It’s hard to believe there’s never been a big-screen telling of the first moon landing; it’s easier to believe that Damien Chazelle is the director who finally took on the challenge. Chazelle, the youngest person to take home the Oscar for Best Director – he won in 2017 for La La Land – sat down with Rotten Tomatoes’ Grae Drake to talk about bringing Neil Armstrong’s story to cinemas, and the challenges of telling a story that’s both deeply personal and epic in scale.
Also chatting for RT ahead of the release of First Man: Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy (who play Neil and Janet Armstrong); co-stars Lukas Haas, Patrick Fugit, and Olivia Hamilton; Bonnie White Baer, whose father Ed White died during the early stages of the Apollo program; Neil’s sons, Rick and Mark Armstrong; writer James R. Hansen, whose book First Man: The Life of Neil. A Armstrong the movie is based on; and screenwriter Josh Singer. Combined, they paint a picture of the inspiring man at the center of the new movie, and the pressure the filmmakers faced to do him justice.
