Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, FLY ME TO THE MOON is a sharp, stylish comedy-drama set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Brought in to fix NASA’s public image, sparks fly in all directions as marketing maven Kelly Jones (Johansson) wreaks havoc on launch director Cole Davis’s (Tatum) already difficult task. When the White House deems the mission too important to fail, Jones is directed to stage a fake moon landing as back-up and the countdown truly begins…
As this charming, retro rom-com (that may or may not be based on a true story) flies into Australian theatres on July 11th, Peter Gray spoke with director Greg Berlanti about the personal importance of his filmography and that this movie was more than just about star power.
As this charming, retro rom-com (that may or may not be based on a true story) flies into Australian theatres on July 11th, Peter Gray spoke with director Greg Berlanti about the personal importance of his filmography and that this movie was more than just about star power.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Peter Gray from the AU Review in Australia.
00:02Hello.
00:03Hello, Greg.
00:04How are you?
00:05Nice to see you.
00:06You too.
00:07Before I get to Fly Me to the Moon, I'm just going to briefly say thank you for Broken
00:14Hearts Club.
00:15It very much spoke to me as like a 15-year-old queer kid trying to figure out everything.
00:20So that just meant, that movie meant a lot to me, so I just have to thank you for that.
00:24Oh, my pleasure.
00:25It was, we did that movie in like 13, 14 days.
00:28So and it's, I have to say, it's been 30 years now almost, or 25 years, right?
00:35And it's definitely, I, you know, it's been such a gift.
00:39I had a nice sort of full circle moment being able to watch Love, Simon and being like,
00:42it's okay, you're going to get through it.
00:45Exactly.
00:46Yes, there was a lot of, I kept thinking about that movie when I was working on Love, Simon.
00:50They were really connected.
00:51But it made me think sort of like, obviously, between Love, Simon and this, you know, there's
00:56been a lot of television work, but what was it about, like this film that sort of brought
01:00you back to theatrical directing?
01:03I was, I would say it's always the story for me, the fact that there was an original story
01:08of this scale that that and that someone likes of Scarlett's caliber and talent was going
01:14to produce and star in it.
01:15I think those were, that was already exciting to me.
01:18But then when I read it and read the story, I only kind of raised my hand to direct if
01:23I feel like, oh, I'm the person that's supposed to do this.
01:27And the blend of tones, the celebration of what was achieved back then, but the fun and
01:33the comedy of the different characters and the opportunity to work with this level of
01:37actor across the board, I think.
01:39And just my desire to, you know, when I was working on, you brought up Love, Simon.
01:43But at that time, I was trying to really put a film there that wasn't there when I was
01:48a kid.
01:49And in this, I'm trying to kind of put back more original movies that were there when
01:53I was a kid.
01:54You know, there were so every time you went to the movies on the weekend, you didn't know
01:57what was going to happen.
01:58You knew there were gonna be big stars, we're gonna be fun, hopefully entertaining.
02:01And you just didn't know, it didn't feel like it was a third or a fourth or a fifth, no
02:05offense to sequels and those things.
02:07But it was, it was, you know, wasn't based on anything else.
02:10I just was, I found myself caught up in the whole narrative.
02:13And I felt like, oh, wow, I would love to, there'd be so many elements about this that
02:18would be super challenging.
02:19I don't know if I could do it, let me, I'd love to try, because it would be an event
02:24to see if I could pull it off.
02:25I mean, it's not the worst thing to be like, oh, I guess I'll work with Scarlett Johansson
02:28and Chang Tate, I'm sure.
02:30Exactly.
02:31And so, you know, those, but if you do it just for that reason, that's the thing, it
02:35kind of has to be for me, it has to be a story that I want to wake up with every day.
02:39Because the fact is, you're going to work at morning, noon and night for two years,
02:44at least on this thing.
02:45And you know, you have to believe in the reason it's existing and what it's trying
02:50to say and do.
02:51And one of the characters that I really loved was Jim as the director, and I was wondering
02:56like, is that, was there any, like, was that based on anybody?
03:00Do we have any like, you know,
03:01It's definitely somewhat reminiscent of certain people I've known in the business, or some
03:06might say, there was a time where everybody started calling my assistant on the movie
03:10Joseph, because he calls his assistant on the movie Joseph.
03:14And so I think they were making a little fun.
03:17But no, it's look, Jim, Jim embodied and created that character before our eyes.
03:22But I knew that there was, you know, that there was such opportunity.
03:27If you remember the film Wag the Dog, the Dustin Hoffman part of that, that Robin Evans,
03:32Robert Evans kind of part that he played, like, you knew that, like, okay, you needed
03:36some element that was going to come in halfway through the movie, and be larger than life
03:40enough to like, give this movie its own vibrancy.
03:43And Jim had all those qualities.
03:45And there's like a half hour of Jim that's like on the cutting room floor that I couldn't
03:48even use in the cut.
03:50So one of the harder things about directing the film was actually what not to use of all
03:53the great comedy that he delivered.
03:55No, well, I just think, yeah, I walked into this not knowing what to expect.
03:59And I love that I'm going to leave it with, it's like, it's a compliment if you stop listening.
04:03So I think that was one of the greatest lines, so I'm gonna head off, because this was such
04:08a such a wonderful treat, and it's so great to see you back on the big screen.
04:12So thank you so much.
04:13Thank you so much for everything.
04:14And thanks for the Broken Hearts Club shout out.
04:16No worries.
04:17Thank you so much.
04:18Cheers.
04:19Cheers.