Universal Pictures’ new film about the Apollo 11 mission, “First Man,” is due in theaters Oct. 12, and early reviews so far have been mainly positive. According to Variety, director Damien Chazelle knows the story has been told before, “so his audacious strategy is to make a movie so revelatory in its realism, so gritty in its physicality, that it becomes a drama of thrillingly hellbent danger and obsession.” The $70 million film, starring Ryan Gosling, is based on the book “First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong,” by James R. Hansen.
Armstrong was joined on the first Moon landing by astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Over the next few years, 10 astronauts followed, with Gene Cernan the last to leave his footprints on the Moon, in 1972. The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, which took place July 20, 1969, is coming up next year. AVweb‘s Paul Bertorelli remembers that day, and plans to review “First Man” for our readers next month.
