10 Hidden Details You Completely Missed In Outstanding Biopics
4. Voice From The Real Space Program Is Heard - First Man
When he was putting together First Man (2018), the film based on the life of legendary astronaut Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling), Damien Chazelle was obsessed with making the feature as authentic as possible.
For example, genuine NASA plans, equipment and models were used to physically build models of planes, spacecraft and other machinery used in the feature. An exact visual replica of the multi-axis trainer which span astronauts around at insane speeds was also built for the flick.
Yet, one of the most fascinating real life details intricately laced into the movie came in the form of the voice heard when Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll) land on the Moon. Though it could have been easy to have an actor play the part of Charles Duke, the man who acted as CapCom during the Apollo 11 Moon landing, Chazelle chose to use the actual recording of Duke's voice from NASA's archives when he was speaking to the astronauts as part of Mission Control.
On top of this, the director had Duke come in to record a few more lines he felt were needed to explain some of the moments going down on screen. So, the actual Duke can be heard throughout the First Man landing, but some of the recordings were the real deal while others were captured nearly 50 years on from the mission.