Known as "Zowie"until his teen years, Duncan Jones had a front-row seat to the rock and
roll lifestyle of his father, David Bowie.
After a brief struggle to find his own creative path, Jones finally stepped out of the shadow
of Bowie’s legacy in 2009, when his debut feature Moon opened to widespread critical
acclaim.
That, however, is only just scratching the surface of this surprisingly private and down-to-earth
man.
Here are a few things you may not know about him.
He's a huge gamer
Hollywood's track record with movies based on video games has always been a little less
than stellar, but when Duncan Jones stepped up to helm Blizzard's Warcraft movie, he was
determined to break that curse.
Fans were hopeful not least due to Jones’ own love of video games.
In the past, he’s lent his voice to The Bard's Tale, Wing Commander, Warcraft itself,
and even the relatively obscure Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
Addressing Hollywood’s inability to produce great video game movies, Jones told PC Gamer,
"Source material is not what stops a movie being good it's what you do with it.”
Unfortunately, Warcraft failed to garner the critical acclaim Jones had enjoyed with Moon.
To this day, the curse remains unbroken.
His sudden wedding
In 2012, Jones announced his engagement to Rodene Ronquillo.
Their wedding plans were sped up, however, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer
shortly after.
They married the same day as the diagnosis.
Jones tweeted,
"We were a little overwhelmed by the news: cancer & Election Day, so we decided to make
it a set, ran down to the courthouse & got married."
The Twitterverse responded with an outpouring of support, and Jones shared a photo of himself
with a newly-shaved head in support of his bride.
He later tweeted,
"A big thank you to everyone who has been in touch.
Ro & I humbled & very grateful… learn the lesson though!
Feel up your loved ones!"
In 2013, Ronquillo announced that she'd undergone a double mastectomy and beaten the cancer.
Proud to be a kook
In 1971, three days after Duncan Jones was born, David Bowie performed his song "Kooks"
for the first time, for the BBC's In Concert radio show.
The song, which was later recorded for Bowie’s legendary album Hunky Dory, was an anthem
to his young son.
It embraced the idea that even the most unconventional people can make good parents.
In 2017, Jones took the stage at the 2017 BRIT Awards to accept an award on behalf of
Bowie, and made a fitting tribute to his late father’s song.
“this award is for all the Kooks, and all the people who make the Kooks.
Thanks BRITs”
A troubled relationship
David Bowie split with his first wife, Angela Barnett, in 1980.
She agreed to give up custody of Duncan and was awarded $750,000 in a settlement, in exchange
for accepting a 10-year gag order which prevented her from saying anything to the media about
her ex-husband.
After the order expired, she became more than candid about her relationship with Bowie and
their son.
In 2005, she explained to the Evening Standard,
“I really thought the best thing to keep David alive was to leave my son with him.
It was the hardest thing I've ever done.
[…] I kept saying to myself, I've got to do this.
I can't escape if I take my child with me, he'll fight me and it will be awful for my
son.
And I can have another child, it's not a big deal."
A few years later, Jones told the Daily Mail,
“We stopped communicating when I was 13 and it was the right choice then and I'm convinced
it's still the right choice now."
His surrogate mother
In his mother’s absence, it was Jones’ nanny Marion Skene [skeen] who showed up and
filled those shoes when he was only four years old.
This, of course, was during a time when his father’s life was little more than a haze
of touring, groupies, and drugs.
Jones explained to the Daily Mail,
"I've always considered [Skene] as my mum, so I never felt I was missing out in any way."
Bowie himself clearly shared this sense of respect he bequeathed her one million dollars
in his will when he died in 2016.
After Skene died of cancer in 2017, Jones took to Twitter to pay tribute to the woman
who’d raised him.
Taking a different path
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bowie did his best to encourage his son to learn to play music.
Jones, though, was having none of it.
He explained,
"He tried to get me to learn the drums, but I didn't want to.
The saxophone?
No.
Piano?
No.
Guitar no thanks!
Bless him.
He kept on trying and nothing was happening.
Nothing would take.”
Despite this, Jones credits his father for accepting his choice and encouraging him to
pursue different creative interests namely, filmmaking.
By the time he was eight, Bowie had not only introduced him to the wonders of the 8 millimeter
camera, but also to classic movies such as Baron Munchausen's Dream and A Clockwork Orange.
As an adult, though, Jones has stated that he did come to regret never learning to play
an instrument.
A sneak peak of Warcraft
By the time Warcraft finally hit theaters, it had been ten years in the making.
Near the end of the movie's long journey, Jones was able to give his dad a sneak peek
at what his dream project would look like.
He told the Daily Beast that he showed him an early cut of Warcraft, saying,
“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."
Bowie passed away before the movie opened, but Jones has since said that those family
ties made Warcraft extra-special to him.
For Jones, it's clear that, above all else, family always comes first.