First Man Trailer: Ryan Gosling Heads to the Moon in Damien Chazelle Film

Universal Pictures released a new trailer for First Man – the Neil Armstrong biopic starring Ryan Gosling as the astronaut and the next film from La La Land director Damien Chazelle – on the day of its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday. The film, based on James R. Hansen’s book that has a slightly longer title, is garnering rave early reviews.

The new First Man trailer intercuts between the personal and professional lives of Armstrong, signing a lullaby to his young kid while stressing the importance of failing “down here so we don’t fail up there”. There are shots of him preparing for the lunar mission, the rocket launch, being questioned by reporters about the costs involved and his wife Janet Shearon (Claire Foy, from The Crown) about the chances of not coming back.

In addition to Gosling and Foy, First Man also stars Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty) as the first American to walk in space Ed White, Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) and Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire) as Mercury Seven astronauts Deke Slayton and Gus Grissom, Corey Stroll (House of Cards) as Buzz Aldrin, Christopher Abbott (Girls) as Apollo 15 commander David Scott, Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous) as NASA Group 2 member Elliot See, and Pablo Schreiber (Orange Is the New Black) as Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell among others.

With the film drawing praise at its premiere, Chazelle seems set to continue his hot streak, coming off the back of two critically-acclaimed and award-winning films in Whiplash and La La Land, the latter of which won him Best Director at the 2017 Oscars.

August 30, 2018