September 01, 2017
Well, he won’t be crooning and he won’t be tap dancing. But Ryan Gosling will soon be la-la-landing on the moon.
The popular performer who staked his claim as a singer/dancer/actor and received his second Oscar nomination as Best Actor in last year’s "La La Land" opposite Emma Stone – a film that grossed nearly $400-million worldwide – will portray real-life astronaut Neil Armstrong in "First Man," making him the sixth actor to portray the iconic astronaut on-screen.
Armstrong, who served as an aerospace engineer, a naval aviator, a test pilot during the Korean War, and a university professor, passed away in 2012 at 82.
Gosling will be reunited with his Oscar-winning director on "La La Land," Damien Chazelle, as the two of them will co-produce this '60s biodrama, focusing on the first man to step on the lunar surface and demonstrate the moonwalk.
Co-producing with them is James R. Hansen, on whose 2005 biography, “First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong,” which details NASA’s legendary mission, the film is based. Clint Eastwood had originally bought the film rights to the book, but he went on to direct and star in "Space Cowboys" instead.
"First Man," which will be shot in Atlanta, will open on theater screens in October of 2018, in hopes of being, well, out of this world.
