At last, a film to answer the one question that’s haunted the United States’ space program for four decades: Did Neil Armstrong really bang Connie Stevens?
Universal has acquired the rights to James R. Hansen’s First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, which apparently offers an unusually comprehensive portrait of the notoriously private (if litigious) astronaut from Wapakoneta, Ohio (just 100 miles or so down I-75 from where I am right now!). Hansen’s book will be adapted by Nicole Perlman, who most recently wrote Challenger (a drama about the investigation into the 1986 space shuttle disaster that’s currently set as the next directing project for Philip Kaufman). It’s unclear as to whether Perlman will go for a straight biopic presentation or go for a more telescoped depiction of Armstrong’s life. As you probably know, Buzz Aldrin was initially selected as the first man to walk on the moon, but was bumped to number two when NASA decided Armstrong cut a more heroic figure. Though that decision could’ve vaulted Armstrong to a successful political career and, perhaps, the White House, he retreated from public view and devoted himself to his family. How disappointingly principled (of course, the conspiracy theorists who claim we faked the moon landing take this as a tacit admission of guilt).
Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey are set to produce First Man for Universal. No director is attached yet, but Godfrey does have a history with John Moore, who’d be a perfect, inoffensive match to the material.