“The Strain” star Corey Stoll is in talks to play astronaut Buzz Aldrin in Universal and Damien Chazelle’s Neil Armstrong biopic “First Man” starring Ryan Gosling.
Chazelle is directing a script by Oscar-winning “Spotlight” scribe Josh Singer.
Producers are Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen (“The Twilight Saga,” “The Fault in Our Stars”) through their Temple Hill Entertainment banner, alongside Chazelle and Gosling. Isaac Klausner (“The Fault in Our Stars”) will executive produce.
The film is based on James Hansen’s biography “First Man: The Life Of Neil A. Armstrong” and tells the story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Armstrong during the years 1961-1969. A first-person account, the movie will explore the sacrifices and the cost — on Armstrong and on America — of one of the most dangerous space missions in history. Armstrong died in 2012 at age 82.
Aldrin was the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11 and the second person to walk on the Moon after Armstrong on July 21, 1969. He also went into orbit on the earlier Gemini 12 space-walk mission that paved the way for the Moon mission.
“First Man” will be released on Oct. 12, 2018.
Kyle Chander, who starred in “Manchester By the Sea” has also been cast as Deke Slayton, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. Before Slayton could make his Mercury flight, he was diagnosed in 1962 with an erratic heart rhythm and grounded.
Stoll is repped by UTA. The Tracking Board first reported the news about Stoll.
