Surely one of the hot-button titles coming to theater near you next year will be Damien Chazelle’s bio First Man. The Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment film – biopic of Neil Armstrong, the first person to step foot on the moon – is already establishing quite a pedigree as casting is underway. As was previously announced, Ryan Gosling will star in the feature as Armstrong – reuniting with his La La Land director – and now comes reports that Emmy winner Kyle Chandler is joining the project (via Deadline) and Corey Stoll is in talks as well (via The Tracking Board).
If plans pan out, Chandler would portray Deke Slayton, WWII flyer, aeronautical engineer and test pilot who became of the NASA Mercury Seven astronauts and Stoll is in talks to portray space icon Buzz Aldrin. The Tracking Board is also reporting that The Crown star Claire Foy (who recently picked up a Golden Globe for her acclaimed performance as Queen Elizabeth II in the admired Netflix drama) is in negotiations to portray Armstrong’s wife.
First Man was adapted by Oscar winning screenwriter Josh Singer (Spotlight) based on the biography First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen. Singer, for his credit, wrote another enticing title with an impressive pedigree attached in the form of the forthcoming journalism docudrama The Papers, a feature directed by Steven Spielberg which is set to open in theaters later this year. The project will be the biggest in scale and scope to date for the young Chazelle, who recently became the youngest Best Director winner in Oscar history for helming the blockbuster musical La La Land; Gosling received an Oscar nomination as well for his lead performance.
Chandler can currently be seen in the third (and final) season of the Netflix series Bloodline and has recently appeared in the films Carol and Manchester by the Sea. He will next be seen in the forthcoming comedy Game Night and stars in Godzilla 2, which is currently in production. Stoll broke out in his admired turn as Ernest Hemingway in the Oscar winning Woody Allen comedy Midnight in Paris (2011) and has notably appeared in House of Cards, The Strain and recently occurred on the HBO comedy Girls. Stoll will next appear on screen in The Seagull, an adaptation of the Anton Chekhov play that stars Annette Bening and Saoirse Ronan.
First Man is currently in pre-production and is set to open in theaters on October 12, 2018.
Leave a Comment