{"id":6479,"date":"2009-11-03T13:29:40","date_gmt":"2009-11-03T12:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=6479"},"modified":"2009-11-03T13:29:40","modified_gmt":"2009-11-03T12:29:40","slug":"interview-duncan-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/news\/interview-duncan-jones\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Duncan Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"_J1T1449\"<\/a>SciFiNow recently had the pleasure of interviewing Moon director Duncan Jones, and among all the sci-fi related chatter we learnt a great deal about this exciting new talent. You can read the interview below.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

What can you tell us about the origin of Moon\u2019s story? How much of it was based on concerns over where modern science is currently heading?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a sense, the setting, the world we described in the film was secondary to the human character drama. But what was there from science was based on a non-fiction book by Professor Robert Zubrin, who used to work with NASA. He wrote a book called Entering Space, which is all about how you would go about colonising the solar system in a financially viable way. His argument was that we can\u2019t rely on government entities to push the space program through to the point where we colonise the solar system, so it would have to be done by private enterprise. One of the early chapters of that book was about going to the moon and setting a Helium 3 mining facility in order to harvest Helium 3, which could be used as a fuel for fusion power.<\/p>\n

The film presents some unforeseen consequences of that plan, doesn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think there are some very tongue-in-cheek similarities between what a Helium 3 mining facility might do, and what the petro-chemical industry does today. If you put a profit driven company in charge of excavating resources on behalf of humanity, they\u2019re going to find every possible way to squeeze as much money out of it. And if you\u2019re not able to keep them accountable then they\u2019ll be cutting corners. And that\u2019s what we\u2019re able to describe, even though our company, Lunar Industries, is technically a green energy company.<\/p>\n

If human drama was the influence for Moon, rather than science, was there another work of fiction or perhaps a personal element that contributed to the idea?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, absolutely, there was definitely a personal element. When I met up with Sam [Rockwell, Moon\u2019s lead actor], we were discussing making a film that referenced those old films from the Seventies and Eighties like Outland, Silent Running and Ridley Scott\u2019s Alien. What we loved about those films is that they were about blue collar working people, in space, and we thought that those kinds of believable characters weren\u2019t being presented in science fiction any more. That\u2019s really what we wanted to do, and the whole idea of loneliness and isolation, being far away from the people that you love was something that I wanted to talk about, because I felt that I had some experience of that when I went off to graduate school in national Tennessee for three years. And the whole idea of long-distance relationships was something that Sam and I could both relate to, because our respective girlfriends were both living far away when we were writing and making the film.<\/p>\n

What kind of lengths did you go to in order to create that kind of mood on set?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well the set itself was a completely self-contained 360-degree environment. The inside of the base we built completely so that you would go in through the airlocks at the beginning of the day when we were shooting, and they would close the door behind us. It was almost like being there, shooting on location, other than the normal Earth gravity. I think that had a big impact, particularly for Sam who was performing on his own, and we had a very small crew. I think it helped give the whole film a sense of isolation.<\/p>\n

Sam Rockwell has to portray a number of different personae within the film, if only one character. How did you draw those different performances out of him?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was very fortunate that my producer, Stuart Fenegan was able to ensure that we got a full week of rehearsals before the shoot. And we were able to really break down the script, work through it and differentiate between these two different main characters that Sam Rockwell performs. And I think that gave us a huge lead once we got to shooting time, so that we could then concentrate on the technical side of things. But even when we were shooting, we were still refining it and Sam and I were still discussing how to differentiate the characters. It was an ongoing process.<\/p>\n

We found the role of GERTY, the robot, fascinating\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I mean, you\u2019re from a science-fiction publication and I think if anyone\u2019s going to appreciate what we\u2019re trying to do with homages\u2026 There are quite a few in the film and one of the most obvious is the parallel between GERTY and HAL 9000 from 2001, and that was all part and parcel of it, to create this speaking robot part. During the writing process, I had to ask myself: \u201cDo you pretend that HAL didn\u2019t exist or do you accept that and play upon peoples\u2019 expectations, because of their history of robots and thinking machines?\u201d And that\u2019s the route that I want to take, to let the audience have certain assumptions, let them think that they\u2019re ahead of the game. And that makes it more fun for us when we take the film in a different direction.<\/p>\n

Next:<\/strong> Robots, creativity and Mute<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"PHdmWddidVJtgk\"<\/a><\/em>Moving on to the actual filming process, we thought the scale model work was very good and quite refreshing to see. Did you choose those because of budget restrictions or as a creative choice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a combination of things. Budget had a part to play but, also, at the start of this film we trying to make something that paid homage to the films of the Seventies and Eighties, and there was some fantastic model work done during that period. If you look at Jim Cameron\u2019s Aliens, some of the model work in there is as good as anything coming out today, even with the best CG. If it\u2019s done well it will look great, because it\u2019s real. I had done some work in commercials where we did as much as we could in-camera and then enhanced it with post-production, so that\u2019s kind of the route we took with this. We shot as much as we could with model miniatures, and then we added digital extensions such as mountain ranges in the background, lighting and lens flare. But I think the more you can put on film in the first place, the easier it becomes to make it believable and give it a real sense of reality.<\/p>\n

One of the things that fascinated us was what we assume was split-screen work with the two Sams and the table tennis scene in particular. There\u2019s a sense of interactivity between the two that just looks brilliant\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

I guess one of things we wanted to do over the course of the film was show off on a technical level as much as we could. And the idea of twinning, which is the name of the effect of having one actor play multiple parts, is something that\u2019s been done for ages but we knew that there were certain things we could do, even on our lower budget, that would be really impressive and hopefully push that effect further than it had been done before. The table tennis scene was one of those, but was actually one of the more simple ones. It used something called dynamic matte, which is where instead of having a stationary split-screen; you have a split that is moving over the course of the shot. But what we did which was technically the most impressive was where you have a two-shot of Sam playing both characters and you can actually see both on-screen at the same time and have one physically touch the other. That\u2019s the shot that nobody has pulled off before, and we did that a couple of times. It\u2019s that shot in particular that sells the illusion and makes the majority of the audience totally accept the fact that these are two different people.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019ll have to wait for the DVD\/Blu-ray special features?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well the DVD will illuminate it a bit, but basically what you do is show Sam playing one side with his arm tied behind his back. And then when he plays the other character you have a stand-in come on to play the arm, as a sort of one-armed performance, which then gets stuck onto the body of Sam.<\/p>\n

Now that Moon has been successful enough to turn a profit, what kind of opportunities does that give you to make more films?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve heard but we\u2019re trying to put a project together called Mute. It\u2019s another science fiction film that takes place in sort of the same timeline as Moon. So you can imagine that this is a completely separate story going on in the same universe. It\u2019s set in a future Berlin and it\u2019s very much a love letter to Blade Runner, which is my favourite science fiction film. And it will certainly have the same gritty, urban feel as Blade Runner, but will be a very different story about a barman who loses his girlfriend and goes up against some very strange characters in a future Berlin.<\/p>\n

What kind of stage are you at with that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The script is finished and has gone out to actors. Stuart Fenegan and I are furiously flying about the world, finding bits of money here and there to try and get the film together and that\u2019s kind of where things are right now. But it\u2019s a difficult time, not just for us, but also for everyone in the film industry trying to make independent films. So we\u2019re trying to work out whether this will be an independent film or whether we\u2019ll have to get in bed with a studio, but we\u2019re in a very good place. Moon has gone down very well and there\u2019s hopefully a lot of faith in us to deliver what we say we will.<\/p>\n

Well we think if Moon is anything to go by, you\u2019ve done very well to really take a low budget film and capture the public\u2019s imagination.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think in the UK in particular, there hasn\u2019t been so much opportunity for home grown British sci-fi to be made. So I think there was an awful lot of good will and I\u2019m very pleased that it looks like we\u2019ve delivered something that people can be proud of as a British independent film. And if we can keep doing that and grow our films each time, that will be a great place to be.<\/p>\n

\"PHkLKkkpJnjOok\"<\/a>There are rumours that Moon will be developed into a trilogy. Is there any truth to that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No there\u2019s not. In fact, that\u2019s a bit of miscommunication. The next film that we\u2019re going to do, Mute, is in the same universe. And I think when people first heard that they assumed that it would be a sequel. But it\u2019s not a sequel. What will happen, though, is that Sam Rockwell will come back and do a cameo in his role of Sam Bell in Mute. But it will very much be a background piece of action.<\/p>\n

And which Sam Bell will it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, I can\u2019t tell you that!<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve also been atta<\/strong>ched to an Escape From The Deep project. What can you tell us about that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, it\u2019s not science fiction but is an amazing true story about a United States submarine in world war two. The script is being written by the same guy who did the research and wrote the book, Escape From The Deep. And, without giving away too much, it was this true story of a submarine called USS Tang, which was doing a massive amount of damage to the Japanese navy and, on its very last sortie, its very last torpedo misfired and actually went in a big circle and the submarine sunk itself. The story is about the guys on that managed to escape. And it\u2019s one of the most amazing, dramatic stories and an incredible true story.<\/p>\n

Is that something you\u2019re hoping to do after Mute or is it a case of wait and see which gets picked up first?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it will be wait and see. As it stands right now, I\u2019m still waiting to read the script but I\u2019ve read the book and loved it and I\u2019ve met Alex Kershaw, who wrote the book. He\u2019s a very nice guy, very talented and I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll do a great job. But at this stage, until I\u2019ve read the script\u2026 You know, all films are based on the quality of the script, so I wouldn\u2019t want to make any commitment until I knew the script was good.<\/p>\n

Finally, we recently learned that you used to work in videogames. Is that true?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, it is, absolutely. When I was finishing off film school, one of things I was doing in order to pay the rent and earn money to create short films was that I worked at a company called Elixir Studios, which was part of Eidos. I worked on the abysmal Republic that came out of that company, but it was a massive learning experience for me and I met some incredibly talented, cool people and I wouldn\u2019t have swapped it for the world. I mean, I\u2019m a huge computer gamer myself so that was a great experience for me. In fact, I\u2019ve been very much in contact with certain elements of the gaming industry recently, so I\u2019m sure that our paths will cross again.<\/p>\n

Can we expect a Moon videogame then?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ha! I\u2019m not sure about that unless they want to make a little iPhone thing.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in the print edition of SciFiNow, issue 34. To buy a copy of the magazine or subscribe, go to www.imagineshop.com<\/a>, or call our subscriptions hotline on +44 (0) 844 844 0245.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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