INTERVIEW
Duncan Jones048 | WWW.SCIFINOW.CO.UK
very happy to support us doing this 4K release.
So, we got to scan it and go over it again, and
I was able to watch the work that they did and
sign off on everything. It’s fortunate that we
were able to shoot the film on 35mm because
that did make a difference for the restoration
process. I think there was a lot of special effects
work that was done at the time that, obviously,
at our budget, we weren't able to redo, but it all
stands up very well. The FX plates for the live
action stuff were all shot on 35mm and there’s
a lot of clever technologies and clean-up things
today for the visual effects that make the whole
thing still look fantastic.”
For those unfamiliar with the film, Moon
sees Sam Rockwell play a lone human worker,
Sam Bell, stationed on Earth’s moon as part
of a three-year contract. Assisted by the lunar
station’s intelligent computer, GERTY (voiced
by Kevin Spacey), he sends back to Earth
parcels of a resource used to assist our planet’s
energy problems. Three years without direct
human interaction is tough, and he’s starting to
hallucinate as his three-year stint concludes.
Now, it’s difficult to discuss Moon any further
for a retrospective feature without delving into a
certain twist from late in its first act. So, if you’re
reading this and haven’t seen the film, go watch
it and come back to this point.
All caught up? Great.
So, yes, it turns out that Sam Bell is not
only not alone, he is not the only Sam Bell.
Encountering an exact double by the same
name after recovering from an accident, Sam
Bell (both of them) learn that they are clones of
the same man, with his memories implanted.
Lunar Industries is unethically using clones
of the original Sam Bell to avoid training
and transporting new astronauts, while also
deliberately jamming the live feed back to Earth.
Sam Bell clones who believe they’re entering a
final hibernation at the end of their contract just
before a return home are, in fact, incinerated
and then replaced, with each Sam clone
designed to get increasingly ill as their contract
expires; a fate now being experienced by the
Sam the viewer first meets.
It’s pretty heavy stuff, and one suspects Sam
Rockwell was asking Jones a lot in terms of
fleshing the character(s) out. “Both of us really
wanted to work out what differentiated the
two Sams,” Jones says. “For me, it was always
about how can these two guys be different,
and it's about the three years difference in their
experiences. If you look at your own life, I'm
sure we'll find an example of where three years
would have made a huge difference between
who you are and who you were. That’s what we
were both discussing and looking for: the Sam
who's been living in isolation for three years,
how has his outlook and who he is changed
over the course of that time?”
Back at the time of Moon’s theatrical release,
Jones, in interviews, was citing a certain brand
of ideas-heavy sci-fi as influences – films like
Peter Hyams’ Outland (1981) and Douglas
Trumbull’s Silent Running (1972). Ten years on,
we wonder if he’s noticed traces of his own
film infiltrating science fiction that’s come since
Moon. “I don’t really want to say,” Jones tells us.
“I think that’s for any of those filmmakers to say.
I know that there's been a lot of appreciation for
the movie by people that I admire and whose
work I respect. I have an interest in videogamesSOURCE CODE (2011)
Jake Gyllenhaal, who lobbied for Jones to direct
this film on the basis of Moon, plays a soldier
who repeatedly awakens in someone else’s
body, discovering he’s part of an experimental
government program to locate the bomber of a
commuter train: a mission that he has only eight
minutes to complete.WARCRAFT (2016)
Although he wrote the story for Moon, this big
budget adaptation of the Blizzard Entertainment
videogame series of the same name was Jones’
first ever screenwriting credit, co-written with
Charles Leavitt.MUTE (2018)
A neo-noir spiritual sequel to Moon, or at least set
in the same universe, Jones’ long-gestating passion
project was eventually distributed by Netflix.ROGUE TROOPER (?)
Jones is currently attached to direct an adaptation
of the beloved 2000 AD comic strip.JONESING FOR
MORE DUNCAN
What Duncan Jones directed after
his trip to the Moon...