CHARACTER STUDY
Rogue Trooper044 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K
TROOPING ON TO THE BIG SCREEN
Director Duncan Jones took a break from leading the
charge to bring Rogue Trooper to the big screen, to speak
with SciFiNow about his comic book heritage...TELL US ABOUT YOUR HISTORY WITH COMICS, AND IN
PARTICULAR 2000AD AND ROGUE TROOPER?
I was never a disciplined comic collector. More of a scavenger,
picking things up when opportunity arose. I had a pretty unusual
upbringing and I travelled a lot growing up, so I would go
through phases of being into American comics and then moving
back to the UK and being obsessive about UK ones such as
Eagle, Tiger, Commando... I don’t remember when I fi rst started
buying 2000AD, but I do remember feeling like my luck was in
when I could get Eagle, 2000AD and Tiger at the same time.WHAT APPEALED TO YOU ABOUT 2000AD IN PARTICULAR?
There was always something punkish and darkly comic (pardon
the pun) about the 2000AD characters. Political and acerbic...
but ALWAYS entertaining. DC and Marvel were very clever in
addressing other things, but for whatever reason, not in a way
that spoke to me so directly.
Eventually though, I started fi nding I was more excited about
the 2000AD characters than the others and they fell away.
I remember loving Slaine and that didn’t start till ‘83. Rogue
Trooper was more of a sleeper. Judge Dredd and Slaine were the
bits I’d always turn to fi rst, but Rogue Trooper just grew on me,
and I started diving back, trying to fi nd old stories I missed. I think
my love of the old Commando comics, and my budding love of all
things sci-fi just made Rogue Trooper hit me at the right time, right
place. The sweet spot for my ‘fi ctionaphilia’.WHAT WAS IT WITH ROGUE THAT RESONATED WITH
YOU? WERE YOU MORE ATTRACTED TO THOSE SINGLE
CHARACTERS IN COMICS, THAN TEAMS OF HEROES?
Ironically Rogue, at least the Rogue I grew up loving was a
team... AND a loner! That was the beauty of the bio-chips. Being
a bit of a classics nerd, I had always read Plato’s ‘division of
the soul’ into the way it was written; a philosopher king being
a balance of one’s mind, one’s heart and one’s appetites... I
had the chance to ask Gerry Finley-Day if that had been the
inspiration for the bio-chips... not in the slightest! Haha! Ahh well.
It made sense and resonated with me!DO YOU READ ANY COMICS THESE DAYS?
I’m actually working on a graphic novel with the incredibly
talented Alex de Campi. It’s a beast of a book, but a story I have
been desperate to tell one way or another since 2012. Very
British. It would have had a good home as a 2000AD series, if I
hadn’t been so gung-ho about doing a giant feckin’ book!DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE COMIC BOOK MOVIE?
I thought the recent Dredd was great. I think Marvel do amazing
work for its fandom. I’m excited to see where DC goes as it fi nds
its tone... I think the Rogue Trooper in my head is my favourite
though. I just hope I can get it out without breaking something!WHEN DID THE IDEA OF LOOKING TO ADAPT ROGUE
TROOPER FIRST COME ABOUT?
I’m embarrassed to say that during fi lm school I actually got a
mohawk, went to visit (2000AD/Rebellion Publishing owner)
Jason Kingsley and asked him for the rights to make a Rogue
Trooper movie! I had never made a fi lm! He wryly asked if I
planned to play the lead and wisely suggested I get a few fi lms
under my belt fi rst.
© Duncan Jones