First Man, new pics show Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong

First Man, new pics show Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong

0 comments 📅08 June 2018, 09:00

The first images from Damien Chazelle’s First Man have been released by Universal. Intended to be a biopic of astronaut Neil Armstrong, played by Ryan Gosling, writer Josh Singer has described it as a “mission movie” focussing on the terror of space flight:

“This is 100 percent a mission movie. It’s about going to the moon as seen through the eyes of the guy who got there,” Singer said. “We have at least five major set pieces that are action, and if your heart rate doesn’t go through the roof, if you’re not gripping the edge of your seat the entire times, I’ll be shocked.”

The casting of Gosling as Armstrong is nothing short of perfect. Chazelle told People that Gosling was able to capture the internal, quiet personality of the pioneering astronaut:

“Neil was not a showy person. A lot of the other astronauts and pilots of that era were what you expect, the outgoing, hotshot types, but Neil was very different. He was the brainier, quieter, more introverted person and he’s a man of few words who did the job and got it done. I see a little bit of Ryan in that as well and I think Ryan was able to capture it beautifully.”

However, Chazelle notes that he’s not going the traditional biopic route and that audiences should be prepared for the unexpected:

“Ryan and I described the movie to each other as it’s about the moon and the kitchen, which means basically we wanted to tell the story about one of the most epic accomplishments in human history, but root it very much in the intimate and the day to day details of what it was actually like.” he says. “What did it feel like to be Neil or Janet at that moment in time and going through these truly superhuman kind of events.

In fact, this movie boasts a pretty impressive cast, wholly suitable we think to take on this amazing subject. Claire Foy plays Armstong’s wife, Janet, Pablo Schreiber plays Jim Lovell, Lukas Haas plays Mike Collins and perhaps most importantly, Corey Stoll will play Buzz Aldrin. How the dynamic between Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin is portrayed will be fascinating.

The vastly underrated Jason Clarke plays Ed White, Shea Whigham plays Gus Grissom and Cory Michael Smith is Roger Chaffee. It’s generally believed that Grissom would probably have been the first to walk on the moon had the Apollo 1 fire not tragically killed all three astronauts.

Time to rewatch the excellent mini-series From The Earth To The Moon and The Right Stuff with Apollo 13 thrown in for good measure.

First Man opens October 12th.

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