Last time they worked together, Damien Chazelle had Ryan Gosling singing and dancing through Los Angeles for La La Land, which kicked off with Another Day Of Sun. For First Man, he's packing him into a rocket and sending him to the moon. The first trailer is online.
Well, we say off to the moon, but the film is really about Neil Armstrong (played here by Gosling) and NASA's mission to get astronauts to the lunar surface. The story, adapted from James R. Hansen's eponymous book by Spotlight's Josh Singer, focuses on Armstrong and wife Janet (Claire Foy) in the years 1961-1969. The movie will explore the sacrifices and the cost – on Armstrong and on the nation – of one of the most dangerous missions in history.
Chazelle has rounded up a spectacular cast, which includes Kyle Chandler, Pablo Schreiber, Jason Clarke, Ciaran Hinds and Corey Stoll, among others and it has our space nerd sense tingling. The biggest challenge here will be that, thanks to history, we know how it all turns out. Yet it's the journey and the emotional effects on the men and women involved that will be the focus.
First Man launches on 12 October this year.
Keep up to date with all the latest movie news, click here to subscribe to Empire on Great Magazines and have the latest issue delivered to your door every month.