Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in “Fly Me to the Moon,” in cinemas 12 July 2024.

The True Story Behind Johansson & Tatum Romcom, Fly Me To The Moon

Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in “Fly Me to the Moon,” in cinemas 12 July 2024.

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The True Story Behind Johansson & Tatum Romcom, Fly Me To The Moon

5 months ago

Tin foil hats on, people

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As the romcom revival continues, Fly Me To The Moon has officially landed in cinemas, led by Hollywood stalwarts Scarlet Johansson and Channing Tatum. It whisks us back to the 1960s, with the Space Race in full swing, and surrounds NASA’s creation of a ‘back-up’, staged moon landing just in case Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins didn’t actually make it. Here’s exactly what to expect from the film – plus the weird true story underpinning it all.

Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in “Fly Me to the Moon,” in cinemas 12 July 2024.

Fly Me To The Moon: Plot, Cast & Back Story

Originally titled Project Artemis, Apple announced it was working on a Space Race film in March 2022, with a budget surpassing $100 million. Finally getting around to filming in October 2022, Fly Me To The Moon sat in post-production for a long time due to delayed distribution deals – but it’s finally in cinemas now.

What Is Fly Me To The Moon About?

Transporting us back to 1960s America, Fly Me To The Moon is set in the midst of the Space Race between Cold War rivals USA and Russia. As NASA creeps ever closer to landing a space rocket on the moon, and even getting a spaceman to take man’s first steps on the cratered surface, directors start to worry just what might happen if they don’t succeed and, God forbid, Russia does.

Enter Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson), a marketing specialist enlisted to fix NASA’s public image. Working closely with NASA’s director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), sparks fly in all directions as Kelly wreaks havoc on Cole’s plans. And White House Nixon aide Moe (Woody Harrelson) deems the mission too important to fail, Kelly has a new task: staging a ‘back up’ fake moon landing.

Channing Tatum and Ray Romano in “Fly Me to the Moon,” in cinemas 12 July 2024.

Is It Based On A True Story?

Directed by Greg Berlanti with a story by Keenan Flynn and Bill Kirstein and a script by Rose Gilroy, some elements of Fly Me To The Moon are true, other elements are fictional, and other elements take the truth and spin it for the screen. For one, NASA naturally insists they never filmed a fake moon landing. Speaking to TIME, Bill Barry, NASA’s chief historian from 2010 to 2020, says: ‘There’s no evidence whatsoever that NASA ever faked a moonwalk.’

Of course, conspiracy theorists still maintain that people have never made it to the moon (including 10 percent of Americans), with many detractors inspired by former US naval officer Bill Kaysing’s 1976 self-published book We Never Went To The Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle, published amid growing scepticism for the government, from the Vietnam War to Watergate. Arguably, Fly Me To The Moon is fuel on the fire – albeit tongue in cheek. Interestingly, the US’ competition, the Soviet Union, never questioned the legitimacy of NASA’s accomplishment.

Plus, in Fly Me To The Moon, there is a large emphasis on marketing the moon and creating partnerships with companies like Omega. It’s true that money was spent making the moon landing more appealing to the American public, who thought money would be better spent on solid ground amid the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. Writer Rose Gilroy drew on David Meerman Scott and Richard Jurek’s book Marketing the Moon to bring this side of the story to life; the book details how NASA used product placement, magazine articles and TV ads to inspire an interest in space and the moon in Americans.

That said, NASA employees are actually not allowed to endorse products. As it says on NASA’s website, ‘as a government agency, NASA will not promote or endorse or appear to promote or endorse a commercial product, service, or activity.’ Barry adds: ‘In dealing with the public in any form, I was regularly reminded by our legal folks that giving even the appearance of an endorsement for a commercial product would get me in big trouble.’

Scarlett Johansson in “Fly Me to the Moon,” in cinemas 12 July 2024.

Is Kelly Jones A Real Person?

Scarlett Johansson’s character Kelly Jones is not a real woman, but there was a real head of public affairs at NASA during the ‘60s: Julian Scheer. Scheer oversaw a press office style team of ex-journalists who assisted the media in covering the space programme and profiling astronauts. The run up to the moon landing in 1969, rather than plotting to film a fake moon landing, NASA’s press team were more concerned about what they would tell the world if any of the astronauts died during the mission. In fact, countless statements were carefully prepared to that effect – thankfully never used.

In Fly Me To The Moon, Kelly clashes with Channing Tatum’s NASA director character Cole Davis – setting the duo up for an enemies to lovers arc. And there really was a clash between Julian and NASA’s flight director Deke Slayton. As Gilroy tells USA Today, ‘There really was a massive argument of, “You want to put a camera on (the module)? What, are you crazy? We’re just trying to get up there”. Of course we fictionalized it, made Julian a woman and totally changed her backstory. But the heart of that existed, and those conversations did happen down at NASA.’

Channing Tatum in “Fly Me to the Moon,” in cinemas 12 July 2024.

Is The Apollo 1 Story Real?

In Fly Me To The Moon, Cole is haunted by the events of Apollo 1 – a very real, tragic story in which three astronauts were killed in a cabin fire during a launch test. The story is drawn into Cole’s character, with the three astronauts close friends of Cole’s in the world of the film. ‘Cole is really an amalgamation of so many of the flight directors and people who had to deal with the grief of Apollo 1, and then continue on to try and do the impossible,’ Gilroy tells USA Today. ‘Cole the character is not real, but his grief is. Thousands of people who had jobs like that had to go into work every day, knowing they’re carrying the legacy of people they lost.’