Ryan Gosling, Damien Chazelle’s Neil Armstrong Biopic ‘First Man’ Gets Release Date

Universal has announced the release date for First Man, a biopic about Neil Armstrong starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Damien Chazelle. The biopic is set to make its theatrical debut on Oct. 12, 2018, at the heart of awards season.

The project was announced late last December. The film’s script is written by Oscar-winning Spotlight writer Josh Singer. It’ll be produced by Wyck Godfrey (The Twilight Saga) and Marty Bowen (The Fault in Our Stars), respectively. DreamWorks Pictures will co-finance the film.

First Man will also be the first film to land on the Oct. 12, 2018 date.

Ryan Gosling’s Neil Armstrong Bio Movie

The movie is based on James Hansen‘s biography, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, which tells the story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon. The film focuses on Armstrong during the years 1961-1969. It is told in first-person, and will examine the sacrifices and costs of one of the most treacherous space missions in history. Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon, during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

Armstrong died in 2012 at age 82, after complications from coronary artery bypass surgery. He has been described, in a statement released by the White House, as “among the greatest of American heroes — not just of his time, but of all time.”

This is, of course, not the first time Chazelle and Gosling have teamed up; the pair worked together on the box-office phenomenon La La Land, which landed Chazelle an Academy Award and Golden Globe award for best director, and Gosling a Golden Globe Award for best actor. The first grossed nearly $400 million worldwide.