First Man [2018]

EMM# : 9444
Added: 2018-12-14

First Man (2018)
The most dangerous mission in history
Experience the impossible journey to the Moon.
One giant leap into the unknown.

Rating: 7.6

Movie Details:

Genre: Biography (Drama| History)

Length: 2 h 21 min - 141 min

Video: 1904x784 (23.976 Fps - 2 150 Kbps)

Studio: Universal Pictures| DreamWorks| Perfect World Pict...(cut)

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A Biopic on the life of the legendary American Astronaut Neil Armstrong from 1961-1969, on his journey to becoming the first human to walk the moon. Exploring the sacrifices and costs on the Nation and Neil himself, during one of the most dangerous missions in the history of space travel.
Written by
Matthew Villella
Plot Synopsis:
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Some of the voices heard in the film are actual recordings from the space program. For example, when Apollo 11 lands on the moon, the reply from Houston is the original. It's the voice of astronaut Charles Duke, who had the job of communicating with Apollo 11 during the landing. Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) says "Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle Has Landed", then Charlie Duke says "Roger, Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."
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Neil Armstrong's sons Mark and Eric say First Man is the most accurate portrayals of their father and mother Janet.
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In the breakfast scene just before Apollo 11 launched, the artist sketching Armstrong is Chris Calle, son of the NASA artist Paul Calle. Chris was playing his father who actually sketched the crew that morning.
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Actor Ryan Gosling first discovered Armstrong's love of the theremin during his background research with Armstrong's family and friends. He brought it to Damien Chazelle and Justin Hurwitz's attention, who later chose to include the strange instrument in the score.
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When Armstrong talks about taking his daughter to Saskatchewan to try to have her treated by the man who developed the technology, he is referring to Dr Johns who developed Cobalt-60 radiation treatments at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
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Common errors beautifully avoided by this film include: the Earth & Moon are always lit by the Sun at the same angle, no clouds appear at high altitudes, the paradoxical nature of accelerating & braking rockets in orbit, the oxygen fire causes an implosion not an explosion, no obtrusive lights hidden inside astronaut helmets to show off their faces, and there is no ambient sound in the vacuum of space.
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Ryan Gosling suffered an injury while filming one of the many shuttle sequences. His partner Eva Mendes told him to go to the hospital after noticing the bizarre behavior of his passionately ranting to her about national doughnut thieves. It was later discovered he had suffered a concussion and Mendes had unknowingly saved his life.
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Damien Chazelle was particularly attached to making his film as authentic as possible. This care for detail was maintained, until it came to the reproduction of the space capsules. He and chief designer Nathan Crowley agreed that no ship would be enlarged by more than 10%, even if it sacrificed the comfort of the actors. This also caused complications for framing. The solution was to create a decor that fit in several detachable parts. In fact, the technicians had to break the seats in two to be able to integrate the cameras with the capsule.
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Damien Chazelle's first choice to play the role of Neil Armstrong was always Ryan Gosling. Gosling was even rumored to be attached to the project during its development stage but nothing was officially confirmed. It wasn't until after Gosling did La La Land (2016) with Chazelle that Gosling would officially sign on to do the project.
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James R. Hansen, biographer of Neil Armstrong, co-produces the film. It is thanks to him that the project was able to succeed. Indeed, the astronaut had full confidence in the one who became his friend over the years. "For Neil, as long as you followed Jim's path, there was no problem in making this movie," said producer Wyck Godfrey, who had the chance to meet Armstrong before his death on August 25, 2012. After his death, it was essential to have the support of his family. His sons met the screenwriter Josh Singer and the director Damien Chazelle and were convinced by their concern for accuracy and authenticity.
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Original music composed by Justin Hurwitz features various uncommon instruments including theremin (which Hurwitz had learned to play and his performances are in the final score), Moog synthesizer and an Echoplex which give the score its uniqueness. He also rerecorded a string orchestra being played back through a Leslie rotor cabinet to create special sound effects.
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Armstrong's famous quote as he stepped on the moon is the subject of historical controversy. The movie quotes accurately what was heard on Earth and in all recordings: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Armstrong later revealed that he intended to say "... one small step for [A] man ..." and that he thought he did, but all efforts to extract this from the recording, even with electronics, have been inconclusive.
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Clint Eastwood was originally going to direct the movie.
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To prepare for his role, Ryan Gosling unearthed Lunar Rhapsody, a piece of theremin that Neil Armstrong loved and listened to during the Apollo 11 mission, as well as Egelloc, a musical he had written at the university.
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Not content with training them at NASA, Damien Chazelle sent each of his actors YouTube videos of the person they embodied so they could learn to reproduce their phrasing and tics of language. In addition, the director provided a list of books and films to consult. Literary suggestions include titles such as 'Carrying the Fire' by Michael Collins, 'Deke!' by Deke Slayton and Michael Cassutt, and 'First Man' by James R. Hansen. On the movie side, there's For All Mankind (1989), Moonwalk One (1970) and Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo (2017).
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James R. Hansen, the author of First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong (Simon and Schuster, 2005, 2012), is a two-time nominee for the Pulitzer Prize in History. His 1995 book Spaceflight Revolution: NASA Langley Research Center from Sputnik to Apollo was nominated for the Pulitzer by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the only time NASA ever nominated a book for the prize.
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Shipped to cinemas under the pseudonym "Sputnik".
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This is the first Universal Pictures film to use IMAX cameras.
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Pablo Schreiber plays Jim Lovell, another pilot of the Gemini program and Apollo programs, a character that audiences have already met in Apollo 13 (1995) as played by Tom Hanks.
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The depiction of the astronauts' quarantine in the finale is accurate - most of their time was spent in the spacious and private Lunar Receiving Laboratory, not the infamously cramped trailer they used to get there - but the face to face meeting with Janet Armstrong did not occur.
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The Adler Planetarium in Chicago gifted Ryan Gosling certificates for two stars named after his daughters in the constellations of their birth signs as a thank you for his work on the film.
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The filmmakers used the original blueprints of Neil Armstrong's house to replicate the look of his house in the film.
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All of the residential scenes were filmed in the "Saddle Creek" neighborhood in Roswell, Georgia, USA. Neil Armstrong's house was built on a vacant lot in the subdivision, which was surrounded by 1960's/1970's era homes.
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Damien Chazelle was approached to stage First Man once Whiplash (2014) completed, while he had not yet realized La La Land (2016). The director wanted to approach this story as a thriller and make the public feel the dangers faced by the astronaut team.
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This is the first film directed by Damien Chazelle where he didn't write the script.
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'First Man' is from James R. Hansen's book 'The First Man: Discovering Neil Armstrong' (Robert Laffont Editions). After writing a thesis in the history of science and technology at the University of Ohio, and spending more than 20 years writing and teaching on the themes of history and space, Hansen decided to start writing his first biography. In 2000, he contacted Neil Armstrong who, reluctant to give interviews, declined the proposal. In the end, it took Hansen two years to convince Armstrong, with the support of his family.
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Ryan Gosling and director Damien Chazelle visited the Armstrong Air and Space museum in Neil Armstrong's hometown of Wapakoneta, Ohio to do research on Armstrong and the Gemini VIII mission.
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The opening scene shows Armstrong's infamous mishap when flying the X-15 supersonic vehicle, but merges this with a later incident involving Chuck Yeager for economy. Armstrong was flying in a T-33 with Yeager, testing X-15 landing sites when the T-33 became stuck on one lake bed, stranding Armstrong and Yeager in the desert. These early incidents in Armstrong's career became part of the test pilot lore, although Yeager supposedly found the T-33 fiasco hilarious and enjoyed ribbing the younger pilot about it.
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Segments from the last voice transmission from the space shuttle Challenger sent just before it exploded during launch in 1986, were used in one of the trailers.
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This is the first film Damien Chazelle has directed to not be music-based.
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The lunar sequence was shot on 70mm IMAX cameras and would have expanded aspect ratio during select sequences exclusively in IMAX theaters before Universal decided not to make any 70mm IMAX prints for distribution.
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Of the three top billed stars, none is an American.
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If Nathan Crowley, the head designer, was already used to working on space films (Interstellar (2014)), it is the first time in his career that he had to film the Moon. A challenge he had long pushed back, aware of the puzzle that it represented. He and Damien Chazelle chose a quarry at Vulcan Rock Quarry in Stockbridge.
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This will be Damien Chazelle & Justin Hurwitz's fourth collaboration together with the first three being Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009), Whiplash (2014) & La La Land (2016).
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Actor Jason Clarke, who plays Apollo 1 astronaut Ed White, was born on 17 July 1969, one day into the Apollo 11 mission.
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The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August 2018.
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First Man brings together several Academy Award winners: director Damien Chazelle, screenwriter Josh Singer (Spotlight (2015)), director of photography Linus Sandgren (La La Land (2016)), editor Tom Cross (Whiplash (2014)), composer Justin Hurwitz (La La Land (2016)) and producer Steven Spielberg.
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After extensive research on the history of NASA, Damien Chazelle initiated operations at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral and Johnson Space Center in Houston. The same goes for the cast of astronauts who followed a training camp.
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Jon Bernthal was cast but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. He was replaced by Christopher Abbott.
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American flag controversy: On August 31, 2018, it was reported that the film would not include a scene of Armstrong and Aldrin planting the American flag on the Moon. Florida Senator Marco Rubio described the omission as "total lunacy". Chazelle responded with a statement, saying: "I show the American flag standing on the lunar surface, but the flag being physically planted into the surface is one of several moments (...) that I chose not to focus upon. To address the question of whether this was a political statement, the answer is no. My goal with this movie was to share with audiences the unseen, unknown aspects of America's mission to the Moon." Following the film's below-expectations opening of $16 million, some analysts speculated that the flag controversy was in part to blame.
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The film had a four-minute IMAX preview that played in front of Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018). This is the second time a Universal Pictures film had an IMAX preview after the 3D re-release of Jurassic Park (1993), which had a four-minute preview that preceded Oz the Great and Powerful (2013).
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Includes an excerpt of an educational film about the planned lunar mission, including an end credit screen saying: "A Presentation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Pelican Films Inc. HQ88".
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This is Damien Chazelle & Ryan Gosling second collaboration together with the first being La La Land (2016).
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Jason Clarke and Kyle Chandler also co-starred in Zero Dark Thirty (2012).
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Ryan Gosling's character in the 2002 movie Murder by Numbers (2002) has a scene where he is buying drugs and says "for 400 bucks an ounce, it better put me on the moon."
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Jason Clarke appears in the film as Edward H. White II. Clarke had previously starred as Sen. Ted Kennedy in Chappaquiddick (2017), which chronicled the Chappaquiddick incident that happened around the same time as the Apollo 11 moon landing. In Chappaquiddick's opening scene, Senator Kennedy is seen talking about JFK's promise to send men to the moon. The scene is followed by shots of a Saturn V/Apollo launch.
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Janet Armstrong really did drive down to Mission Control after they cut off her "squawk box" during the Gemini-Agena mishap.
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The exact personal items that Armstrong took on the Apollo 11 mission - his Personal Preference Kit or PPK - have never been disclosed by NASA, and Armstrong provided only a few remarks on the subject. (Parts of the Wright Flyer, donated by and returned to the US Air Force Museum; his fraternity pin; and "some Apollo 11 medallions, some jewelry for my wife and mother [a pin for each], and some things for other people".) Janet Armstrong does not believe that he carried any items for his sons. The book and the film speculate about what remaining items there might have been, however any such information will likely continue to be private.
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Damien Chazelle keeps up his signature style of closing a movie with lead actors tangibly looking at each other without speaking. Both of his previous movies, Whiplash (2014) and La La Land (2016), had similar endings.
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When the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival, it faced controversy for not featuring the iconic planting of the American flag on the Moon during the Lunar sequence. Ryan Gosling defended the omission because, "it transcended countries and borders...I think this was widely regarded in the end as a human achievement [and] that's how we chose to view it. I also think Neil was extremely humble, as were many of these astronauts, and time and time again he deferred the focus from himself to the 400,000 people who made the mission possible. I might have cognitive bias, [but] I don't think that Neil viewed himself as an American hero. From my interviews with his family and people that knew him, it was quite the opposite. And we wanted the film to reflect Neil." The biography upon which which the film is based recounts the astronauts' struggles with the malfunctioning flagpole, which "nearly turned into a public relations disaster", in some detail.
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When the men are watching the Sputnik space flight the outlets the television is plugged into are three-pronged outlets. In the sixties there were only two-pronged outlets.
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During the launch scene for Apollo 11, during the aerial shot of Cape Canaveral from out over the Atlantic, the Shuttle Landing Facility is clearly visible in the background. The SLF was not constructed until 1974, therefore it did not exist in 1969.
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The word "NASA" on the tail of Armstrong's X-15 is in yellow lettering when he lands but (correctly) in black after the recovery team arrives.
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When the photojournalist is shooting at Armstrong's home, the close-up of the photographer is mirrored/reversed. The Leica camera he is holding normally has a transport knob on the left hand side.
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When Armstrong stands on the very edge of a moon crater looking into it, between wide and high shots his distance from the crater rim shifts.
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Neil Armstrong never trained in the spin test device, known as MASTIF (multi-axis spin test inertia facility). The device was used for the original Mercury program astronauts but was deemed unrealistic and abandoned. It is considered an irony in space program history that Armstrong never trained in this device and yet is the only astronaut actually to experience the condition is simulated.
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The interiors of the various spacecraft are shown as slightly grubby, with the appearance of grime and fingerprints. Actual spacecraft are kept scrupulously clean to reduce the possibility off floating debris causing an equipment failure.
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Transmissions between the earth and the Apollo capsule as it neared the moon were shown as comments and instant responses while, in fact, the moon is 240,000 miles away and there is a 1.4 second delay in the time it takes for electronic signals to travel that distance. Thus, a comment on one end would take 1.4 seconds to reach the receiver with another 1.4 seconds for the response - a total of 2.8 seconds minimum between making a comment and receiving a response.
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The windows on the command and lunar modules are heavily streaked throughout the trip to the moon. The CM windows are sheathed by the launch escape system until the rocket clears low level clouds, while the LM windows are enclosed within the third stage cowling until after the rocket leaves Earth orbit. The windows should be clear, as is evident in the pictures and movies taken during the original moon flight.
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Neil's spacecraft vibrate mightily during launches, but in reality, astronauts have reported the ride up rather smooth.
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The movie depicts lunar terrain as incredibly rugged with sheer crater walls and cliffs. In one scene Armstrong stands on the brink of a crater that looks like a deep, dark, well. In fact slopes on the Moon are very gentle, almost never greater than 35 degrees, due lack of wind and water erosive processes. Actual lunar terrain has a smooth appearance thanks to sandblasting by micro-meteoroids for billions of years.
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After the LEM lands physically on the moon, Aldrin says "Contact light" and Armstrong says "Engine stop". In fact the contact light comes on when the lander is about 5 feet above the surface (from a strip which hangs down from the LEM's feet), and stopping the rocket engine allows the lander to fall the rest of the way, so these things were actually said immediately before the Eagle rested on the ground, not afterwards.
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The astronauts can see out of what appears to be all of the Command Module windows during the Apollo 11 launch. The launch escape tower actually covered the windows on the Command Module, except for the hatch window, until the Launch Escape tower is jettisoned.
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The launch sequence is incorrect. The Saturn V main stage engines start 8 to 9 seconds before the actual launch of the rocket. Then all of the umbilical connections swing away at once and the hold-down clamps release.
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During translunar injection, the crew were mandated to have helmets and gloves on (source: Carrying the Fire, Michael Collins). In the film they are shown without.
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Armstrong is shown being introduced to Buzz Aldrin and Roger Chaffee in August 1965 as though he hadn't met them before. They had actually been selected into the space program in October 1963 so Armstrong would have known them quite well by then. In the same conversation he is told that Dave Scott has been assigned to be his pilot on Gemini 8. Scott was in the same astronaut group as Aldrin and Chaffee.
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When Neil is looking out the window of the spacecraft, the moon is shown in last quarter phase. In reality, it was just after Full Moon.
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In the scene on the pad just prior to the Gemini 5 launch, Deke Slayton advises Neil that he has been selected to command Gemini 8, and suggests that it will probably be the first docking mission. However, Gemini 6 was already planned as the first docking flight, and didn't achieve that goal owing to the launch failure of its Agena target vehicle.
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From Cape Kennedy, the Moon had just risen and was only 14 degrees above the horizon at liftoff - so the Moon was not visible to the astronauts looking upward through the hatch window.
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The X-15 flight depicted in the film where the aircraft bounces back out of the atmosphere occurred on April 20, 1962 not in 1961 as shown in the movie.
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During the LTV simulation, the "Lunar Module" is seen plummeting straight to the ground while exploding in mid-air but with Neil ejecting himself just in time. Although Neil did eject himself before the explosion, the LTV explosion was a little different. In the footage from 1968, unlike the movie, the LTV is seen coming to the ground. Then, it starts to climb up and almost reach 90 degrees before exploding.
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During the scene showing Neil and Buzz in the quarantine facility (watching a rerun of JFK's 'We choose to go to the moon...' speech at Rice University in 1962), the camera scans across many different newspapers and magazines covering the flight in a nearby shelf. One of the magazines was National Geographic. NG's cover article on Apollo 11 wasn't until the December 1969 issue.
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In this film Bob Gilruth is depicted as having a full head of hair and Buzz Aldrin is bald. In real life, at the time of the Apollo Program Gilruth was bald and Aldrin had hair.
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The movie depicts Neil's wife at home in Houston during the moon mission. In fact, families were routinely at the launch site during the event. Both Armstrongs are also shown driving a beat-up '62 Chevy throughout the movie. They surely would have gotten a better car in seven years. In fact, GM lent the astronauts new Corvettes as an ad for the car's high performance image.
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During the Apollo 1 fire, the mobile service structure was in place against the rocket and space craft. As portrayed in the movie, the service structure was in its launch position.
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The exterior view of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) has the USA flag painted on the side of the building. This was not present during the Apollo Era. This painting was completed in 1976 for the country's Bicentennial.
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In the last meal before the Apollo 11 crew heads into space, Neil Armstrong is shown eating using the European style, with fork in left hand with the tines pointed down. This surprises some American viewers but Armstrong did eat this specific breakfast in that specific manner - it is seen in the famous sketch by Paul Calle and various photographs for example.
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When one of the astronauts is shown collecting a lunar soil sample, the crotch strap of his spacesuit is undone.
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Towards the end of the Apollo 1 fire, an exterior shot shows the hatch accompanied by a loud thud, presumably a breach of the inner wall of the capsule. No one else is there and there are no flames or smoke coming from within after the inner wall breach. The scene does not depict the ground crewmen who frantically tried to open the hatch from the outside or the flames and smoke that hampered their rescue efforts.
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