The moon landing drama has been chosen to open the 75th annual Venice International Film Festival.
Damien Chazelle’s space race feature, First Man, will be the second time the Oscar-winning director kicks off the eleven days of red carpet premieres after La La Land, kicked off the festival in 2016.
First Man reunited Chazelle with actor Ryan Gosling, who portrays US astronaut Neil Armstrong in his mission to become the first man to walk on the moon, centering on the years leading up to the Apollo 11 moon-landing mission. Also starring in the movie is The Crown’s Claire Foy as Armstrong’s wife, Janet Shearon.
“The hook was to think of it less as a biopic but as a mission movie, and to think of landing on the moon as this insane, once-in-history mission that I think we have a hard time even fathoming as a society now,” Chazelle told Variety in early 2017. “In other words, we take it for granted, I think. At least kids of my generation, you grow up, you know that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, you see the picture, it’s all very gleaming and you see the American flag and you feel proud, and that’s kind of it. You accept that it happened. But the challenge or the hope with this would be to try to play a little bit of a rewind and put you in a mindset where it hasn’t happened yet, and it’s the most insane thing that a group has ever come together to do.”
Chazelle is looking forward to the film’s world premiere at the festival, saying,“I am humbled by Venice’s invitation and am thrilled to return. It feels especially poignant to share this news so close to the moon landing’s anniversary.”
The 75th annual Venice Film Festival runs August 29 to September 8.
