Duncan Jones | |
|---|---|
 Jones in 2015 | |
| Born | Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones (1971-05-30)30 May 1971 (age 54) |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2002–present |
| Notable work | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Lexi Jones (half-sister) |
Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones (born 30 May 1971) is a British film director, film producer and screenwriter. He directed the filmsMoon (2009),Source Code (2011),Warcraft (2016), andMute (2018). ForMoon, he won theBAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. He is the son of English singer-songwriterDavid Bowie and Cypriot-born American model, actress, and journalistAngie Bowie.
Jones was born atBromley Hospital inBromley,London, on 30 May 1971,[1] the first child of English singer-songwriter and musicianDavid Bowie (1947–2016) and his first wife,Angela "Angie" Bowie (née Barnett), an American model and actress.[2] His maternal grandfather, George, was aUnited States Army veteran and mining engineer who ran a mill for theCyprus Mines Corporation, while his maternal grandmother, Helena, was a naturalisedCanadian. His mother was born and raised inCyprus,[3] and hasPolish ancestry.[4] His birth prompted his father to write "Kooks" for his 1971 albumHunky Dory.[5]
Mostly raised by his father David and his Scottish nanny, Marion Skene,[6] Jones spent time growing up in London, Berlin, andVevey in Switzerland. He attended the first and second grade at theCommonwealth-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.[7] At age 14, he enrolled in the Scottish co-educational boarding schoolGordonstoun.[8] 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 modelIman, where he was the best man.[9] He reverted to his birth name around the age of 18.[10]
Jones is the half-brother ofAlexandria "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 formerNBA basketball playerSpencer Haywood, Iman's second husband.
By 1995, Jones graduated with a bachelor's degree in philosophy from theCollege of Wooster. He then pursued a PhD degree atVanderbilt University in Tennessee, but left before completion to attendLondon Film School, where he then graduated in 2001.[8]
Jones visited the film set ofLabyrinth while his father was filming, and worked for theJim Henson Creature Shop afterwards.[11]
Jones was one of many cameramen at his father's widely televised 50th birthday party directed by EnglishmanTim Pope atMadison Square Garden in 1997 and also at twoBowieNet concerts atRoseland Ballroom in New York City in June 2000. He was also the in-game cinematics director for the political simulatorRepublic: The Revolution, as well as scripting elements of the game.[12]
Jones directed the 2006 campaign for theFrench 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 commentators believed had become tired and overused.[13][14] 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 theAdvertising Standards Authority.[14]
Jones's first feature film,Moon, was nominated for sevenBritish 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.[8] It was also nominated for twoBAFTA Awards at the 2010 ceremony, winning Jones theBAFTA 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 BAFTACarl Foreman Award.
He directed theSummit Entertainment projectSource Code,[15] a science-fiction thriller from Vendome Pictures, which was produced byMark Gordon.Source Code was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 26 July 2011 in the United States.
Jones directed and co-wroteWarcraft, based on thevideo game series of the same name, which was released in the summer of 2016.[16] His next film would return to the science fiction genre and be calledMute, starringAlexander Skarsgård andPaul Rudd. Jones had been developing the project for years and described it as a "spiritual sequel" toMoon, and was inspired byRidley Scott'sBlade Runner.[17] The film, set inBerlin forty years in the future, follows a mute bartender investigating his lover's disappearance.[18] The film was produced and released byNetflix, and became available to stream world-wide in February 2018.[19]
Through his social media, Jones announced in July 2018 thathis next project would be ascience fiction film, based on the2000 AD Comics characterRogue Trooper.[20] In July 2019 he toldEntertainment 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."[21][22]
Jones became engaged to photographer Rodene Ronquillo (b. 1981)[23] on 28 June 2012. They married on 6 November 2012. On the same day, Ronquillo was diagnosed withbreast cancer. The couple have campaigned for the awareness for the disease and for early diagnosis.[24] On 10 July 2016, Ronquillo gave birth to their first child, a son.[25] On 1 October 2017, Jones announced that he and Ronquillo were expecting a second child.[26] Jones announced the birth of their daughter[27] on 18 April 2018.[28]
Short film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Co-producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Whistle | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Feature film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Moon | Yes | Story | No |
| 2011 | Source Code | Yes | No | No |
| 2016 | Warcraft | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2018 | Mute | Yes | Yes | No |
| TBA | Rogue Trooper | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Madi: Once Upon A Time in The Future | Graphic novel Co-written withAlex De Campi |
On 30 May 1971, Bowie's son, Duncan Zowie Jones, was born inBromley Hospital.
