Moon

Moon is an upcoming science fiction thriller film about a solitary lunar employee who finds that he may not be able to go home to Earth so easily. The film is the feature film debut of commercial director Duncan Jones, and actor Sam Rockwell stars as the lunar employee. Kevin Spacey voices his robot companion. The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. Sony Pictures Classics will commercially distribute the film in the United States and Canada in June 2009.

Moon movie poster

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is an employee contracted by the company Lunar to mine on the moon the natural gas Helium 3, which could reverse Earth’s energy crisis. Sam is stationed at the lunar base Selene with only a robot named Gertie (voiced by Kevin Spacey), but two weeks before completing his three year assignment, he begins feeling out of place. An extraction goes wrong, and Sam suspects Lunar of trying to replace him as he realises someone else is on the Moon

Moon is the first feature film directed by commercial director Duncan Jones, who co-wrote the script with Nathan Parker.The film was specifically written as a vehicle for actor Sam Rockwell.The film homages the films of Jones’ youth, such as Silent Running (1972), Alien (1979) and Outland (1981). Jones described the intent, “We wanted to create something which felt comfortable within that canon of those science fiction films from the sort of late seventies to early eighties.” The director spoke of his interest in the lunar setting, “For me, the Moon has this weird mythic nature to it… There is still a mystery to it. As a location, it bridges the gap between science-fiction and science fact. We (humankind) have been there. It is something so close and so plausible and yet at the same time, we really don’t know that much about it.” The director described the lack of romance in the Moon as a location, citing images from the Japanese lunar orbiter SELENE, “It’s the desolation and emptiness of it… it looks like some strange ball of clay in blackness… Look at photos and you’ll think that they’re monochrome. In fact, they’re not. There simply are no primary colours.” Jones referenced the photography book Full Moon by Michael Light in designing the look of the film.

Since Moon was a film on an independent budget, the director set rules to minimize production, including keeping the cast small and filming in a studio.Moon was produced at Shepperton Studios in the United Kingdom, where it filmed for 33 days. Jones preferred using models instead of digital animation. Jones hired effects specialists who worked on Silent Running for his film. He also hired a set designer from Alien to help design the lunar rover used in the film. The moon base was created as a full 360-degree set, being 85-90 feet long and approximately 70 feet wide. The film’s robot, Gertie, was designed to be bound to a rail within the base since the tether was critical storywise. The visual effects were provided by Cinesite, who sought cut-price deals with independent films^. Since Jones had an effects background with commercials, he drew on his past experiences in creating effects under a small budget.

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