- First man on the moon movie with ryan gossling movie#
- First man on the moon movie with ryan gossling series#
The question will no doubt be asked again in the years ahead, as NASA and its partners ramp up a new lunar campaign. Kennedy’s famous “We Choose to Go to the Moon” speech in 1962. Why send people into space? That question has been asked ever since President John F. flag is visible in a panoramic CGI view of the lunar surface, but dwelling on the red, white and blue would have spoiled the bigger picture.
First man on the moon movie with ryan gossling movie#
After Armstrong’s first steps on the moon, the movie quickly moves through its denouement. The dramatic structure of “First Man” explains why the filmmakers didn’t make a big deal out of Apollo 11’s flag-raising ceremony. “The First” barely gets its crew out of Earth orbit by the end of the first season’s final episode, and Armstrong doesn’t take his one small step onto the moon’s surface until the last 10 minutes of a 141-minute movie.
First man on the moon movie with ryan gossling series#
(Spoiler alert: For the details, check out this Bustle interview with Singer.)Įven though “First Man” and “The First” are about missions to space, both the movie and the video series spend most of their time on earthly matters. Three of Gosling’s strongest scenes were crafted by screenwriter Josh Singer, based only on what James Hansen surmised about Armstrong while doing research for the book. Those moments were so private that not even Armstrong’s biographer could nail them down completely. But Gosling has the tougher mission in “First Man”: to portray Neil Armstrong’s outwardly, sometimes frustratingly dispassionate demeanor, while letting flashes of deep emotion break through in private moments. In “The First,” Penn lets the emotions show in his portrayal of a Mars mission commander who has to deal with his wife’s suicide and his daughter’s troubles. “The First” focuses even more sharply than “First Man” on the big questions surrounding human spaceflight, and arguably surrounding all exploration: Why would anyone take on a risky voyage, knowing that a bad outcome will cripple the loved ones left behind? What kind of mindset does it take to make that choice? And when an explorer chooses the frontier over family, what does that do to the family?
But the story arc, focusing on the choices that a veteran space commander (played by Penn) has to make between his mission and his family, rings true to life. In this regard, “The First” complements “First Man.” The Hulu series’ eight-episode first season, about a privately backed Mars mission in the 2030s, is totally fictional. The close call experienced by NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin echoed Armstrong’s close call - and the photos of those astronauts being hugged by their families afterward brought the same sense of catharsis that you get watching the most suspenseful moments of “First Man.” The release of “First Man” is eerily timely in light of this week’s aborted launch of a Russian Soyuz craft to the International Space Station. Or should that be “families”? For Armstrong, whose emotional life often seemed an enigma, the connections to his NASA family were arguably as strong as the connections to his wife, his two sons and the infant daughter he lost to cancer. Have no doubt: Space geeks will be over the moon.īut “First Man” packs its biggest emotional punch in the relationships between Armstrong and his family. And the end of the movie delivers CGI-enhanced lunar vistas that are literally out of this world.
So does the Apollo 1 fire of 1967, which dealt a heavy blow to the space program as well as to Armstrong. Hansen’s authorized biography of Armstrong. All those moments get screen time in a movie that’s based on James R.