LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- `` This is ground control to Major Tom , '' sang David Bowie about a fictional astronaut lost in orbit in 1969 . Now , 40 years later Bowie 's son Duncan Jones has released his own space oddity . Sam Rockwell plays a moon worker nearing the end of his contract with Lunar Industries which mines precious gas , Helium-3 . Jones ' debut feature `` Moon '' is a thoughtful , stylish sci-fi thriller set in the near future amid the monochromatic wastelands of Earth 's closest satellite . It is a contemplative character-driven piece of filmmaking that is particularly smart and accomplished because Jones has managed to create the film 's universe with next to no money . But then , `` Moon '' is n't your average sci-fi : Stylistically , it 's very different from the big budget , spectacle-driven science fiction being made by Hollywood studios today . With a storyline about alienation rather than aliens , this retro delight is peppered with references to 20-year-old classics like Ridley Scott 's `` Alien '' and cult films like `` Outland , '' starring Sean Connery . It includes an inspired turn by Kevin Spacey as computer GERTY , whose automaton voice bears a creepy resemblance to HAL 9000 , the ruthless computer in Stanley Kubrick 's seminal space opera , `` 2001 : A Space Odyssey . '' `` We wear our references on our sleeve , '' Jones , whose mother is David Bowie 's first wife , Angela Bowie , told CNN . `` It is a period of science fiction we are both huge fans of and we miss that kind of film . '' His partner and inspiration in this project is quirky actor Sam Rockwell who he was determined would take the lead in his debut feature . Rockwell plays Sam Bell , a moon worker nearing the end of his contract with Lunar Industries which mines Helium-3 , the precious gas thought to be the solution to Earth 's energy crisis . `` In some ways we worked backwards , '' says the 38-year-old who met Rockwell to discuss another film that did n't work out . `` The very first thing I knew was that Sam Rockwell was going to star . `` I knew I wanted to work with him because he 's just so talented , and he also just happens to be such a nice guy . `` I said , 'Look , I really want to work with you . I really want you to be in my first film . Let me go away and write something for you . ' '' The pair discovered a shared love of science fiction films from the late 1970s and early 1980s , like `` Silent Running '' starring Bruce Dern . `` Real , character-driven stories about working class , blue-collar people working and living in space , '' explains Jones . This was the seed of Jones ' screenplay and the moon seemed the obvious place to set it . `` Everyone has a relationship with the moon but at the same time it remains so mysterious . We may have been there , but only briefly . '' Nine months later Jones had worked up a script and , with his leading man secured , he had to come up with a plan for how to make a traditionally pricey sci-fi on a budget of $ 5 million . `` It was a challenge , '' Jones acknowledges . `` Science fiction by its nature is very expensive because you have to build everything ; you have to build the entire universe that our film takes place in . `` If there 's anything in shot , you 're probably going to have to have it designed and built and then there 's special effects on top of that . '' To keep costs down , Jones used model miniatures for the exterior shots of the moon base and the lunar buggy that Bell drives across the cold regolith to tend to the monstrous Helium-3 harvesting machines traversing the planet . He shot the entire film in a studio and on a sound stage at Shepperton Studios , near London , England , which allowed them to completely control the environment . All of Jones ' ideas in the film are based on what could be fact in the near future . Much of his inspiration came from a book by U.S. aerospace engineer and manned Mars exploration advocate , Robert Zubrin called `` Entering Space : Creating a Spacefaring Civilization . '' One of the chapters in Zubrin 's theoretical guide to expanding human settlement across the solar system was about setting up a Helium-3 mining facility on the moon . `` It always stuck in my head as a really interesting idea , '' says Jones . `` Hard science fiction , science fiction that builds out of scientific potential or extrapolating from what 's possible -- that 's the science fiction I find most interesting . '' `` Moon '' was screened on request at the NASA Space Center , where they are doing research into Helium-3 mining . The researchers quizzed him on his moon base design choices and discussed their research , including `` mooncrete , '' a special concrete made of lunar rock and water from the moon 's polar caps . Jones will continue to mine the rich seam of classic science fiction in his next film , `` Mute . '' He has likened it to a Berlin-based version of `` Blade Runner , '' Ridley Scott 's bleak vision of a future Los Angeles . He hopes to replicate the success of `` Moon '' which won Best New British Feature at this year 's Edinburgh International Film Festival : `` What we 're finding now is that there is a real interest and hunger for this kind of film . ''
Duncan Jones aka Zowie Bowie wrote and directed debut feature , `` Moon '' Sci-fi thriller made for only $ 5 million , stars Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey . Comment: