First Man (2014) – Damien Chazelle (Friday’s Finest)

First Man is the third movie by Damien Chazelle to be presented here after his previous entry Whiplash. It is a 2018 American biographical drama film developed from a screenplay by Josh Singer, based on the 2005 book of the same name by James R. Hansen. The project was originally announced in 2003, with Clint Eastwood slated to direct. After that rendition fell through, Chazelle, Gosling and Singer all signed on by 2015.

IMDB Storyline:
A Biopic on the life of the legendary American Astronaut Neil Armstrong from 1961-1969, on his journey to becoming the first human to walk the moon. Exploring the sacrifices and costs on the Nation and Neil himself, during one of the most dangerous missions in the history of space travel.

The film received critical acclaim, particularly regarding the direction, Gosling and Foy’s performances, musical score, and the Moon landing sequence. Similar to my last Friday’s Finest submission – Mr. Turner; despite the very positive reviews from critics at 87%, First Man has received just a 68% Audience Score at Rotten Tomatoes. I’m bemused at the reviews of “boring” or “too long”. This is not Apollo 13 or The Right Stuff, and is not meant to be. It is a character study based on a book James R Hansen which is a biography of Neil Armstrong, rather than a story of the moon landing per se. Of course the movie is going to show the moon landing, and the events which lead up to it, but these are just part of what the movie is about.

We see how hard it is to be a test pilot then astronaut. The launches and flights are seen from Neil’s perspective, his visceral experience of being on top of a missile smashing into space. These scenes are not spectacular, in the Apollo 13 sense, but dark, claustrophobic, noisy and confusing, like it really was. Armstrong is shown as an introverted man of few words and not particular friendly. But he has extraordinary coolness under extreme pressure. That’s why he was chosen as the first man. The movie portrays a real marriage, so unlike what is normal in Hollywood that it seems to be a shock to a lot of people. I certainly could relate to one or two exchanges between Neil and his wife Janet. Clare Foy portrays her as a sweet but strong woman.

Filming: It was shot without the use of green screen. Instead, LED displays of up to 10 meters were used. These projected images that would simulate the exterior of the spacecraft, both the Earth and space. Next to the screens, several simulators were built, each corresponding to a spacecraft. These were programmed to move synchronized with the images of the spherical LED screens that could be seen through the windows.

To recreate Armstrong’s home, the production crew built a replica of it in an empty lot. The lunar surface was recreated by building a set on the Vulcan quarry in Atlanta. Chazelle filmed these sequences at night, using a custom 200,000-watt light to duplicate the effect of sunlight on the surface. For the simulation of low gravity on the lunar surface, a balancing system calibrated for the actors was constructed. NASA historian Christian Gelzer, as well as astronauts Al Bean (from Apollo 12) and Al Worden (from Apollo 15), were on set as technical consultants.

IMDB Trivia:

• Mark Armstrong and Rick Armstrong said that this film contained the most accurate portrayal of their father Neil Armstrong and their mother Janet Armstrong.
• Apollo astronauts were considered government employees, with most at the rank of Captain. Regardless of their substantial education, the average yearly income of these astronauts in the 1960s was $17,000 (~$112,000 in 2019 money) solely based on military rank, and were not paid any hazard pay…. they were deducted for living expenses when aboard the spacecraft, as food and a bed were provided for them.
• The “1201” and “1202” alarms that sounded during the lunar descent was an indication that the computer was receiving more data than it could process. The procedure to fix this was to cycle the switch, which essentially ended the bottleneck. This was not the last time this error had been encountered in an Apollo flight. When Apollo XII was struck by lightning during its launch, it also triggered a 1202.
• The Apollo 11 crew eat steak and eggs before their launch. This has been the traditional launch day breakfast of NASA astronauts since 1961, when it was served to Alan Shepard for the first Project Mercury flight.

Spoiler alert: Do not read on if you haven’t seen “First Man and want to see it.
The film excerpt I have included below is the moving scene when Neil Armstrong releases his daughter’s bracelet on the Moon in remembrance of his family and her. To me it’s the most powerful scene of the movie. The compounding factors of where he was, the broken heart for his daughter and the music tied it all together into a seriously heart wrenching moment.
Fact check – Did Neil Armstrong Really Leave That Bracelet on the Moon? Armstrong never talked about it but his sister feels that he might have done so, given that he had 11 minutes alone on the moon — mostly exploring what is known as the East Crater — where no one knows exactly what he did. “Did he take something of Karen with him to the Moon?” Armstrong’s sister June asked Hansen rhetorically in the book. “Oh, I dearly hope so.” Buzz Aldrin and Armstrong did take personal kits to the moon, although Armstrong “never released any information about the contents of his PPK.”

References:
1. First Man (film) – Wikipedia
2. First Man – IMDB
3. ‘First Man’ Fact Check: Did Neil Armstrong Really Leave That Bracelet on the Moon? – The Wrap

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“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand