Fascinating Behind-the-Scenes Facts About 'First Man'

Director Damien Chazelle's film, First Man, starring Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong and Claire Foy as Janet Armstrong, is gearing up to win big at the 2019 Golden Globes, and it's not hard to see why. The movie is a biopic about Armstrong's life as an astronaut and his personal life at home, and critics are already raving about Gosling's depiction of him. Putting together a movie based on such a tremendous event wasn't easy, and a lot went into making it. Here's a look at some of the behind-the-scenes info about First Man:

First Man is based on the non-fiction book "First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong" by author James R. Hansen. It was first published in 2005 and is the only official biography of Armstrong. The book follows Armstrong's involvement in the space program and shares details about his personal life.

Screenwriter, Josh Singer, didn't take his job lightly: He says it took him four years of research to write the movie. Singer spent months talking to former astronauts and other people involved with NASA during the time of the space race and former astronauts - he also spoke with the Armstrong family. He told Business Insider, "I just felt a huge responsibility to get it right."

This film has been in the works for a long time. Film rights to the book that First Man was based on were sold back in 2003, before it was even published. Clint Eastwood was initially attached to direct, but that obviously changed.

Director Damien Chazelle had Ryan Gosling in mind for the lead role from the get-go. The pair have worked together before, but the first time they met was to discuss First Man. Chazelle told People, "It’s funny, the first time I ever met Ryan was to pitch him this role, before we did La La Land together, so it was a dream to have him in this role." Chazelle also told AZ Central that he felt Gosling was the "only person who could do it."

While researching his role as Neil, Gosling became fascinated with Armstrong's life, and the drive he must have had to take on such a seemingly impossible mission. In an interview with GQ, he said, "We were so interested in the duality of their lives, how these astronauts were using their flashlight of scientific knowledge to explore the vast mysteries of space, and at the same time, they would have to come home and mow the lawn and take out the trash."

Foy, who plays Neil's wife, Janet Armstrong, told The Playlist that she was shocked when she got the role. She said, "At no point did I ever consider that I would be kind of given the chance to do it. I was so honored." She explained why she felt that way, saying, "Just because it’s a Damien Chazelle film with Ryan Gosling. I mean those sort of things don’t happen very often."

When you consider history versus the movie scenes, the film is actually a very accurate portrayal of what really happened. It's also an accurate portrayal of Neil. According to History Vs. Hollywood, the movie shows that Neil was "not the hotshot type, nor was he a fame-seeker. He was a man of few words who was driven to accomplish something no other human being had done." They added that he was always considered "a bit of an enigma," making the film even more fascinating.

In order to realistically pull off the moon sequence, the crew had to create the biggest film light that's ever been used, or made. In an interview with Collider, Chazelle explained that they thought the best way to shoot it was outside at night, while simulating the sun with a giant film light. They sculpted rocks into a "lunar surface," and spent several days there filming.

It's hard not to marvel at the cinematography in the film, and to wonder how the special effects came to life. According to Thrillist, Chazelle didn't only rely on CGI, he also used miniature rocket models. They put a ton of work into creating realistic-looking models, even roughing them up when needed.

First Man became the focus of some controversy when viewers realized one real-life scene had been left out of the movie: Neil and Buzz Aldrin planting the American flag on the moon. Many felt it was anti-American and expressed outrage. Senator Marco Rubio tweeted, "This is total lunacy." Even President Donald Trump commented on it, saying, "I think it’s very unfortunate...it’s almost like they’re embarrassed at the achievement coming from America. I think it’s a terrible thing."

Gosling spoke up to defend the film when it came to the flag scene. During a Venice press conference, he said the decision to leave out the flag scene was a conscious choice and one that contributed to the way they wanted Armstrong to be seen. He said, "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. He was reminding everyone that he was just the tip of the iceberg – and that’s not just to be humble, that’s also true. So 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 debate about the flag scene was so heated that even Neil's sons spoke up. Both Rick and Mark Armstrong released a statement with "First Man" author, James R. Hansen, 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."

Singer wasn't the only one who did a lot of research before the movie was shot - so did Gosling. In fact, according to GQ, Gosling was so inspired by what he found out that he signed up for flight lessons at home in LA. to "understand matters more completely."

In the opening scene of the movie, Neil pilots an X-15 rocket into the stratosphere, and this was depicted almost exactly right. According to History vs. Hollywood, Neil really did have trouble getting back to Earth as the plane bounced off the atmosphere. The only part of the scene that wasn't in line with history was when he looked out the window and saw white clouds. Realistically, they would have been too far away.

In an interview with Digital Spy, Foy said she hadn't known anything about her character, Janet, before the movie. "She was an extraordinary woman. She could fly a plane, her father flew and so she flew and she wanted to get a pilot's license, but she never got round to it. She definitely understood Neil's fascination with flight and space travel," Foy said. Janet passed away early in 2018, and Foy didn't have the chance to meet her.

During an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Gosling, who has two daughters with Eva Mendes (Amada Lee, 2, and Esmeralda Amada, 4), revealed that his daughters thought he was actually an astronaut. He said, "They came to set. They came on this day where I was shooting a launch scene, so I was in the spacesuit and pretending to launch. I think they think I'm an astronaut now." He added, "My oldest said the other day - she pointed to the moon - she was like, 'That's where you work, right?'"

Chazelle told People that he was surprised at the natural, immediate chemistry between Gosling and Foy. He said, "Ryan and Claire Foy had never worked together, but I remember right from the beginning they just slipped into these roles, and just became a family on camera. There was this sort of chemistry and bond between Ryan and Claire onscreen that really felt like the young Neil and Janet Armstrong that I had read about."

The film also focused on Neil's personal life, and one scene shows him and Janet dancing. The song in the movie is the actual song they listened to in real life. Chazelle told People, " It was a track that Neil and Janet shared with each other and that Neil wound up bringing with him on the Apollo 11 mission. It’s called 'Lunar Rhapsody'. It's quite appropriate, but it's this sort of weird, Theremin orchestral track from the early days of the Theremin [an electric instrument with metal antennas]."

One of the great things about the film is that it also focused on Janet's point of view, which Foy loved. In an interview with POPSUGAR, she said, "Josh told me that he wanted me to show another side of the story, give a voice to the women's side of it. What the women were dealing with. And I think looking back and seeing it through a woman's eyes is valuable, really. Janet always knew that he may be going to the moon, but that ultimately, family was the most important thing to her. Essentially, her family's being put in jeopardy all the time by virtue of his job. But I just think it's a story that people haven't really heard before from that point of view, from the point of view of the wife, I suppose."

However, not everything in the film was completely accurate. One thing that wasn't was when the movie showed Neil injuring his face when he was forced to eject from the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle and parachute to the ground. What really happened was just that he bit his tongue too hard when making impact with the ground.

Another scene that may not have been accurate was a pretty big one in the movie. At the end of the film, Neil is shown tossing a bracelet into the crater. It had the name of his daughter, Karen, on it - she died from a brain tumor when she was two-years-old. Some scholars believe Neil did actually do this, and Singer's research led him to believe he did, saying, "leaving memories for loved ones or lost ones is something astronauts did." There is no evidence that Neil did it, though.

Before officially taking on the role as Neil, Gosling spoke with his sons, Mark and Rick, to get their blessing. The two said that after meeting and talking, they could tell Gosling was serious about playing their dad, and gave their blessing. Gosling told the Los Angeles Times that if they hadn't, it would have been over for him. He said, "It all really began with them - did it feel right to them that I be doing this? If I didn't feel their support, I wouldn't have done the film."

One of the reasons Mark wanted the movie made about his dad was so that people could really understand the kind of person he was. In an interview with AZ Central, he said, "People don’t really know my dad for the guy that he was. They have this image of him that might be somewhat gilded. They think of him as being very non-social and all these other terms that don’t bear repeating because they’re just not true. He was musical and funny and playful and amazing. That’s what I want people to know."

In an interview with POPSUGAR, Foy said that working with the cast (including Gosling, Olivia Hamilton, and Jason Clarke) was "amazing" and "incredible." She also praised Gosling, saying, "I think Ryan led the cast so, so well. He was in every scene, all day, every day. He went above and beyond anything he could possibly do physically - the things he did for that character... Everything that you see in the movie, he did. It's just incredible. And he also is such a humble, kind, kind of person. Him and Damien together create a very, very relaxed, friendly, open, and kind of equal atmosphere on set. So they created a perfect working environment for this movie."

Besides leaving out the planting of the American flag on the moon scene, Singer also almost left out the line, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." In an interview with Vox, he explained that he left out the flag scene to show people the things they hadn't seen instead of the things they knew about. He said, "To me, it’s all about what you didn’t know, not what you do know. Everyone has seen 'One small step …' Everyone has seen the flag planting, the phone call with Houston. But what most people don’t know is that Neil wandered off to Little West crater at the end of his little sojourn on the moon. It wasn’t planned. He just wandered off to take a look at the crater. Then the question is, 'What did he do there? What did he think about there?'"

What the cast and crew really wanted was for viewers to truly understand what it was like for astronauts like Neil to go into space. In one interview, Chazelle said, "I wanted the whole feel of the film to reflect what it must have felt like to be going on these missions, to really put the viewer into a totally immersive sort of experience." He added, "It's all about making the audience feel something."