by Nick Givas
Damien Chazelle’s “First Man” failed to secure the top spot at the box office this weekend and came in third behind Marvel’s “Venom” and Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born.”
The film received backlash and criticism, for failing to include a scene of Neil Armstrong planting the American flag on the surface of the moon.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, played by ‘House Of Cards’ actor Corey Stoll, appeared to voice his displeasure with the film’s omission back in September, when he posted a photo of he and Armstrong plating the flag on Twitter.
#proudtobeanAmerican #freedom #honor #onenation #Apollo11 #July1969 #roadtoApollo50 pic.twitter.com/gApIwLzaJw
— Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) September 3, 2018
Ryan Gosling, who plays Armstrong and hails from Canada, defended leaving out the flag scene and took a different view of America’s moon landing.
“I think this was widely regarded in the end as a human achievement [and] that’s how we chose to view it,” he told reporters at the Venice film festival. “I also think Neil was extremely humble, as were many of these astronauts, and time and time again he deferred the focus from himself to the 400,000 people who made the mission possible.”
‘First Man’ failed to recoup even half of it’s $59 million budget during it’s opening weekend and has only grossed $16.5 million domestically and $8.6 million in foreign markets, Boxofficemojo.com reported.
Gosling also admitted he might have “cognitive bias” about the issue because he was born in Canada, during an interview with The Telegraph.
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Nick Givas is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
[…] and Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong life written by James R. Hansen. The movie has generated controversy as a result of reality it doesn’t embrace a scene of Neil Armstrong planting the US flag on the […]
[…] and Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong life written by James R. Hansen. The movie has generated controversy as a result of reality it doesn’t embrace a scene of Neil Armstrong planting the US flag on the […]
[…] and Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong life written by James R. Hansen. The movie has generated controversy as a result of reality it doesn’t embrace a scene of Neil Armstrong planting the US flag on […]
[…] 8 and Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong life written by James R. Hansen. The film has generated controversy due to the fact it does not include a scene of Neil Armstrong planting the US flag on the […]
I saw it and it’s not a bad movie. Yes, it does leave out erecting the flag, but it is seen next to the Eagle LM in a later scene. I was interested in the depiction of the Gemini 8 flight in wihich Armstrong and Dave Scott almost died. It may be like ‘The Right Stuff” which opened poorly yet became one of the best films of the 1980’s. If you grew up during the 60,s and loved the space program, you may want to see it.
A Canadian playing an American icon is nothing more than cultural appropriation.