Dr. Ben Longmier and Director Duncan Jones in front of NASA's Lunar Electric Rover, which recently came back from the Presidential Inaugural Parade. Credit CollectSpace
Director Duncan Jones inside the 1-G Shuttle Trainer. Credit CollectSpace
Director Duncan Jones and Dr. Ben Longmier in front of NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. Credit CollectSpace
"Moon" is a science fiction film in the tradition of the SF that was being made in the 70's and 80's; Films like Outland, Silent Running, 2001 and the original Alien. It’s about an engineer/care-taker named Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell) who is finishing off his 3 year contract working at the "Sarang" Helium-3 mining facility on the far side of the Moon. It's a human story, but told in a visually captivating setting and it's a thriller. It's got comic moments but there's an element of romance and sadness too. It was inspired in part by Robert Zubrin's space expansion manual "Entering Space," and by helium-3 mining, by MIT's Cog project, by Michael Lights incredible book of Lunar photography "Full Moon, by the hard truths about long distance relationships and by one of the most important questions a person can dare to ask themselves, "Am I a good person." It’s a mix of science, of fiction, but most importantly, what it means to be human... and it’s an ode to the lonely beauty of the Moon.
Considering Duncan grew up on film sets, he took a hugely long time to make his first feature. After completing a degree in Philosophy at the College of Wooster Ohio then attending graduate school to continue working in Philosophy at Vanderbilt in Tennessee, Duncan returned to his homeland in London England to go to film school, work in the computer games industry and shoot commercials, music videos and short films. After crossing to the dark side to write commercials at an advertising agency for a year and a half, Duncan finally took the plunge, making his first feature, the science fiction movie "Moon." It has been very well received! "Moon" premiered at the Sundance film festival to excellent reviews, was picked up by Sony Picture Classics, and will be released in the US on June 12th.
Film rating:
This movie is not yet rated. It contains some strong language, brief nudity, some violence, and mature thematic material. "...there is some swearing, brief view of buttocks in a shower, and some violence. It's not so much the content as the themes that are more mature."
Scenes from the production of MOON, Credit Sony Pictures Classics:
