Berlanti also littered his film with archival footage, including 1960s television commercials, news broadcasts, and more.
Everett Collection
Then, there’s the launch of Apollo 11 itself.
People can’t tell what’s what."
Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in ‘Fly Me to the Moon’.Everett Collection
Did having this historical element make your job significantly harder?
It’s always going to be something.
It makes things not feel like you’ve done them before.
Channing Tatum in ‘Fly Me to the Moon’.Sony Pictures Releasing / Courtesy Everett
So that part was neat.
Or to watch my dad show up as an extra dressed as my grandfather was dressed back then.
Tell me more about your partnership with NASA.
Jim Rash and Scarlett Johansson in ‘Fly Me to the Moon’.Everett Collection
You shot at Cape Kennedy.
Were you working with a lot of scientists?
Our producer, Jonathan Lia, was in direct contact with them throughout the development of the script.
Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in ‘Fly Me to the Moon’.Everett Collection
Everybody spent many, many, many hours [recreating] every single detail in that facility.
So how did you create a fairly real, yet obviously fake version of the moon?
It is the size of a baseball field pretty much.
Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in ‘Fly Me to the Moon’.Everett Collection
What source of light would you use so there would be only the right kinds of shadows?
It’s a massive key light, almost five stories.
So, the set had to be super high too.
Channing Tatum, Woody Harreslon, and Scarlett Johansson in ‘Fly Me to the Moon.Everett Collection
If I never see another sample of dust the rest of my life, I’ll be okay.
Then, we had our stuntmen who had to play our astronauts, who were on wires.
We had to figure out, in that ‘69 technology, how would they obfuscate the wires.
I wasn’t sure which portion of the moonwalk I was going to use.
So we had them learn all two and a half hours of the moonwalk with a choreographer.
We shot all of it.
It goes on and on.
Did you turn to the Smithsonian and their moon rocks, samples, etc.
No, we did not.
There’s safety concerns about people breathing too much of that stuff.
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The Space Race has been the subject of many films, some of which you’ve mentioned.
Were any of them a particular inspiration?
Probably the crowd-pleasing element of something likeApollo 13Ron Howard’s whole Americana aesthetic.
It was a little cultish, but it was always a big inspiration for me.
They get their happy ending, but do you think Kelly and Cole will go the distance?
And I thought,They’re here, their spirits are here.
Fly Me to the Moonis in theaters now.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
