One Giant Leap

Oscar-winning virtuoso Damien Chazelle reteams with his La La Land star Ryan Gosling to reach for the stars in his most ambitious project yet: revealing the untold story of Neil Armstrong in a space epic set to take audiences to the Moon. TF gets a mission briefing from the director and cast of the years first big awards contender.

- Matt Maytum

Ryan Gosling is encased in a stuffy metal can, his outerwear bearing Nasa insignia. An air-conditioning unit hums loudly but ineffectively in the background. As the heat becomes unbearable, Gosling clambers over to a small, shuttered window and yanks it open for a gasp of air. Relieved, he slumps back into his seat. Thankfully, we’re not on a shuttle in the dark recesses of space, but in a stainless steel trailer on the Universal Studios Lot in California, where TF has come to talk to the 37-year-old Canadian about his role in upcoming Neil Armstrong drama First Man, a leading contender for the upcoming awards season.

Gosling’s not wearing a spacesuit today, though his attire is fitting. His denim jacket has a small Nasa pin on the front, and a huge embroidered Nasa patch on the back. Less suitable for space travel are his trademark busted-up workboots, and while his hair’s still clipped closely at the sides, it’s now a little spikier on top. Seemingly by a stroke of serendipity, the day we meet – 20 July 2018 – is exactly 49 years to the day since Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon in 1969. Intentional? “I wouldn’t put it past Universal,” smirks Gosling, his drawl barely audible above the hum of the air-conditioner. “But no, I think it’s a strange coincidence.”

Unlike Gosling’s last film, Blade Runner 2049 – a film so shrouded in secrecy he couldn’t even speak about the opening five minutes – First Man is a story that, although never yet portrayed in a mainstream film, everyone the world over knows inside out. Or do they? Besides Armstrong’s name, and his unforgettable (but misheard) declaration (“One small step for [