon and the Whale, writer/director Duncan Jones (2009's "Moon") reveals his hopes that a comic book version of "Mute" will turn studio heads the same way.

"We've had so many problems trying to get this film made, you know?" he told Gordon (or the Whale), "The people who are involved with financing films have just been...shy...shy of making the script. So what we decided to do is we're going to make a graphic novel of it, prove it...to an audience that this works and maybe in the future get the chance to come back and make it."

Not much is known about the story, other than it's inspired by "Blade Runner" (in that it takes place in a futuristic metropolitan area), and is about a mute bartender who decides to go up against the city's gangster when his partner disappears.

In the meantime, Jones has "Source Code" coming out on April 1st, and hinted at his next project in the same interview.

"You know what a big fan I am of 'Blade Runner,' but there's all this news on the Internet lately about the rights to [it] being bought up. I'm interested in doing a city-based science fiction film. And this is going to do all the geeky things I would want [from one of those kinds of films]."