First Man (film)

First Man
Teaser poster
Directed by	Damien Chazelle
Screenplay by	Josh Singer
Produced by	Wyck Godfrey Marty Bowen Isaac Klausner Damien Chazelle
Starring	Ryan Gosling Claire Foy
Cinematography	Linus Sandgren
Edited by	Tom Cross
Music by	Justin Hurwitz
Production companies	Universal Pictures DreamWorks Pictures Temple Hill Entertainment Perfect World Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	August 29, 2018 (2018-08-29) (Venice) October 12, 2018 (2018-10-12) (United States)
Running time	138 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$59–70 million
Box office	$5.9 million

First Man is a 2018 American biographical drama film directed by Damien Chazelle and written by Josh Singer. Based on the book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen, the film stars Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, alongside Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Ciarán Hinds, Christopher Abbott, Patrick Fugit, and Lukas Haas, and follows the years leading up to the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in 1969. Steven Spielberg serves as an executive producer.

First Man had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 29, 2018, and was released in the United States on October 12, 2018, by Universal Pictures. The film received praise for Gosling and Foy's performances and Chazelle's direction, as well as the moon landing sequence.

Cast

• Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, the astronaut who became the first man to walk on the Moon during Apollo 11.
• Claire Foy as Janet Shearon, Armstrong's first wife.
• Corey Stoll as Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon during Apollo 11.
• Pablo Schreiber as Jim Lovell, Gemini astronaut and backup commander on Armstrong's Apollo 11 mission.
• Jason Clarke as Ed White, the first American to walk in space, who died during a pre-launch test for Apollo 1, which was to be the first manned Apollo mission.
• Kyle Chandler as Deke Slayton, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, who became NASA's first Chief of the Astronaut Office.
• Christopher Abbott as David Scott, who flew with Armstrong on the Gemini 8 mission.
• Patrick Fugit as Elliot See, a member of NASA Astronaut Group 2. Armstrong and See were the backup crew for Gemini 5, and both were later chosen for command assignments: Armstrong on Gemini 8, and See on Gemini 9. See was killed in 1966 when his NASA trainer jet crashed into the McDonnell Space Center in St. Louis, where he was training for that mission.
• Lukas Haas as Michael Collins, the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 11, who also flew on Gemini 10.
• Shea Whigham as Gus Grissom, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. He was killed during a pre-launch test for Apollo 1, which was to be the first manned Apollo mission.
• Brian d'Arcy James as Joseph A. Walker, Armstrong's fellow X-15 test pilot who became the seventh man in space by taking that plane into space twice.
• Cory Michael Smith as Roger B. Chaffee, capsule communicator for the Gemini 3 and Gemini 4 missions, and the third crew member who was killed with Grissom and White in the Apollo 1 pre-launch test.
• J. D. Evermore as Christopher C. Kraft Jr., NASA's first Flight Director, who was in charge of America's first manned spaceflight and first manned orbital flight, as well as the Gemini 4 mission.
• John David Whalen as John Glenn, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. He became the first American to orbit the Earth.
• Ethan Embry as Pete Conrad, Pilot of Gemini 5 and backup commander for Gemini 8.
• Skyler Bible as Richard F. Gordon Jr., the backup pilot for Gemini 8 and pilot of Gemini 11.
• Ben Owen as John Hodge, the NASA Flight Director in charge of Gemini 8.
• Olivia Hamilton as Patricia White, Ed's wife.
• Kris Swanberg as Marilyn See, Elliot’s wife.
• Ciarán Hinds as Robert R. Gilruth, the first director of NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center.
• Shawn Eric Jones as Wally Schirra, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts and the ninth person to travel to space.
• William Gregory Lee as Gordon Cooper, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, who piloted the longest and final Mercury spaceflight. He was commander of Gemini 5.
• Steven Coulter as Guenter Wendt, the launch pad leader who was in charge of the spacecraft close-out crews at the launch pads for the Mercury and Gemini programs, and all manned Apollo missions.

Production

In early 2003, actor-director Clint Eastwood and production people at the studio Warner Bros. bought the film rights to James R. Hansen's First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong. Eastwood had previously directed as well as starred in the 2000 space-themed picture Space Cowboys, though he stated that he would likely not appear on camera in First Man.

Universal and DreamWorks ultimately took up the First Man project in the mid-2010s. Damien Chazelle, who received critical acclaim for his work in 2016's La La Land, signed onto the film's production in 2014, and hired Josh Singer to rewrite an existing script. Gosling, who starred in La La Land, joined as well to portray Armstrong in November 2015, and Hansen was hired to co-produce the film because of his role as the book's author. Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen also produced the film through Temple Hill Entertainment, with pre-production starting in March 2017. Principal photography began in Atlanta in November 2017. To recreate Armstrong's home the production crew built a replica of it in an empty lot, while the moon landing sequence was shot in a local rock quarry at night.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 29, 2018. It screened at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2018, and screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2018. It was released in the United States on October 12, 2018, by Universal Pictures.

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, First Man was released alongside Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween and Bad Times at the El Royale, and is projected to gross $18–25 million from 3,600 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $5.9 million on its first day, including $1.1 million from Thursday night previews at 2,850 theaters.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 270 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "First Man uses a personal focus to fuel a look back at a pivotal moment in human history - and takes audiences on a soaring dramatic journey along the way." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100, based on 54 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 79% positive score.

Owen Gleiberman of Variety called the film "so revelatory in its realism, so gritty in its physicality, that it becomes a drama of thrillingly hellbent danger and obsession." Writing for IndieWire, Michael Nordine awarded the film a B+, describing as "A powerful experience that will inspire renewed awe of what Armstrong and his ilk did." Nordine praised the opening flight sequence, Gosling's performance and Chazelle's direction. Diana Dabrowska from Cinema Scope wrote, "Armstrong's trip becomes a means for emotional emancipation, a backdrop for an intimate, universal story about dealing with trauma." Alex Hudson of Exclaim! gave the film 8/10 and praised the film's slow pacing and big payoff, writing, "The moon scene is truly jaw-dropping, and brilliantly captures the gravity — no pun intended — of that world-changing moment." Nicholas Barber of the BBC gave it a five-star rating, stating that "Gosling and Foy's performances in First Man are probably too unshowy to win awards. But they should, because they could hardly have been bettered. The same goes for the whole of this extraordinary film."

A. O. Scott wrote for The New York Times that the film “gets almost everything right, but it’s also strangely underwhelming. It reminds you of an extraordinary feat and acquaints you with an interesting, enigmatic man. But there is a further leap beyond technical accomplishment — into meaning, history, metaphysics or the wilder zones of the imagination — that the film is too careful, too earthbound, to attempt.” Anthony Lane of The New Yorker said the film "captures the grandeur and otherness of the Apollo saga, but not the Midwestern modesty of its hero, Neil Armstrong," writing: "Skillful and compelling this film may be, but, if Neil Armstrong had been the sort of fellow who was likely to cry on the moon, he wouldn’t have been the first man chosen to go there. He would have been the last." Richard Brody, also of The New Yorker, described the film as “a right-wing fetish object”, stating that it is “a film of deluded, cultish longing for an earlier era of American life, one defined not by conservative politics but, rather, by a narrow and regressive emotional perspective that shapes and distorts the substance of the film.”

Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair criticized Gosling's performance as "yet another man of few words, his hooded eyes and pursed lips again meant to signal depth but instead seeming a bit empty. Though Gosling lets some of his sly wit shine through in moments, there's a lot of passive, affectless mien going on in First Man." Stephanie Zacharek of Time said the film as a whole did not live up to Gosling's performance, writing: "This is a respectful movie, even a genuflecting one; there's never a moment when Chazelle fails to let you know he's doing important, valuable work. But that's the problem: The movie feels too fussed-over for such a low-key hero. Its star, Ryan Gosling, turns in a discreet, sensitive performance, almost too sensitive for the movie around it..."

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." The Armstrong family also released a statement, saying: "We do not feel this movie is anti-American in the slightest. Quite the opposite. But don't take our word for it. We'd encourage everyone to go see this remarkable film and see for themselves." Producer Wyck Godfrey told Deadline Hollywood the scene was not included because Chazelle "wanted to be truly emotionally back with the character [Armstrong] and process the emotional journey."

Buzz Aldrin, who landed on the Moon with Armstrong on Apollo 11, responded to the controversy with a tweet containing the hashtags "#proudtobeanAmerican #freedom #honor #onenation #Apollo11 #July1969 #roadtoApollo50" and two photos of him and Armstrong planting the flag on the Moon.

United States President Donald Trump commented on the film, "It's unfortunate. It's almost like they're embarrassed at the achievement coming from America, I think it's a terrible thing. When you think of Neil Armstrong and when you think of the landing on the moon, you think about the American flag. For that reason, I wouldn't even want to watch the movie."

External links

• First Man at IMDb
• Official website