On the 51st anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, Netflix has acquired the rights to Richard Linklater‘s upcoming animated feature Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Adventure, set amidst the space race in 1969 with Apollo 11 set to shoot for the moon. Directed and written by Linklater, the feature is inspired by his childhood in Houston, Texas. It tells the story of the first moon landing in the summer of 1969 from two interwoven perspectives, one from the astronaut and the point of view from the mission control, and the other from an excited child’s perspective, living near NASA, but mostly watching it on television like many others across the nation. The story centers around a kid’s fantasy about secretly training for the ultimate mission to the moon instead of being stuck in his average life in suburbia.
Jack Black, who worked with Linklater on dark comedy Bernie and Glen Powell, who starred in the director’s Everybody Wants Some!!, will star with Zachary Levi, Josh Wiggins, Milo Coy, Lee Eddy, Bill Wise, Natalie L’Amoreaux, Jessica Brynn Cohen, Sam Chipman, and Danielle Guilbot.
The movie will be a hybrid of live-action, computer and hand-drawn animated imagery. The production will be completed at Minnow Mountain in Austin and Submarine in the Netherlands. Linklater had used a similar approach in his 2001 movie Waking Life, which was shot using digital video of live actors and then rotoscoped with artists drawing over each frame with computers.
The live-action shoot wrapped up back in March this year in Austin.
Linklater was nominated for five Academy Awards for producing, directing and writing the screenplay for the coming of age drama Boyhood and the screenplays for Before Midnight and Before Sunset. His directing credits include Dazed and Confused, School of Rock, A Scanner Darkly, Last Flag Flying, Everybody Wants Some !! and Where’d You Go, Bernadette.
In a statement, Linklater announced: “It struck me years ago that this was my film to make, from both a chronological and proximity level – I was there, going into 3rd grade. Our unique animation style allows both the conjuring of a world long gone, and the flowing, playful expression of memory and imagination. It’s been a fun, creative journey to incorporate things like 3D graphics into a live action shoot to help bring this story to life. “
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