With one film under their belt – the current awards magnet La La Land – Ryan Gosling and director Damien Chazelle appear confirmed for second team-up. Variety reports both are officially set for Universal’s First Man, a biopic of astronaut Neil Armstrong. Gosling and Chazelle had been eyed for film for over a year now but no formal offer or deal had taken place. Now it appears official.
Chazelle will direct a script from Josh Singer, Oscar-winning co-scribe of 2015’s Spotlight, which is based on James Hansen’s biography First Man: A Life Of Neil A. Armstrong. The film will focus on the years leading up to Armstrong’s historic moon landing, recounting the arduous effort it took to achieve such a feat. Chazelle, reportedly, took reins of First Man after the film gained traction in 2015 over at Warner Bros. – Clint Eastwood was eyed to direct previously. With leading man in tow and what appears to a finished script, Variety reports that First Man will likely start production in early 2017.
Only three pictures in, the film will mark a leap forward, on terms of scope and subject matter, for Chazelle. He previously directed the micro-budgeted musical Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench before breaking out with the 2014 Oscar-winning indie Whiplash. His latest – the critically admired musical La La Land – has been performing well as it expands nationwide and has been viewed as an Oscar frontrunner since premiering at the Venice Film Festival this past summer. Chazelle also recently earned a Critics’ Choice Award for directing the contemporary musical and is up for Golden Globe, as is Gosling in the Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy category. Gosling will next appear in Blade Runner 2049.
We shall stay tuned to the latest.
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