British director Duncan Jones’ first feature film, Moon, starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey, will be screened at the CineFest International Festival of Young Filmmakers, Miskolc, September 11th-20th. He spoke to us about the project, its challenges and why he was so blown away by Rockwell’s performance.
What attracted you to the moon and related issues as a setting for and subject matter of the film?
When we decided to do a science fiction film, it was really important to me that we make something „hard sci-fi” as opposed to anything too fantastical. We wanted to make a film that felt like there was some possibility that it could actually happen. Moon doesn’t take place in some alien world, it’s local! You can look up in the sky every night and see the location of our film; it takes place in a place everybody knows and has a personal relationship with. I think this is part of what helps make the story feel so much more relatable.
You managed to produce a sci-fi film on a small, indie budget. Do you think you were actually helped, creatively, by the challenge of financial restraints?
The film was designed from the ground up to be a first feature done at a tight budget. We knew there were things we could do that would make the film feel bigger than it actually cost, and that was all part of the plan. We kept the shoot limited to a studio shoot, we kept our cast tiny, we were incredibly careful about when and where we would spend our limited budget on post-production effects. If we had had more money, we would have approached things in an entirely different way.
Moon has an extremely small cast. What was behind the decision to work in this way?
It was all part of the plan to make an ambitious science-fiction film on a limited „first-feature” budget. It also occurred to me that by doing so, we could give Sam Rockwell a unique acting challenge that it would be difficult for him to pass up. Fortunately, we were proven right.
How did the decision to use the actors you did come about? In particular, how did Rockwell and Spacey get on board, and how were they to work with?
Moon was written for Sam Rockwell. I had met with Sam about 3 1/2 years ago with a completely different film that I wanted him to be in. It was a script that he loved, but I wanted him to play one character, and he was keen on another. We met in person to try and convince each-other, but we ended up realizing that it was probably not the right project to take on together. We got on incredibly well though, and it was clear to me that this was someone I wanted to work with in my first feature film. We started chatting about films in general, and the kind of roles Sam was looking to play and a period of sci-fi films from the late 70s and early 80s came up. Films like Outland, Silent Running & Alien with blue collar workers in space; we both felt those films were terrific, and wondered why nothing like that ever got made these days. I left the meeting having decided I was going to write something like that for Sam.
Kevin Spacey came on board much later. Kevin had read the completed script and loved it, and was a big fan of Sam Rockwell, but was concerned about the budget of the film being too small to do justice to what we were planning. He suggested we go away and make the film without him, and then show him it when it was finished. We did, and he was so blown away by Sam Rockwell’s performance, he was happy to lend his voice to the character of Gerty.
Did you work on creating a particular atmosphere for Rockwell, to add to his feeling of isolation?
Some things were planned, but many came naturally out of the shoot. Sam is a very social guy, and for him, not having any other actors around during the shoot played a big part in creating the sense of isolation. Calling the character Sam helped too. I did what I could on set to add to the atmosphere and to keep Sam feeling isolated, but the set itself did the most work. It was a tremendous thing! A 360 degree Moon base, that we would enter in the mornings through the airlock, and then stay in throughout the day… it was pretty much like going on location.
Rockwell was required to act with himself for much of the film. How did he handle that, and do you think it takes a certain kind of actor to do it well?
Absolutely. I have no hesitation in saying that our film has the greatest example of the „twinning effect” ever filmed, and this was a combination of the beautifully crafted special effects we used and Sam Rockwell’s absolutely phenomenal performance. I know it was an extraordinary challenge for Sam, but as the shoot went on, and we refined how to do things, it became an exciting opportunity for him; he could set moments up for himself and play straight-guy to his own buffoon! I’m convinced very few actors could pull it off the way Sam did, though. The technical requirements he had to adhere to while maintaining his natural acting style were huge. His performance deserves all the credit that is showered on it.
Amy Weston
Dates: September 18-20
FUNZINE CineFest Trip
The CineFest International Festival of Young Filmmakers, Miskolc
Tickets: 16,000 HUF
Register at event@funzine.hu
Full details here
www.cinefest.hu