Duncan Jones's feature directorial debut Moon passed muster at Sundance '09 and received high marks as the inaugural film to face Movieline's Two-Minute Verdict. But when David Bowie showed up to last night's packed Tribeca premiere, one could hear the distinct thud of a gauntlet thrown down on the red carpet. After all, what would Ziggy Stardust make of this young director's vision of space, isolation and lunar dwelling? It was anyone's guess, though Jones appeared to hold a trump card: He's Bowie's son.
The director was chatting up the press Thursday night when Bowie (née David Jones) strolled by with Iman, nodding to Jones en route to their seats. I asked the filmmaker what the deal was with the Joneses and space -- from his father's erstwhile Spiders From Mars to his own vision of an astronaut (Sam Rockwell) whose last days of a three-year moon shift go miserably awry. This can't be some coincidental family preoccupation. Or can it?
"We don't really talk about it that much," Jones said. "I don't know if it's coincidental. But obviously his interest in it was something I was surrounded by growing up. So it had a huge impact on me just because it was part of my environment and my experience growing up. I think as someone who tries to tell stories, there's something about space and science fiction to telling human stories. It's an alien environment and you can really take a person, make them as fully-formed as you can, and just put them into that environment. And all of the sudden you have a conflict -- just because it's them against the world. And I think that just sets you up for so many potential stories."
Fair enough. Just as long as no one ever has to sit through any movies remotely informed or influenced by those awful Tin Machine albums, life is good. More on Moon closer to its June 12 opening.