Damien Chazelle: "First Man is a very personal story, almost a documentary of a family"

First Man opened the festival, sending journalists and fans into orbit with the true-life story of Neil Armstrong, focusing on his personal life and tragedy as well as the long journey towards that first step on the Moon. At the press conference, while Ryan Gosling talked about his experience playing this iconic astronaut, the actress Claire Foy, who plays Armstrong’s first wife, Janet, talked about other key elements of the film: “It’s a very important thing to focus on, to his children he was a father, not an astronaut. We worked with his family to get a good understanding of the family dynamic. Who out of mum and dad was good cop/bad cop, who read them stories, who played with them the most. We wished to respect him, his family and their story and they were so generous in telling it to us”, said the acrtress. And, below, from the paternal figure to the musical editing, the words of the director of the movie, Damien Chazelle.

FATHER FIGURE “It’s important to see the evolution of the father figure from the children’s point of view. One of them is old enough to understand the price the family may have to pay for the trip. The different reactions reflect their different understanding of the situation and its consequences”.

MOON MOON LAND “This is the first time I’m telling a story I haven’t created from my own experiences, but I’m telling someone else’s. This story belongs to everyone as all of us have been touched in some way by the first landing on the Moon. However, the way he immersed himself in his work to avoid confronting his feelings is something that I can understand. It’s a very personal story, almost a documentary of a family”.

Ryan Gosling takes a giant leap as Neil Armstrong

SOUNDS & MUSIC “Sound is fundamental to the spectator’s experience and we kept is as authentic as we could. The astronauts’ breathing was recorded from within the suits they were wearing”.