Duncan Jones wowed sci-fi fans in 2009 with his thoughtful indie debut Moon. The British director offers up a second helping of brainy sci-fi when he unveils Source Code as the opening night selection at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas.
[eventbug id=”sxsw2011″]The new movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal, who invited Jones to lunch after seeing the writer-director’s BAFTA Award-winning loner-in-space picture.
Gyllenhaal had reason to be impressed. Filmed on a British soundstage for less than $5 million, Moon featured 450 special effects created using old-school miniatures to simulate rovers rolling across an expansive lunar landscape.
The movie also showcased a virtuoso performance by Sam Rockwell in the role of a frazzled worker monitoring a mining operation on the moon for a huge international conglomerate.
“Jake was excited visually by Moon and by what Sam was doing in it,” Jones told Wired.com. “He wanted me to do the same thing on Source Code.
Co-starring Vera Farmiga, Michelle Monaghan and Jeffrey Wright, Source Code follows an Inception-meets-Groundhog Day premise about an Air Force captain who repeatedly lives through a parallel-reality time loop in order to stop a terrorist on a train from blowing up Chicago.
If Moon represents low-budget filmmaking at its most ingenious, the PG-13 Source Code boasts the kinds of assets that only Hollywood money can buy: A-list cast, stellar cinematography, high-end production values and expensive explosions. As for the science portion of the sci-fi equation, Jones freely acknowledges that Ben Ripley’s script stretches the speculative truth more than the director’s self-penned Moon screenplay.
Jones, 38, absorbed the craft as a child from hanging around on movie sets with his father, English rock icon David Bowie, and later learned special-effects trickery by shooting British TV commercials. Speaking with Wired.com by phone from his offices in Santa Monica, California, Jones discussed his transition from indie auteur to director-for-hire, the future of cerebral sci-fi, the surreal influence of Christopher Nolan’s Inception, and lessons learned from watching Jurassic Park.
Michelle Monaghan and Jake Gyllenhaal star in Source Code.
Images courtesy Summit Entertainment.Wired.com: Moon evoked the classic outer space look in the vein of 2001: A Space Odyssey, whereas the man in the suit on a train trying to figure out what the hell is going on in Source Code reminds me of more of an Alfred Hitchock thriller.
Duncan Jones: Lovely to hear that you pick up on the Hitchcock vibe. While there’s certainly a technological angle to Source Code, we approached the film as fairly classic film storytelling. With the story taking place on a train and all these great angles of the clocks in the background, there’s definitely these great Hitchcock elements to it.
Wired.com: Source Code is an original script, which must have been a refreshing prospect given that most projects coming out of Hollywood seem to be a spinoff of some pre-existing franchise.
Jones: So many things now are based on comic books or TV shows or remakes of old films, so yeah, it was exciting to see an original piece of material. It was written by Ben Ripley, who then got Jake Gyllenhaal interested in it.
Wired.com: And Gyllenhaal in turn recruited you, because of Moon?
Jones: When Jake came to see me, we hadn’t made our money back on Moon, we hadn’t won any awards, I was still a young independent filmmaker scratching out a living trying to work out how I was going to get my next film made. When we met up I wanted to discuss a project of my own with him, and he said, “That sounds fascinating, but I’ve got a project here that I’d like you to direct.” Source Code was an opportunity to show what I could do with a big-name star on a bigger budget. Jake was excited visually by Moon and by what Sam [Rockwell] was doing in it. He wanted me to do the same thing on Source Code.
Wired.com: Sam Rockwell is usually perceived as a quirky character actor, whereas Gyllenhaal generally plays a mainstream leading man. Did you want to play up that distinction in Source Code?
Jones: Jake’s a smart cookie and he’s funny, which is one thing I immediately talked to him about. As written, the Source Code script is quite serious and dry. I wanted to inject a little humor and quirkiness into the film. As well, Jake’s got that Indiana Jones–Harrison Ford thing happening in Source Code, which I’m very excited about.
Wired.com: Science played such a critical role in setting up the world of Moon. In the case of Source Code, how much science fact comes into play?
Jones: Source Code is a little softer science than Moon, which I would posit is pretty hard science fiction. I believe there will be some kind of mining setup on the moon at some point in the future. The Chinese are already working on plans about how they could do that.
As far as what we’re doing on Source Code, without giving away too much, I would say that we play around with alternative and parallel realities, talking about how that might work and how one might get access to it. We’re taking quite a big leap but you know, a few years ago we wouldn’t have believed teleportation would be possible even if it’s on the molecular level or quantum level, and now we’re talking about the idea that it is possible.
And we wouldn’t have thought that [invisibility] cloaking devices might become a reality. These things are becoming possible, even if it’s not exact way we thought they would.
Wired.com: Source Code takes place basically inside the hero’s head. In that regard, the film resembles the mind-twisting dream world that Inception explored with such great success last year. Were you aware of Inception as you filmed Source Code?
Jones: I knew nothing about Inception when we started working on it but I have to admit: When we heard Inception was coming out, there was a lot of nervousness on our part, not because of the subject matter, but because we wondered, “Is there an audience out there for this kind of film?”
So when Inception became such a big movie, it gave us an awful lot more confidence to push things even that little bit more and make the film even a little more surreal in places than we had originally intended.
Wired.com: You talked about initially wanting to pitch Gyllenhaal a movie that you’d written yourself, but for this project you’re working basically as a Hollywood director for hire. What’s that adjustment been like for you?
Jones: This is a tricky one. Moon was obviously a huge labor of love for me and the people who worked on it. We also have other projects that we care with equal passion about getting made.
Hopefully, audiences like this movie enough that I’ll get an opportunity to make some more of my own films and then go back and forth between working on other people’s projects and doing things that are real labors of love.
Wired.com: Can you give a hint about what this new project is going to be about?
Jones: Other than the fact that it will be another science fiction piece, the story has a very different approach than Source Code, since I will have written it.
Wired.com: And Sam Rockwell — you have him on speed-dial?
Jones: Absolutely. If I get to do another one and it’s mine, I will by hook or by crook get Sam in there somehow. I also think I made a good deal with Jake: When the time is right hopefully he’ll help me out on one of my films.
Wired.com: Thinking of Moon and Inception, and now Source Code, it looks like there’s a resurgence of brainy sci-fi that goes beyond exploding robots and superpowered men in tights. Do you think we’ll continue to see more cerebral types of sci-fi movies coming out of Hollywood?
Jones: There’s absolutely a robust future for technology-themed movies in Hollywood. I remember when Jurassic Park came out, a microbiologist friend constantly told me how outlandish it was, but within a few years, he said it was interesting how far things have come.
Take all those stories by Michael Crichton: As time caught up with those ideas, you start to realize they’re not as far-fetched as they seem.
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Source Code debuts Friday at the SXSW film festival. The movie opens wide April 1.
