Fly Me to the Moon: Writer Rose Gilroy Stopped at Nothing to Write for Scarlett Johansson

So she started writing scripts, including a psychological thriller called The Pack, which is currently in development and has Alexander Skarsgård attached as director and star.

This sample script, eventually opened the door to meeting Johansson production company, These Pictures, which is led by the actor and her producing partners, Keenan Flynn and Jonathan Lia.

That’s when they pitched Gilroy on the idea for Fly Me to the Moon, then known as Project Artemis, which revolved around a plot to televise manufactured footage of the 1969 Moon landing with the real audio from the actual Apollo 11 mission.

“Ultimately, I was really green and not in the guild, so [These Pictures] were like, ‘We like your stuff, but this is such a gamble,’” Gilroy says. “So I wrote the first 15 pages on spec with their pitch, and I won the job that way. We then spent years developing it internally just with Scarlett’s company before she even took it out.”

The project was originally meant to be a producorial effort for Johansson, not a starring vehicle, but she was so impressed by Gilroy’s drafts and note implementation that she couldn’t pass up the chance to play Kelly Jones, who is best summed up as Mad Men‘s Don Draper mixed with Better Call Saul‘s Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler. Needless to say, Gilroy was elated when the Lost in Translation star doubled down in response to her work.

The film then became a reunion between Johansson and longtime friend/collaborator, Chris Evans, but the revolving door of Hollywood had its way, resulting in Channing Tatum joining as the male lead, NASA director Cole Davis. Greg Berlanti also replaced Jason Bateman in the director’s chair, and now, at long last, the outcome is a well-received romcom drama with the escapades of Ocean’s Eleven and Catch Me If You Can. And, at a time when our present-day real world is brimming with conspiracies and cynicism, Gilroy is proud to be a part of a patriotic film that celebrates one of America’s greatest accomplishments.

That said, for a film that pokes fun at the Moon landing conspiracy, there, of course, had to be references to filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, whom conspiracy theorists still credit with staging the Moon landing. So the film features a couple lines in reference to The Shining filmmaker, but Gilroy is now revealing that there were early drafts of the script where Jim Rash’s fictional director character was originally Kubrick himself.

“There was an early draft where Stanley Kubrick was in it, but it was kind of kooky and didn’t feel right,” Gilroy shares.

Gilroy also discusses the honest feedback that her family and friends provided her during writing, before explaining the origin story of Fly Me to the Moon’s feline scene-stealer, Mischief.

I resisted the family business for a really long time, and I took a traditionally academic path. I went to a small liberal arts school, pre-med, and I legitimately wasn’t smart enough. I tried so hard in all the classes and I just couldn’t get through them. I would work harder than everyone else and still get a C. So then I was pre-law, unofficially, and studying for the LSAT, and everything just got derailed when I graduated. So I really just started writing out of futility. I didn’t know what else to do, and it was the first thing that people said I was good at.

you’re one of few models turned produced screenwriters

I never thought about it that way. I really didn’t. I did model for a brief time, and I loved the people that I met and the friends that I made. So I have nothing against the industry, but I was just really lost during that time. It can be hard; it’s short money. So I am grateful that I found this and am able to have something else. All my friends would get promotions, and I would work a couple times a month on some editorial shoot, so I was grateful to transition out of it. But I never thought about it as unique. I don’t know why.

you started with shorts and some TV? 

This was the first paid job I ever had. I was not in the guild [WGA] when I got this job, but I’d been writing for three-and-a-half years. I wrote The Pack before this, which is still with Alexander Skarsgård [as director-star]. So I had samples that were going around and gaining traction, and Scarlett and her two producers who run her company — Keenan Flynn, who also came up with the story, and Jonathan Lia — were taking general meetings with writers in L.A. They had read this kooky sci-fi script that I wrote and The Pack, and they were willing to meet with me. So they pitched me [writer] Bill Kirstein and Keenan Flynn’s original idea that they had come up with together. They had a rough pitch for it, and I was like, “That is so cool.” No one had ever pitched me anything for space and NASA, and I was so honored that they would even think of me for it.

People in your inner circle who deliver a line for you?

I got notes — not just from my family, but from everyone. And, growing up in my family, I knew from my dad [Dan Gilroy] that this is not a glamorous job. It is hours in front of a computer screen, alone, and writing is rewriting. So I took notes from everyone. You have to get as many notes as you can. Also, the greatest thing that my parents and other people gave me was not BS-ing me. They just gave me the hard truth: “This is not good,” or, “This needs work.” So that’s how you get better. That’s the only way you can get better, aside from reading other scripts online. So I definitely got notes from people.

Scarlett loved your script, and wanted to play Kelly instead of just producing? 

The comps for Kelly are Don Draper meets Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGil and Kim Wexler

Totally. Don Draper was absolutely a part of the conversation. Leo’s [DiCaprio] character in Catch Me If You Can was another character in the conversation. So Don Draper was totally an inspiration, and that scene of Kelly with the belly was actually in the first 15 pages that I wrote on spec to win the job. So Don Draper and the idea of truth and lies totally inspired by that.

Conspiracy theories were mostly enjoyed as entertainment, but not now?

I became interested in this project initially because I have a huge admiration and interest in NASA and the Apollo era and what they did and the significance of it. The human accomplishment of getting ourselves off this planet and onto another world really meant something to me. So I was never worried about the conspiracy element because my intention on every page was to try and honor and celebrate what NASA did on that day. You can still have fun with things, though. You can call things out and have some fun, and still make a film that is ultimately about the fact that the truth matters. I actually was not aware of how massive and far-reaching the conspiracy is, because, when I look at everything online, it’s so clear to me that it did happen. So it was always my intention, and the intention of everyone around me, to celebrate the Moon landing, and the conspiracy was never really in the forefront of my mind.

Did the Moon landing conspiracy feel preposterous? 

could you make a strong case to a denier now? 

Yeah, there are some things that are worth correcting, and if I was asked about it or spoken to about it, I’d try my best to again do what this movie does and celebrate what NASA did. I’m so honored to be in a country that’s part of that accomplishment, and it’s a bummer when people try in any way to diminish that. I’d also say, “Go see the movie,” because it’s okay to have fun with it and not take it too seriously.

Referencing Kubrick? 

There was an early draft where Stanley Kubrick was in it, but it was kind of kooky and didn’t feel right. Of course, people straightened it out, but there was always an idea that there was going to be some line or some kind of a reference.

Jim Rash’s frustrated filmmaker evolved out of Kubrick?

Yeah, but I was talking years and years back. And thank God it did [evolve], because, oh my gosh, Jim Rash just blew my mind. And not to throw myself under the bus, but so much of his character was great improv. These lines just came out of the deepest part of him, and I was so grateful to work with him on this.

Fly Me to the Moon was once known as Project Artemis

I love the title we went with. It’s romantic and beautiful and optimistic, and it really hits every quadrant for me. What they landed with just feels right, like it was always supposed to be that.

Writing the feline character of Mischief–The Marvels, A Quiet Place: Day One, Argylle and Ripley?

No at all. I’m so happy that it’s in the zeitgeist. Out of the spirit of collaboration, the end of the movie originally had a It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World-type comedy sequence happening. And Keenan, in one of his notes, was like, “This is cool, but what if there was something moving, like … a cat?” I then spit out my coffee reading that note; it was so funny. My grandma, who has since passed, had a black cat named Mischief, and he was always unplugging the TV and messing up your stuff. I then thought about the superstition of it all, so we threaded it all the way through, and I’m so excited to be part of this cat wave. There’s no better wave to be on.

Fly Me to the Moon is about faking it till you make it

I’m totally making it up as we go along. But Kelly is such a survivor, so you have to be. You also have to bend towards people, and sometimes, you need a little bit of both. Kelly has some amazing points, and Cole has some amazing points, but they have to bend towards each other. So that’s true in real life in a lot of ways.

The Pack is still making its way through development?  

Strike timing threw everything a little down, but I’m so excited. Alex [Skarsgård] is going to do an incredible job with it, and I have utter faith in him. So I’m very excited for that one as well.