STACK #168 Oct 2018

CINEMA

professes to space camp envy, prepping the movie while Gosling and Corey Stoll, who plays Buzz Aldrin, worked in zero gravity chambers and messed around on the Mars Rover. If it seems like there should have already been a Neil Armstrong movie by now, then, judging by First Man ’s starry cast, it was worth the wait. Armstrong’s son, Rick, explains the delay. “Many people approached our father but he said no to everybody until Jim Hansen came along with a more technical approach,” he says, in reference to author James R. Hansen who spent 60 hours chatting with the famed astronaut for First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, published in 2005, and on which Chazelle based his film. “I think our father would be pleased with this film,” says Rick Armstrong, admitting how he has seen the movie six times, crying every time. Diving into his role, Gosling says he was greatly helped by Rick Armstrong and his brother Mark. “The greatest challenge of this movie, and there was many, was that they were going to see this film when it was over. I thought about that often. They were extremely helpful and supportive and always available to answer questions. Also I met with Janet and spent time with her on her own, and Neil’s sister June on the farm where they grew up. I’ve never had more help on a film between family, friends and colleagues and James’s thoroughly researched book. I could really feel how much love everyone had for Neil and Janet and their legacy.” In portraying Armstrong’s first wife, Janet Shearon – who died earlier this year after a long battle with lung cancer – Foy sports a Midwestern accent, a feisty attitude and 1960s pixie cut. “I think Janet and all the women left at home were extraordinary, but it takes a filmmaker like Damien to find them interesting,” she says of her no-nonsense portrayal of a woman who both supported and butted heads with her husband, later divorcing him in 1994 after a 38-year marriage. “Those women were always there but the story was with the men who were going

to the moon. Until now, nobody really wanted to know that they had lives; that they had arguments with their wives or had kids. I think it takes a real filmmaker to shine a light on that and say ‘that’s the real story’. We don’t want to know what we’ve been told and fed; that makes us believe in heroes and all these people have super-powers. I can’t read a script like that, I’m afraid.” In her research, Foy met with two of Janet’s best friends. “It’s a bit scary when you talk to people who say: 'You do realise you’re going to play somebody truly special whose friends love her and who gave so much of herself for other people,'” she says, describing how the Armstrong sons never treated her like a ‘weirdo’, even when she quizzed them with mundane domestic questions. When Gosling utters the famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” his accent is so spot-on, many moviegoers believe it’s an original recording of the real Armstrong. “That was arguably one of the most famous lines that has ever been said and it was a huge responsibility to get it right,” concedes Gosling. “I feel like that line says so much about what I admired about Neil, which was his ability to see everything in broader terms; that he could see a giant leap in one small step; that he could see himself as a man both representing his country and a human being representing mankind. “It's such a profound thing to say and it always fascinated me. Who is that person who could make this heroic moment not about them, but about everything? And to put it so eloquently and beautifully. It was an honour to be able to say it and try and understand the man who would say something like that.” Despite making the movie, neither Gosling nor Foy have any plans to visit space. “No, I’d be too scared,” grins the actor while Foy shakes her head in a vigorous denial.

ROCKET MEN If space is the final

frontier, here are the real life legends who helped forge the path.

THE RIGHT STUFF (1983) Adapted from the equally memorable book by Tom Wolfe, this is the account of the flying aces and test pilots who were selected for the first manned spaceflight attempted by the United States. A stellar cast including Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid and Sam Shepard didn’t stop this flaming out at the box office, although it received widespread critical acclaim, earning eight Oscar nominations and winning four. Now regarded as a classic of true-life adventure.

First Man is in cinemas on October 11

APOLLO 13 (1995) Real-life astronaut Jim Lovell uttered the famous line: "Houston, we have a problem", and Tom Hanks brought it to a whole new generation in this gripping account of the ill-fated 1970 space mission, brought to screen by Ron Howard. The director

considers it his favourite film, and it was certainly one of his most technically challenging. To depict weightlessness, Howard required a special NASA plane, which could only create the state for 23 seconds at a time.

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