"First man": Damien Chazelle discovers a great drama in a repressed hero

Viewers do not rate movies based on degree of difficulty. Voters in the academy know this, and they will recognize that "First Man" is a cinematographic feat. In 2014, after making "Whiplash", Chazelle collaborated with screenwriter Josh Singer, impressed by his work on Julian Assange's film "The Fifth Estate" (his Oscar for "Spotlight" came later). Chazelle wanted to show on film what it took for astronaut Neil Armstrong to land on the moon.

The filmmaker was not an addict of space. The spark for him was seeing how other films such as "Apollo 13" and "The Right Stuff" have never really said "how fragile, precarious and dangerous it was" , did he declare. "I imagined placing myself on a missile waiting for launch. I wanted to try to capture that. "

From the beginning, Chazelle wanted to "marry big and small with this film," he said. "It's a story of extremes: to go to the moon, as far as a human being left the Earth, the greatest cosmic journey in history, and then they prepare a breakfast for their children, trying to prepare a dinner for their friends, make puzzles, small family details that I found poignant. They tried to balance the normality with most abnormal things. They did not see themselves as walking in the story. In a way, it has become a routine in this little Houston bubble. For me at least, it's unfathomable to see how this could become a routine. I wanted the launches to be as frightening as possible, and that family life was micro and structured. "

What Singer discovered in the biography of James Hansen, NASA and the wonk, made him lose his head. After filling his brain with details of NASA's test pilots and technology race with the Soviets to the lunar surface, Singer identified four dramatic pillars of Armstrong's life: the death of his young daughter Karen; his family ancestor, his wife Janet (Claire Foy, winner of an Emmy Award "The Crown"); the Gemini mooring mission; and the landing of the moon. Chazelle and Singer presented their arguments to Universal and when Chazelle created "La La Land", Singer went to work.

Singer delved into the details of exactly what happened on Armstrong's flights. The film begins with its thrilling X-15 escapade over the atmosphere, filmed from inside the cockpit – for 8 pages – instead of going outside with wide exterior. The filmmakers had to understand what he was doing as the windows went from blue to black and that Armstrong was frantically moving the fretboard, aerodynamics and reaction controls when the altitude gauge went up. detached. Chazelle fired these 60s flights in 16mm. "The more you learn, the more you really know what you do not know," said Chazelle. "It's an endless abyss."

For the Gemini mooring mission, filmed in 35 mm, the airmen exchanged with the ground crew that worried when they lose contact with the astronauts. And when the flight director (Kyle Chandler) closes Janet's whistle box in a protective manner, she angrily charges control of the mission to confront him. When he tries to reassure her that NASA has everything under control, she shouts at him, "You're a bunch of boys making balsa wood models!"

Chazelle did not just want to get close to Armstrong. He wanted the public to feel and feel what he lived: the tragedy and the loss not only of his daughter, but of several close friends. "We wanted to push you in his place, you wanted to know how bad it was for those people," Singer said. "People have forgotten or perhaps did not know how difficult it was. NASA had reasons to hide and soften things. They did not want you too to know how much danger and sacrifice there was. "

Armstrong was an engineer and a straight arrow pilot, a private and taciturn soldier, a content man, of few words and little emotion, and Gosling plays it that way. The filmmakers begin by reconstructing an intense flight of X-15 – one of three in which Armstrong had to face serious flight problems while his daughter was dying. His bosses did not recommend him to become a Gemini astronaut. He volunteered after his death and returned to work. As a result of his daughter, Armstrong closes in his office for a private cry.

"The death of his daughter is shaping it up," Singer said. "Neil would push things and compartmentalize. You see it from the beginning. That's what causes chaos, the sacrifice is at home. "

Universal images

Chazelle adds: "Neil had this American innocence, grew up on a cornfield in Iowa, learned to fly before mastering driving. He had this childlike innocence, but there is this sadness, as we have interpreted it, hidden below. He smiles through sadness, that he compartmentalizes, keeps closed and spends all his life to overcome it, without ever surpassing it. It was Ryan's key, without betraying the fact that he was an introverted, calm and content man who did not emulate much. "

In his research, Gosling proposed some colorful elements to enliven his character, including an inspiring speech that Armstrong made during his interview at NASA about the reason for being there. Space exploration: to obtain a change of perspective on our planet. He also found one of the few laughs in the film when his classmates learned about Armstrong & Armstrong's entertaining rewrite of Gilbert & Sullivan.

Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures

The filmmakers decided that Neil's key was Janet. "She was going to be her emotional center," Singer said. "It's the story of the marriage that suffers blow after blow and the marriage manages to survive." (While their two sons helped with the film, Armstrong and his wife, who eventually divorced in 1994, have died.) Chazelle takes the claustrophobic picture of family life in the suburbs of Houston. He gave the actors two weeks of rehearsal and filmed some of their improvisation in fully constructed sets. "At home, the press surrounded you and death was choking you," Singer said.

The outspoken Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll) was a gift. "Buzz has been known to tell his mind. Above all, it says an uncomfortable truth that no one wants to hear, "said Singer. "He's a great character, the truth-teller."

"In a community where everyone does not say what he thinks," says Chazelle, "Buzz, that's the icebreaker."

Of course, the last third of the film takes us to the moon, and Chazelle opens the screen with an extraordinary evocation of the Apollo 11 flight and landing of the moon – shot in stunning high definition IMAX. Again, it keeps up with the POV astronauts while they fly the spacecraft into orbit (we hear their conversations with the mission control), and then bring back the module. lunar landing on the surface. "We are with Neil," said Singer. "We wanted to transmit this tension, if we do it well, and stay close to the guys."

Chazelle reproduces some archival footage of the landing of the moon. "I approach a lot, so it's as much about what you do not see as what you see. You only see the shadow and the dust, then when the dust falls, everything is motionless. It's more interesting than sticks on the floor.

The filmmakers were so motivated to be accurate and true to the story that Singer published an annotated script in which their facts and fiction are exposed. We all know that Armstrong went to the moon and back in 1969. Among those of us who are old enough, we remember where we were this night. But we do not know if he left the memory that the film suggests. Other moon walkers have left photos and personal items. Armstrong spent 10 minutes alone on the moon. The contents of his personal property kit is sealed until 2020. "We were so tired of doing things right and making Neil understand," said Singer, "that we would never have everything invented. It would have been too difficult.

screen capture

Filmmakers have asked experts to check the accuracy and errors of the film, which has wreak havoc in post-production. In the editing room, Chazelle juggled documentary-style improvisations on family life in Houston, the varied score of Justin Hurwitz, a complex sound design, and a gigantic VFX. "We were aware of the risks associated with shooting and the post," said Chazelle. "It was hard to find the balance between the epic movie about space and the family documentary."

Since the film debuted in Venice and has been featured at other fall festivals, both sides of the political division have read what they wanted in "First Man". For their part, the filmmakers tried to anchor the narrative in his time, when the white men The conversation and the lunar mission were far from popular, as the protesters were disputing the use of the. taxpayer money by NASA.

"What we are trying to do is a telling and revealing story, and not conservative or liberal," Singer said. "With regard to this film, in the face of climate change, what needs to be done to advance civilization?"

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