My Movie Life: Duncan Jones

Probably wasn't the very first, but it was certainly one of the earliest I remember.

Weirdly, I don't have a really strong memory of it. But I do remember going to visit the Chaplins' house in Switzerland as a little kid, and having the lovely Una Chaplin project prints for us... some Charlie Chaplin films, a few other movies.

I've just remembered - I think I may have seen Kubrick's Barry Lyndon there!

I'm not a fanatical devotee of Ferris - like a lot of people seem to be. I just love the idea that kids have their own world with their own prioritie - away from the adult realm.

That's a big validation for kids and maybe a shock to some adults.

Another film kids should see is Peter Brook's 1963 version of Lord Of The Flies - as a warning about how cruel we can be and how quickly we can fall into chaos.

It'd be a great double bill! I'd say Ferris first, then Lord Of The Flies ...

Most of the French New Wave films, really. I haven't seen much of Godard or Truffaut. I always feel a bit guilty about that. I've seen Truffaut's 400 Blows but that's about it.

I think Breathless is the big one, though. Yes, I'm sure Quentin Tarantino would be shocked...

This is a bit embarrassing... But it's great. Honestly!

It's an early Ed Harris film about renaissance fairs in the American mid-west. Ed is the leader of a motorcycle gang who are all medieval re-enactors.

They travel to these ren-fairs and run jousting competitions on motorbikes. They think they're Camelot in the modern era.

His crew are just living their dream but, yes, Ed is a bit deluded and disturbed. I think it's hugely underrated.

It's the ET thing.

Anything where there's a small child who gets separated from his companion is an instant blub.

I'm an easy target, though. I'll bawl at anything.

With Moon, we only had one character to draw out all the emotion. There's a version where we see more of what happens... being careful not to give anything away here... after the end.

We even shot something, but it seemed so out of character with the rest of the film, we didn't use it.

I love this film sooo much. The relationship between Trapper John and Hawkeye Pierce is incredible.

Although it's not in the film all the time and it's not always up-front, they're such interesting, smart characters - deep, clever guys.

And you really get a sense of who everyone is - even with very little going on. It all feels so natural - a masterclass in seemingly effortless characterisation.

I think this might actually be out of copyright now. I recently got it for free - legitimately - from somewhere online.

It's such a weird and wonderful story - criminals helping the police to catch a child-killer because - but it's so old now that you're not going to attract a new audience to the original, unless they're film-school types.

I'd love to have a go at remaking it. But my next movie is going to be another sci-fi called Mute - it's basically my love-letter to Blade Runner . It's a thriller that takes place in a future Berlin.

It's the flipside to Moon , which is about isolation and alienation. Mute is about trying to maintain your identity when you're surrounded by people.

It'd have to be something upbeat to keep my spirits up.

Being British, it is a film that's a little bit outside of my sphere of reference, but because I've travelled so much I don't feel strongly connected to one place.

So even though it's a film set in the American college system, it still feels sort of native to me.

Animal House is just one of those films that makes you feel happy. I never get bored of it.

This is written by David Peoples, the guy who wrote Blade Runner and Twelve Monkeys .

It stars the inimitable Rutger Hauer and my teenage crush, Joan Chen.

It's a very low-budget film with no real special effects but it's a well played take on the Rollerball idea - a brutal futuristic sport. And Rutger Hauer is as magnetic as ever.

It's another one ripe for remaking. Maybe when I'm done with Mute and M , I'll take a look at it. My first film that doesn't begin with 'M'...

Moon opens on Friday 17 July. Read the Total Film review here .