How Duncan Jones Battled Tech Hurdles and Indie Movie Budgets to Bring His Animated War Movie ‘Rogue Trooper’ to Life

In 2001, Duncan Jones met with Jason and Chris Kingsley, the founders of Rebellion Developments, a successful video game development company based in Oxford, England. Rebellion had recently acquired "2000 A.D.," a British sci-fi comic magazine known for introducing the iconic character Judge Dredd. When Jones presented his idea for an animated movie based on "Rogue Trooper," created by Gerry Finley-Day and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, the Kingsleys initially questioned whether he had any experience in filmmaking.

Jones, now an acclaimed genre filmmaker, had since delivered critically acclaimed films such as "Moon," "Source Code," and "Warcraft." However, during the intervening 20 years, numerous attempts to bring "Rogue Trooper" to the screen had failed, leaving the property and the filmmaker seemingly destined to meet at this crucial juncture.

Jones, a lifelong fan of "2000 AD," appreciated the satirical and acerbic tone of the comic book, which often blended humor with political commentary. He believed that "Rogue Trooper" embodied the elements he was interested in exploring and ultimately became the driving force behind his return to filmmaking after a 20-year hiatus.