Duncan Jones Tweets Details of Source Code
Source Code Still
Yesterday, director Duncan Jones live-tweeted his most recent film, Source Code1, as it played on BBC’s Channel 4 in the UK. He answered viewer questions, divulged some of his technique and pointed to the true story one of the film’s characters is based on.
The whole stream is a fun (and spoiler-ridden) read. I’ve collected the whole thing in a Storify stream, but below you can find a selection of my favorite tidbits. Perhaps worth bookmarking for the next time you watch the film.
On Plato:
On Sam Beckett’s cameo:
Scott Bakula plays the voice of Colter’s father.
Quan-Tomb:
On the 8-minute time limit:
On Jeffrey Wright’s exposition:
On product placement:
On set design:
On making a fake train station and van:
On that villain:
The Radioactive Boy Scout2 is actually the name of a book by Ken Silverstein expanded from this 1998 article in Harper’s. It tells the story of David Hahn, an American Boy Scout who nearly build a homemade nuclear reactor when he was 17. The Nuclear Boy Scout is the TV documentary Jones is referring to. It aired on BBC’s Channel 4 in 2003 but is yet to air in the US.
That ain’t bullet time at the end:
Further Reading:
- I reviewed Source Code when it premiered at SXSW in 2011 and interviewed Jack Gyllenhaal about the role.
- Probably my favorite Source Code-related out there is Eric Kohn’s physicist father explaining that science in the film basically checks out.
- Bookmark the full Storify stream if you want to time-shift Jones’ commentary.