Early reviews of Duncan Jones' Warcraft may already be scathing, but audiences cannot deny that even under incredible odds against him, he managed to get the film done.
The Warcraft movie was already languishing in "development hell" for six years by the time Jones came on board the project in 2012. He revealed in interviews that the project was personal because of his love for the game which the production was based on. It would also turn out to be the last of his films he'd be able to share with his father, David Bowie, who passed away in January.
The movie may be filled with orcs, wizards and warriors but the real monster that plagued Jones behind those scenes was cancer.
First, his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer early on in the production process and had to undergo a double mastectomy. And then Bowie also passed away from cancer, which he managed to keep hidden from the public until his last day.
According to The Daily Beast, Jones shared that he was able to share an early cut of his movie which included some of the effects shots.
“You know, for everyone else he was one person. For me, he was my dad. And he was always interested in things I was working on. So I showed him what I was working on, and he was all excited for me and happy that I was doing the thing that I enjoyed doing in my life,” Jones said.
Bowie was no stranger to the world of cinematic fantasy. He made his first feature film appearances when he was a rising musician. First in a horror film that can still be viewed online, and as an alien who crashes onto earth in The Man Who Fell To Earth. One of his best loved roles was that of the powerful Goblin King in Jim Henson's Labyrinth.
The critics may say what they want, but it is clear that Jones, whose previous directorial credits include Moon and Source Code, managed to pull through incredible personal emotional strife in order to deliver his biggest production to date.
“It’s been a hard three years, so it’s been a difficult time. But I'm proud of what we've done,” Jones said.
Warcraft will open in theaters across the U.S. on June 10.
