Ryan Gosling has never had as much help for a role as he did for ‘First Man’.
The 37-year-old actor portrays late astronaut Neil Armstrong in the drama, which retells NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon for the first time, and the Hollywood star has revealed he even spent time with the late aeronautical engineer’s family to do the part justice, and got flying lessons.
In an interview with Deadline, he said: "I’ve never had more help in my life on a film … Whether it was Neil’s sons or his late ex-wife Janet or Neil’s sister, his childhood friends… NASA opened the door to the facilities.
"Neil was a very famously introspective quiet humble person so the challenge was to honour that but also to create windows into what he might be or had been experiencing emotionally at the time.
"I thought what I should do was learn how to fly."
Gosling – who reunited with his ‘La La Land’ director Damien Chazelle on the movie – didn’t take to flying very well, and when he struggled to perform a controlled stall, he realised how brave it was of Armstrong to be so determined to push the possibilities in Space knowing that it could all go terribly wrong.
He said: "I thought in that moment, ‘This is a terrible idea and there was a reason why Neil Armstrong was destined to be one of the greatest pilots and I’m not.’ In that moment, I realised something about Neil.
"It’s a certain kind of person that will get into a plane and intentionally push it to its breaking point for the sole purpose of pushing our aeronautics forward."
Ryan Gosling received most help ever in First Man
