‘Fly Me to the Moon’ Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum star in the film about the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Greg Berlanti and the Fly Me to the Moon team celebrated their upcoming film at its New York City premiere on Monday night.
When the White House deems the moon landing too important to fail, she receives an order to stage a fake moon landing as a backup, in case things don’t go smoothly for Neil Armstrong (Nick Dillenburg), Michael Collins (Christian Zuber) and Buzz Aldrin (Colin Woodell).
While Fly Me to the Moon is a fictional story, the premise of the film is based on an actual conspiracy theory that the moon landing was faked, and that theory was front of mind for the project’s cast and crew.
“I think the fact that NASA was always going to participate in this movie to the degree that they did always made me know that we were honoring actually what happened,” Berlanti told The Hollywood Reporter at the premiere. “When you see the movie, without giving away the ending, you realize that so much of it is about why the truth is important. And so I think I was fine to take on an OG conspiracy theory, knowing that in the end, what we were really trying to say why the truth matters.”
For the Avengers star, it was interesting to play with that conspiracy theory in the film, one with alternate plan.
“Just playing around with that idea, like throwing the ball around creatively, and then Rose Gilroy coming in to write the script, that was like the missing piece,” Johansson told reporters on the carpet. “She’s such a playful writer. She got the tone immediately. The script was undeniably great.”
The film is about a team of people who team up to make sure the moon landing isn’t fake, explains star Jim Rash. “However, the idea that sure, the government had backup plan–probably,” he said. “So it was an interesting twist on that idea.”
Nick Dillenburg, who portrays Neil Armstrong in the film, recalled an original line in which he said “I gotta go take a leak.” That was something the historian on set pushed back on because they wanted to protect the famous astronaut’s image and “not talk about him going to the bathroom.
Why Johansson and Tatum were the ideal stars?
Berlanti: They really encapsulate “the spirit of the movie.”
“Their innate goodness, their innate comedy, drama, charm, it makes you want to watch them and want to watch the story,” he said. “They’re funny, and they’re smart, and hopefully, the movie is those things too.”
Fly Me to the Moon hit theaters July 12.
