Check out Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong in Damien Chazelle’s First Man

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Humans have been traveling into space for decades, but that doesn't make the whole procedure any less terrifying, and Damien Chazelle's upcoming FIRST MAN, which follows astronaut Neil Armstrong on his quest to become the first person to walk on the Moon, is aiming to make us feel every single terrifying thrill of that journey. While we await the first trailer for FIRST MAN, People got the chance to speak with Damien Chazelle as well as show off a few photos from the upcoming film.

"What fascinated me about Neil Armstrong is that he is kind of a mystery," Chazelle said. "For someone that accomplished something that is among one of the most famous things that anyone has ever accomplished, the human himself is a little bit of an enigma. And 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." Gosling was Damien Chazelle's first choice for the role because he makes for a believable introspective hero. "I was fascinated by the psychology of what can drive someone to do what Neil Armstrong did, to physically go further than any human being in history pretty much, in terms of the journey he goes on," Chazelle added. "I think Ryan is able to capture that kind of drive, that kind of methodical focus, that kind of quiet heroism."

Starring alongside Ryan Gosling will be Claire Foy (THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB), who will be playing Armstrong's first wife, Janet. "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," Chazelle said. "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." In addition to telling the thrilling story of the moon landing, Damien Chazelle added that Ryan Gosling and himself believe FIRST MAN is about both the moon and the kitchen.

Which means basically we wanted to tell the story about one of the most epic accomplishments in human history, but root it very much in the intimate and the day to day details of what it was actually like. What did it feel like to be Neil or Janet at that moment in time and going through these truly superhuman kind of events. I wanted to try to tell the sort of epic space movie [story] but root it very much in family and in love and loss and marriage and parenthood and what those things mean.

FIRST MAN is set to hit theaters on October 12, 2018, and be sure to keep your eye out for the first trailer.