Ryan Gosling Eyed For ‘Whiplash’ Director Damien Chazelle’s Neil Armstrong Biopic ‘First Man’

Ryan Gosling Eyed For 'Whiplash' Director Damien Chazelle's Neil Armstrong Biopic 'First Man'

By Kevin Jagernauth

Ryan Gosling Eyed 'Whiplash' Director Damien Chazelle's Neil Armstrong Biopic 'First Man'

Kevin Jagernauth

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November 25, 2015 11:03 am

Has Ryan Gosling found a new bromantic partner? The actor recently wrapped “Whiplash” director Damien Chazelle‘s next movie, “La La Land.” Now, Gosling is being eyed to reteam with the filmmaker for a biopic about one of America’s greatest heroes who doesn’t wear spandex or have superpowers.

Deadline reports that Gosling is being sought to star in the Neil Armstrong biopic, “First Man.” Chazelle, who was first linked to the project last fall, will direct the Josh Singer (“Spotlight“) -penned adaptation of James Hansen’s biography “First Man: A Life Of Neil A. Armstrong” which chronicles the incredible life of the first man on the moon. Here’s the book synopsis:

When Apollo 11 touched down on the moon’s surface in 1969, the first man on the moon became a legend. In First Man, Hansen explores the life of Neil Armstrong. Based on over fifty hours of interviews with the intensely private Armstrong, who also gave Hansen exclusive access to private documents and family sources, this “magnificent panorama of the second half of the American twentieth century” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) is an unparalleled biography of an American icon.

Upon his return to earth, Armstrong was honored and celebrated for his monumental achievement. He was also—as James R. Hansen reveals in this fascinating and important biography—misunderstood. Armstrong’s accomplishments as engineer, test pilot, and astronaut have long been a matter of record, but Hansen’s unprecedented access to private documents and unpublished sources and his interviews with more than 125 subjects (including more than fifty hours with Armstrong himself) yield this first in-depth analysis of an elusive American celebrity still renowned the world over.

In a riveting narrative filled with revelations, Hansen vividly recreates Armstrong’s career in flying, from his seventy-eight combat missions as a naval aviator flying over North Korea to his formative transatmospheric flights in the rocket-powered X-15 to his piloting Gemini VIII to the first-ever docking in space. These milestones made it seem, as Armstrong’s mother Viola memorably put it, “as if from the very moment he was born—farther back still—that our son was somehow destined for the Apollo 11 mission.”

For a pilot who cared more about flying to the Moon than he did about walking on it, Hansen asserts, Armstrong’s storied vocation exacted a dear personal toll, paid in kind by his wife and children. For the forty-five years since the Moon landing, rumors have swirled around Armstrong concerning his dreams of space travel, his religious beliefs, and his private life.

In a penetrating exploration of American hero worship, Hansen addresses the complex legacy of the First Man, as an astronaut and as an individual. In First Man, the personal, technological, epic, and iconic blend to form the portrait of a great but reluctant hero who will forever be known as history’s most famous space traveler.

Certainly, this is the kind of movie with big dramatic potential, and the directing and screenwriting talent already linked is top notch. Will Gosling take things into orbit? (Pun intended). Hopefully, we’ll know more soon.