In the week of the 40th anniversary of the lunar landings, Jason Solomons catches up with British director Duncan Jones, currently achieving lift-off with Moon. The sci-fi thriller, starring Sam Rockwell opposite, um, Sam Rockwell, recently won the Michael Powell award for best new British feature at the Edinburgh film festival. Jones, the former Zowie Bowie, discusses how (and why) he achieved the industrial aesthetic of classic, early 70s sci-fi movies within Moon's £2.5m budget, playing with audience expectations of the genre, and how his film is unconsciously influenced by his famous father.
Xan Brooks and Andrew Pulver then review the week's key releases: in addition to Moon, they run the rule over Burma VJ, an extraordinary portrait of an uprising in a closed society, and the cinematic behemoth that is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
And finally, Jason meets Courtney Hunt, whose feature directorial debut Frozen River scored two nominations at this year's Oscars: best screenplay for her and best actress for Melissa Leo's gutsy portrayal of a woman forced into people-smuggling to make ends meet. Hunt shares why she chose Leo to carry Frozen River, how she got financing from private investors to make the film, and what it was like to be at the Academy Awards.
