Duncan Jones

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Duncan Jones
Jones at the Tribeca Film Festival for the premiere of his film Moon, April 30, 2009
Born	Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones 30 May 1971 (1971-05-30) (age 38) Beckenham, Kent, England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Occupation	Film director
Years active	2002–present

Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones (born 30 May 1971), also known as Zowie Bowie or Joey Bowie, is an English film director, best known for directing the 2009 film Moon. He is the son of legendary rock star David Bowie.

Contents 1 Childhood and family life 2 College and career choice 3 FCUK - Fashion vs Style 4 Filmography and Awards 5 Current projects 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Childhood and family life

Duncan is the only child from the marriage of David Bowie (legal name David Robert Jones) and his first wife, the former Mary Angela Barnett. He was born at Beckenham Hospital in Kent. His son's birth prompted Bowie to write the song "Kooks" for his 1971 album Hunky Dory. Duncan Jones is the half-brother of Alexandria "Lexi" Jones (born 2000), from his father's second marriage to the fashion model Iman, and Stacia Larranna Celeste Lipka (born 1980), from his mother's relationship with musician Drew Blood (né Andrew Lipka). He also has a stepsister, Zulekha Haywood (born 1978), who is the daughter of Iman and former NBA basketball player Spencer Haywood, Iman's first husband.

As a child, Jones spent time growing up in Berlin, London, and Vevey, Switzerland where he attended the first and second grade at the Commonwealth American School. When David and Angela divorced in February 1980, David Bowie was granted custody of 9-year-old Jones (who was then known as Zowie), and he visited his mother on his school vacations. At age 14, he enrolled in the prestigious Scottish boarding school, Gordonstoun. As a child, he harboured dreams of someday becoming a professional wrestler, and his father often remarked that he possessed great "natural strength."^[1].

Around age 12, Zowie decided that he preferred to be called "Joey", and used this nickname for some time until shortening it to "Joe" in his later teen years. His father has been quoted as saying, "If, when he gets old enough to care about his name, he doesn't like it, he can always change it or give himself a nickname. It's OK by me."^[2] The press reported that he went by "Joe" in 1992 when attending his father's wedding to Iman (he was the best man). Duncan arrived with his then-girlfriend Jennifer Ichida.^[3]

According to the New York Times, he reverted to his birth name, Duncan Jones, around the age of 18.^[4]

[edit] College and career choice

By 1995, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the College of Wooster, where he was registered under the name "Duncan Jones".

He then pursued a PhD degree at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee but left before completion to attend London Film School, where he graduated as a director.

He was one of many cameramen at his father's widely-televised 50th birthday party directed by Englishman Tim Pope at Madison Square Garden and also at two BowieNet concerts at Roseland Ballroom in New York City in June 2000.

[edit] FCUK - Fashion vs Style

Duncan 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.^[5][6]

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 reportedly generated 127 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, but the complaints did not lead to any action.^[6]

[edit] Filmography and Awards

Jones' first feature film, Moon, was nominated for 7 British Independent film awards and walked away with 2, both going to Jones. It has also been nominated for 2 BAFTA Awards at the 2010 ceremony. There has also been 19 others nominations and wins for the film, from film festivals and societies.

Year	Film	Notes
2002	Whistle	Short film
2009	Moon	British Independent Film Award for Best Film British Independent Film Award The Douglas Hickox Award Athens International Film Festival; Golden Athena Award Dinard British Film Festival; Silver Hitchcock Edinburgh International Film Festival Best New British Feature Espoo Ciné International Film Festival; Best Film National Board of Review, USA; Spotlight Award Nominated: BAFTA Award for Best British Film Nominated: BAFTA Carl Foreman Award Nominated: British Independent Film Award for Best Director Nominated: Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Most Promising Filmmaker Nominated: London Critics Circle Film Awards Breakthrough British Filmmaker Nominated: London Critics Circle Film Awards Best Director
2011	Source Code	In Pre-Production
TBA	Mute	In Development
TBA	Escape from the Deep

[edit] Current projects

Jones recently directed his debut feature film, Moon. Produced by Liberty Films (UK), the film was shot in the UK between January and March 2008. It is a sci-fi thriller starring Sam Rockwell.

Moon recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was purchased for distribution in the United States by Sony Picture Classics. Sony Classics released the film on 12 June 2009 in the US. The film's British premiere was held on 20 June 2009 at the Cameo Cinema in Edinburgh as part of the 63rd Edinburgh International Film Festival. Jones was present at the screening along with other key crew members.

Moon was screened at the NASA Space Center in Houston at the request of a professor there. The screening was part of a lecture series. "He'd been reading online that we'd done this film about Helium-3 mining and that's something that people at NASA are working on," says Jones.^[7] "We did a Q&A afterward. They asked me why the base looked so sturdy, like a bunker, and not like the kind of stuff they are designing that they are going to transport with them. I said 'Well, in the future I assume you won't want to continue carrying everything with you, you'll want to use the resources on the moon to build things' and a woman in the audience raised her hand and said, 'I'm actually working on something called Mooncrete, which is concrete that mixes lunar regolith and ice water from the moon's polar caps.'"

Jones is currently planning a follow up film, which will serve as an epilogue to Moon. "Sam has agreed to do a little cameo in the next film," says Jones,^[7] who ultimately hopes to do three films in the Moon series.

It was recently announced that he will direct the feature film adaptation of Escape from the Deep: The Epic Story of a Legendary Submarine and Her Courageous Crew by Alex Kershaw.^[8]

Jones also revealed that he will be doing "another science fiction film, called Mute, which takes place in a future Berlin. It's a Blade Runner-inspired piece, a little love letter to that film."^[9]

He will direct Summit Entertainment project Source Code^[10], a Science-Fiction thriller from Vendome Pictures, which will be produced by Mark Gordon. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal is in negotiations to play a major role in the film.^[11]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Duncan Jones at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
NAME	Jones, Duncan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	British film director
DATE OF BIRTH	1971-5-30
PLACE OF BIRTH	Beckenham, Kent, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH

v • d • e Duncan Jones Feature Films Moon (2009) · Source Code (2011) · Mute (TBA) · Escape from the Deep (TBA) Short Films Whistle (2002) Other Work French Connection; Fashion vs Style (2006)