Duncan Jones cut his teeth on the sets of Labyrinth and The Hunger, but for his directorial debut, he opted for something that didn't star his dad (I'll let you guys and girls mull over the common thread).

Rather, Moon is a showcase for star Sam Rockwell, who gives what is surely one of the year's more uniquely layered performances. As the film opens today in NY and LA before rolling out in the weeks to come, Jones spoke with Cinematical about shooting sci-fi on a small budget, releasing an indie in a season of blockbusters, and cracking his skull out of pure giddiness for a movie.

Which one, you ask? We'll tell you after the jump...

(We're reposting our Moon review from the Sundance Film Festival in advance of the film's theatrical release this weekend)

By: James Rocchi

"You haul 16 tons, and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go;
I owe my soul to the company store. ..."

-- "Sixteen Tons," Merle Travis

Know thyself. -- Solon of Athens

Moon, the directorial debut of Duncan Jones, opens with a bright, breezy bit of corporate propaganda explaining how, in the film's near-future, clean energy is provided by fusion fueled by hydrogen wrenched from lunar mineral deposits on the dark side of the Moon. Sam Rockwell is Sam Bell, who runs a fuel-harvesting station, aided only by the base's A.I., GERTY (given voice by Kevin Spacey). Sam is nearing the end of his three-year contract, and it's been a lonely stint; he's got only two weeks left, but he's on the thin edge. The communications satellite is down, so Sam can't talk to Earth -- his bosses, his wife -- directly; for all of the high-tech trappings and whiz-bang science of his work, Sam's a hard rock miner. And that's always been dangerous work.

Moon evokes many things -- the nature of the human experience, the nature of employee-management relations, how the odds are fairly good that the future will be exactly like today, but more so. With all of its far-flung inventions, impeccable visual design and Clint Mansell's eerie score, Moon boils down to a single man having a long conversation in isolation, telling himself a few lies and opening his own eyes to a few truths; Rockwell, playing the only person for tens of thousands of miles, has no one else to act against, and much of his plight has to be conveyed through special effects that gave him little or nothing to work with on-set.

Those who know and love the film will no doubt mention its innate "watchability," but newcomers to the great comedy Galaxy Quest may find themselves most intrigued by the bizarre cast. Is that Tony Shalhoub and Sam Rockwell stealing every scene that isn't nailed down? And what's Sigourney Weaver doing in a broad comedy? And wasn't that Justin Long ... and there's Missi Pyle ... and Rainn Wilson! And how is the film so funny if Tim Allen is the lead? When did Alan Rickman become so funny? And (my favorite) who is that guy playing the babbly alien leader Mathesar? He's hilarious!

But the cast is not the reason that DreamWorks is re-releasing Galaxy Quest on DVD this week. Nope, it's because Dean Parisot's widely-adored Galaxy Quest is an obvious but very affectionate Star Trek satire, and what with the new Trek making all sort of waves this month, the Galaxy Quest re-release seemed like a pretty obvious idea. Clearly I believe that this fine farce deserves a spot on your DVD shelf, but is the new version actually worth the "double dip," or should you just stick with your current version?

In today's requisite edition of "Nothing Is Sacred" news, it looks like David Cronenberg's cult classic, Videodrome, is the next remake to come a-callin'. Ehren Kruger, writer of the remake of The Ring, is penning this update to "modernize the concept, infuse it with the possibilities of nano-technology and blow it up into a large-scale sci-fi action thriller," according to Variety.

Okay, at the very least, there's quite the opportunity for some nifty and nasty effects work, but beyond that, I can't help but feel that today's potential for satire may be outweighed by today's potential for the grotesque. And reading the phrase "large-scale" almost makes me want to pop in the low-budget widespread panic of The Signal instead.

But let's play devil's advocate here: who would you cast in the anti-hero role that James Woods originated in '83? I'd bet that either Patrick Wilson or Sam Rockwell could pull it off -- aw, hell, if they really just throw up their hands at some point, Nicolas Cage could be fun...

Two more have been added to the ever large Iron Man 2 roster, according to The Hollywood Reporter and with production all nice, quiet and secret save for Jon Favreau's Tweets, we can speculate endlessly on what their additions might mean.

The first is a no-brainer, as Clark Gregg is returning as Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. Having hammered out the acronym, he gets to come back and try to keep Tony on the straight, narrow, and heroic. I think that's nice. You could just have any old agent, but they're keeping Gregg.

The female addition is what's really interesting. Kate Mara has joined the cast in an unspecified role. I'm going to just throw out a random guess (based largely on her looks) that she's playing Bethany Cabe. I can't believe they'd throw another love interest or action chick into the mix, but Cabe helps to defend Tony against Whiplash and Justin Hammer. She also suits up in some old Iron Man armor alongside Rhodes' War Machine to battle the giant robot Ultimo. The groundwork is there, but it's an awful lot of action and romance for one film. Perhaps Cabe will simply show up as Stark Industries' Head of Security, ready to do her part later on? Maybe she's just a love interest for Hammer? We'll know soon enough.

But wow, three redheads in one Marvel film? I thought it was Wolverine who had that particular fetish. Go Tony!

Having not attended Sundance, last month's SXSW Film Festival was my first chance to catch up with Duncan Jones' acclaimed sci-fi drama, Moon, and I'm happy to say that my expectations were well-met, with Sam Rockwell giving what is bound to be one of the more uniquely layered performances of the year.* (You can read James Rocchi's review here.)

Well, it looks like the guys over at IGN got their hands on the trailer, which we've embedded after the jump and which carefully embraces the intrigue of the film's central conceit. Jones himself told us that the development in question isn't exactly a spoiler in his mind, but don't worry, we're not about to give it up here. All in all, it's a smart sell, and one accurately representative of the movie. AICN, meanwhile, happens to have one snazzy poster on display. Mere coincidence? We may never know...

Co-starring Kevin Spacey (sort of), Moon gets a NY/LA opening on June 12th before rolling out to other markets, where it'll should prove a welcome respite to the comparatively mindless summer fare.

*Trust me, I'm not just saying that.

1. Twiddle thumbs while waiting for bidding wars to break out -- So Senator Entertainment has already landed domestic distribution for Antoine Fuqua's cop drama, Brooklyn's Finest (they'll probably do right by it and sit it on a shelf right next to All the Boys Love Mandy Lane); now, it's just a matter of waiting for Fox Searchlight to snatch up their next sleeper in waiting, and for either Focus or Paramount Vantage to pick up the rights to something they can't quite turn a profit on *cough1* *cough2*. Modest comfort comes in the form of Searchlight already planning a late-summer release for 500 Days of Summer, and of Sony Pictures Classics reportedly calling dibs on Sam Rockwell's sci-fi drama, Moon. Keep those ears and eyes open, folks.

2. Monitor some seriously similar, sometimes simultaneous Twitter action -- For starters, there's our crew: Snider, then Davis, then Rocchi, and (lastly but not least-ly) new convert Weinberg. Then you have the Onion folks, your CHUD, the IFC one-two, the Spout reps, our HitFix homies, not to mention your /Film and your Film School Rejects and your First Showing (these fellas happen to be sharing accommodations, so expect much echo). Daily posts? Facebook status updates? Please. With a minute-by-minute play-by-play, who needs to go outdoors?

"You haul 16 tons, and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go;
I owe my soul to the company store. ..."

-- "Sixteen Tons," Merle Travis

Know thyself. -- Solon of Athens

Moon, the directorial debut of Duncan Jones, opens with a bright, breezy bit of corporate propaganda explaining how, in the film's near-future, clean energy is provided by fusion fueled by hydrogen wrenched from lunar mineral deposits on the dark side of the Moon. Sam Rockwell is Sam Bell, who runs a fuel-harvesting station, aided only by the base's A.I., GERTY (given voice by Kevin Spacey). Sam is nearing the end of his three-year contract, and it's been a lonely stint; he's got only two weeks left, but he's on the thin edge. The communications satellite is down, so Sam can't talk to Earth -- his bosses, his wife -- directly; for all of the high-tech trappings and whiz-bang science of his work, Sam's a hard rock miner. And that's always been dangerous work.

Moon evokes many things -- the nature of the human experience, the nature of employee-management relations, how the odds are fairly good that the future will be exactly like today, but more so. With all of its far-flung inventions, impeccable visual design and Clint Mansell's eerie score, Moon boils down to a single man having a long conversation in isolation, telling himself a few lies and opening his own eyes to a few truths; Rockwell, playing the only person for tens of thousands of miles, has no one else to act against, and much of his plight has to be conveyed through special effects that gave him little or nothing to work with on-set.

The appearance of Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell in Iron Man 2 was hardly in doubt -- but just in case you needed it from the horse's mouth, MTV got it ... from Rockwell, anyway. Once in talks to play Tony Stark (and watched real-life girlfriend Leslie Bibb bed him as investigative reporter Christine Everheart), Rockwell was more than happy to accept the part of a man who will try to destroy him: Justin Hammer.

"Yeah, he's a rival. He takes over all the weapons stuff after Tony's left. I don't know if he takes over Stark Industries. I'm not really sure yet. He's a money dude. That's about all I can say ... They were like, we don't have a script but this is the deal and this is the character." Rockwell estimates filming will begin in L.A. come April, which means we'll start seeing the really cool stuff (photos!) this summer.

It's a random, unsubstantiated wish -- but I'm hoping Justin Hammer's appearance means that Jon Favreau is weaving in the famous Demon in a Bottle storyline. The machinations of Hammer only helped push Stark to seek out more of that sweet, sweet alcohol. Considering Stark will have three villains (one of whom will undoubtedly be a redheaded Russian love interest ), it seems as good of time as any to push him off the wagon, don't you think?

Cinematical has received this exclusive image from the film The Winning Season, which will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, January 19th. Directed by Jim Strouse (Lonesome Jim, Grace is Gone), The Winning Season stars Sam Rockwell as an adult misfit who's brought on to coach the local girl's high school basketball team. Also appearing in the flick, which I've heard is like Bad Santa meets The Bad News Bears, is Emma Roberts, Rob Corddry, Shareeka Epps and Emily Rios. The Winning Season was a late addition to the Sundance slate, and my friend's who've seen it vouch that it's, well, a winner. Both Strouse and Rockwell (who also stars in another Sundance film called Moon) are veterans of the fest and have had good luck in the past. I see no reason why this one won't immediately sell and hit theaters at some point next year.

Of course, your friends from Cinematical will bring back the scoop early and tell you all about The Winning Season when we see it in Park City next month. Check out a larger version of the image above, and for more information on the film and the festival, check out the official Sundance film guide.