Fly Me To The Moon: Sparks Fly Amidst The Space Race
Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatus, Fly Me To The Moon is a comedy-drama set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing. The film depicts the 1960s space race between the United States and the then-Soviet Union to land on the moon. Directed by Greg Berlanti, the same man who gave us Love, Simon, this film is set to be a barrel of laughs.
Channing Tatum plays Cole Davis, a NASA flight director responsible for getting the United States astronauts safely landed on the moon. Scarlett Johannson steps into the role of Kelly Jones, a sassy public relations executive from New York City employed to lift the public’s opinion of NASA. The government is concerned that the mission might be too big and unfulfillable but doesn’t want to appear inadequate to the Russians. Determined to win the space race, with very few other options on her hands, Jones stages a secret fake moon landing in the NASA warehouse, capturing the whole thing on film.
Though not a queer-centric story, Fly Me To The Moon does have queer-adjacent qualities. Included in the all-star lineup is none other than Jim Rash, who plays the role of Lance Vespertine, the filmmaker tasked with shooting the fake moon landing footage. In the film, Rash faces off against Woody Harrelson and tells People “Working beside him was heaven,” says Rash. “Just because he would throw me off in the best possible way of giving me s—, basically.”
According to Rash, his flamboyant and sassy performance was informed somewhat by characters from other movies including Dustin Hoffman’s Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie and Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. “If inspiration is pulling from some amazing people who are far better than me, I’ll take it,” he told People.
The space race was an exciting time in the United States and Fly Me To The Moon captures the tone of the era fantastically. The film releases in cinemas on July 12, 2024.
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Featured Image: Picture by Dan McFadden. Credit: Apple TV
