Duncan Jones

Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones (born 30 May 1971) is a British film director, film producer and screenwriter. He directed the films Moon (2009), Source Code (2011), Warcraft (2016), and Mute (2018). For Moon, he won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. He is the son of English singer-songwriter David Bowie and Cypriot-born American model, actress, and journalist Angie Bowie.

Early life

Jones was born at Bromley Hospital in Bromley, London, on 30 May 1971,<ref name="buckley">Template:Cite book</ref> the first child of English singer-songwriter and musician David Bowie (1947–2016) and his first wife, Angela "Angie" Bowie (née Barnett), an American model and actress.<ref>ANGIE BOWIE – BIOGRAPHY Template:Webarchive. angiebowie.net</ref> His maternal grandfather, George, was a United States Army veteran and mining engineer who ran a mill for the Cyprus Mines Corporation, while his maternal grandmother, Helena, was a naturalised Canadian. His mother was born and raised in Cyprus,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and has Polish ancestry.<ref name=backstage>Bowie, Angela. Backstage Passes, pp. 29–30</ref> His birth prompted his father to write "Kooks" for his 1971 album Hunky Dory.<ref name="Any Day Now p.218">Kevin Cann (2010). Any Day Now – David Bowie: The London Years: 1947–1974: p. 218</ref>

Mostly raised by his father David and his Scottish nanny, Marion Skene,<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> Jones spent time growing up in London, Berlin, and Vevey in Switzerland. He attended the first and second grade at the Commonwealth-American School in Lausanne. When his parents divorced in February 1980, his father was granted custody of eight-year-old Jones (who was then known as "Zowie Bowie" to rhyme with his father's stage name) and he visited his mother on school holidays until ending contact with her at age 13.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At age 14, he enrolled in the Scottish co-educational boarding school Gordonstoun.<ref name="Profile"/> At the age of 12, he decided that he preferred to be called "Joey", and used this nickname until shortening it to "Joe" in his later teen years. The press reported that he went by "Joe" in 1992 when attending his father's wedding to fashion model Iman, where he was the best man.<ref name=hello>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He reverted to his birth name around the age of 18.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Jones is the half-brother of Alexandria "Lexi" Jones (born 2000), the daughter of his father and his father's second wife, Iman. He is also the half-brother of Stacia Larranna Celeste Lipka (born 1980) from his mother's relationship with musician Andrew Lipka, better known as Drew Blood. He has a stepsister, Zulekha Haywood (born 1978), who is the daughter of Iman and former NBA basketball player Spencer Haywood, Iman's second husband.

By 1995, Jones graduated with a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the College of Wooster. He then pursued a PhD degree at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, but left before completion to attend London Film School, where he then graduated in 2001.<ref name="Profile">"Duncan Jones: Creating his own space odyssey".. The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2016</ref>

Career

File:Duncan Jones and David Bowie at the premiere of Moon.jpg

Jones with his father at the premiere of Moon in 2009

Jones visited the film set of Labyrinth while his father was filming, and worked for the Jim Henson Creature Shop afterwards. <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Jones was one of many cameramen at his father's widely televised 50th birthday party directed by Englishman Tim Pope at Madison Square Garden in 1997 and also at two BowieNet concerts at Roseland Ballroom in New York City in June 2000. He was also the in-game cinematics director for the political simulator Republic: The Revolution, as well as scripting elements of the game.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Jones directed the 2006 campaign for the French Connection fashion label. The concept of 'Fashion vs Style' was to re-invigorate the brand and move it away from the former incarnation of FCUK, which style pundits believed had become tired and overused.<ref name=fcukoff>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=byebeattie>Template:Cite news</ref> The advert debuted in the week ending 20 February 2006 and featured two women (representing fashion and style) fighting and briefly kissing each other. The advertisement generated 127 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority.<ref name=byebeattie />

Jones's first feature film, Moon, was nominated for seven British Independent Film Awards in 2009, and won two, Best British Independent Film, and the Douglas Hickox Award for Best British Director on their debut feature.<ref name="Profile"/> It was also nominated for two BAFTA Awards at the 2010 ceremony, winning Jones the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. The film has received 19 other nominations from film festivals and societies, including the BAFTA Carl Foreman Award.

He directed the Summit Entertainment project Source Code,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> a science-fiction thriller from Vendome Pictures, which was produced by Mark Gordon. Source Code was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 26Template:NbspJuly 2011 in the United States.

Jones directed and co-wrote Warcraft, based on the video game series of the same name, which was released in the summer of 2016.<ref name="The Hollywood Reporter">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His next film would return to the science fiction genre and be called Mute, starring Alexander Skarsgård and Paul Rudd. Jones had been developing the project for years and described it as a "spiritual sequel" to Moon, and was inspired by Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.<ref>"Duncan Jones Talks Mute". Empire. Retrieved 14 January 2016</ref> The film, set in Berlin forty years in the future, follows a mute bartender investigating his lover's disappearance.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The film was produced and released by Netflix, and became available to stream world-wide in February 2018.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Through his social media, Jones announced in July 2018 that his next project would be a science fiction film, based on the 2000 AD Comics character Rogue Trooper.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In July 2019 he told Entertainment Weekly, "The script is really looking pretty good now. It's getting to the point where we're going to have to start casting and making the thing."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Jones became engaged to photographer Rodene Ronquillo (b. 1981)<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 7272888

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Filmography

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Co-producer
2002	Whistle	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes

Feature film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer
2009	Moon	Template:Yes	Template:Partial	Template:No
2011	Source Code	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2016	Warcraft	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
2018	Mute	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
2025	Rogue Trooper	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes

Bibliography

Year	Title	Notes
2020	Madi: Once Upon A Time in The Future	Graphic novel Co-written with Alex De Campi

Awards and nominations

Year	Title	Award/Nomination
2009	Moon	BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer BIFA Douglas Hickox Award Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Gold Fantastic'Arts Jury Prize Fantastic'Arts Special Prize Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form London Film Critics Circle Award for Breakthrough British Filmmaker NBR Award for Best Directorial Debut Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best First Feature-Length Film Screenplay Nominated—British Independent Film Award for Best Director Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Filmmaker Nominated—Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Director
2011	Source Code	Nominated—Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation Nominated—Ray Bradbury Award

External links

• Duncan Jones at Blusky

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