It's been a while since we heard anything new about Damien Chazelle's First Man, the Neil Armstrong biopic starring Ryan Gosling. Today, thanks to a new interview at the Boston Globe, we at least know we should stop calling it a biopic.
According to the film's screenwriter, Josh Singer, First Man sounds a lot more like...an action thriller? Here's what he says (as quoted by The Playlist):
“Damien had a very clear vision from the outset. He said, ‘Can we get across how challenging this was? Can we get across the visceral nature of this?’ The space program has been depicted, tonally, on the softer side in the past.' Damien said, ‘I want to be terrified the entire time.’ It’s one of the earliest things we talked about. Neil’s heroism isn’t because he landed on the moon, it’s because he had the wherewithal to live through it all.”
So, how does one go about capturing all that terror and heroism? Action set pieces!
“This is 100 percent a mission movie. It’s about going to the moon as seen through the eyes of the guy who got there. We have at least five major set pieces that are action, and if your heart rate doesn’t go through the roof, if you’re not gripping the edge of your seat the entire times, I’ll be shocked.”
You'll recall that Chazelle's last film, La La Land, was not exactly overflowing with thrilling action set pieces. It was, however, filled with plenty of physicality and spectacle. Combine that with the balls-out intensity he showed in 2014's Whiplash (side note: we don't talk nearly enough about how great Whiplash is) and I'm finding it hard not to be intrigued by the idea of a Damien Chazelle action-thriller. Sounds like our dude's stretching himself a bit, maybe, but come on: how could anyone not be curious to see the results?
Good news is, none of us will have to wait much longer: First Man will be here on October 12th. Stay tuned for more on this one as it becomes available.