Are the elements to making a good science fiction film different from just a good film?
DB: I’ve never heard that one before. I guess the truth is they break down into three things, which is a ship, a crew, a signal. They all break down into that at the moment, and until we colonize space, I think they probably always will. There will always be a steel tube with a group of individuals that represent us, trapped inside of it. Then on their journey, something happens. It’s a signal, changes everything. It gives them a big problem, then they move or not, or what do they do. And it’s weird, when you look at them, so many of them break down into those basic ingredients. At the moment I think that’s probably what you need. It’s a particular kind of sci-fi. There is another kind of sci-fi, which is “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” which is literally fantasy. Anything goes, you can do anything you want, really. But [“Sunshine” is] the stricter kind of space sci-fi. It’s basically still predicated on what NASA is doing. It imagines that [they] eventually will be going this far. Q: I’m a
