Space oddities
Duncan Jones grew up as Zowie Bowie but is remarkably well-adjusted nevertheless. His impressive £2.5m debut feature Moon won the Michael Powell award for best British feature at the Edinburgh International Film Festival last week. By far the most polished and philosophically smart film on show, it stars Sam Rockwell as a lonely lunar miner who comes face to face with himself. It struck me as strange that Duncan should announce his talents to the film world with a space theme, much in the way his father did back in the 1970s when Bowie was The Man Who Fell To Earth, hung out with Spiders From Mars and spent much time sitting in a tin can with Major Tom.
Duncan was happy to discuss. "The things that interested my dad when I was growing up must have gone in somehow, like osmosis," he told me. "I obviously heard the music that was around then and digested those themes and they're coming out of me now, without my really being conscious of it. The themes of space and loneliness appeal across the generations, and although my dad hasn't revisited them in his work for a while, I know he's really proud of the different way I've handled them in my film. He came to see it in New York and his quiet support has been inspiring." Moon is released on 17 July, and Jones had already begun work on a new project, Mute a sci-fi thriller to be set and filmed in Berlin.
Hats off to Johnny
Trash had a smooth encounter with Johnny Depp on the red carpet at the Public Enemies premiere in Leicester Square last week. I was intrigued as to the broad variety of parts the actor takes, from demon barbers to Caribbean pirates to 1930s gangsters. What drew him to John Dillinger? With a smirk, he told me: "This one, I did for the hat. I'd studied all the great gangster actors, Cagney and Bogart, and they always had the hat just perfect. Once the hat was in place for me, everything fell in with it."
Depp's director, Michael Mann, was also in sunny mood. It turns out he came to film school in London in the late 1960s. "I used to wander through this square late at night, dreaming that one day I would have a film opening here," he said. "I remember all you could get to eat round here was a shish kebab." Plus ça change...
Bay wash
Trash has been on reviewing duties for the past few weeks but I couldn't let this little gem go unearthed for you. Talking to Megan Fox who was in town for the Transformers 2 premiere, I found her more forthright and intelligent than her performance in the mega-hit would suggest. The role demands that she drapes herself over motorbikes and runs around in a vest. How did she get the part which has made her what lads' mags call the "hottest girl on the planet". She told me she went to director Michael Bay's house to audition and he made her wash his Ferrari while he filmed her. She said she didn't know what had happened to that footage. When I put it to Bay himself, he looked suitably abashed. "Er, I don't know where it is either."