Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, Fly Me to the Moon is a sharp, stylish comedy-drama set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Brought in to fix NASA’s public image, sparks fly in all directions as marketing maven Kelly Jones’s (Johansson) bold ideas clash with launch director Cole Davis’s (Tatum) already difficult mission —but she just might be the secret weapon the space agency needs if they’re going to beat the Russians to the moon. When the White House deems the mission too important to fail, Jones is directed to stage a fake moon landing as back-up and the countdown truly begins…
As Fly Me To The Moon lands in cinemas July 11, Nick L’Barrow had a chance to chat with the film’s co-stars, Jim Rash (Community) and Anna Garcia (Hacks) about what moment in history they would like to direct the fake version of, and what The Dean from Community might have to say about Jim’s character Lance’s outfits from the film!
Nick: Anna, Jim, it’s such pleasure to meet you both! How are you doing?
Jim Rash: Lovely! How are you doing?
Anna Garcia: Nice to meet you! How are you?
Nick: I’m very well! Thank you for asking! This movie is so sweet and charming, and I really enjoyed the space race aspect of it. I know you’ve both directed various projects in the past, so it made me curious to find out if you had the chance to direct the “fake” version of a significant moment in history, what would it be?
Anna Garcia: Oh, what a good question!
Jim Rash: Good lord! Why are you hitting us something we like, have to think about! It’s too hard!
Anna Garcia: This little baby brain is gonna have to do some work [laughs].
Jim Rash: What would I want to see faked…
Anna Garcia: Or that you would want to direct… Oh, I know! The first World Fair!
Jim Rash: You want to fake the first World Fair?!
Anna Garcia: Well, to direct the first World Fair! Think about it! It’s the world’s first Ferris wheel! There’s all these inventions!
Jim Rash: Okay…
Anna Garcia: How fun would that be! I just gave an amazing answer!
Jim Rash: I’m not disputing that! I was just like, imagining how that’s gonna be a lot of extras, a lot of background.
Anna Garcia: Yeah, it’s a high budget, obviously!
Jim Rash: That is a high budget for the World Fair. Oh my God, now the pressure is on me! Pass! Pass! We don’t have enough time!
Nick: How about we get you to do the second World Fair? You can do the sequel!
Jim Rash: Okay, yes, great! I’ll do the second World Fair!
Anna Garcia: Yeah, it doesn’t get as high in the box office!
Jim Rash: Because it’s now no longer interesting!
Nick: You’ve both also done television before, which is a format where you can expand on a character over a few episodes. So, I’m curious to know, if you had the chance to play your characters in a TV version of this story, what is the one aspect of them that you would love to explore more?
Jim Rash: Well, I would want to embrace Lance’s personal life, you know. There’s reference to my boyfriend, but I would love to see them at home. I have a feeling he [Lance] is very different.
I think that’d be such a fun part to cast! Somebody who makes Lance, I don’t know, [show] the soft side of him or whatever. The part of him that loves to be in love, you know?
Anna Garcia: Ruby is an artist. She draws. And I don’t believe it’s in the movie anymore, but there’s a scene where I’m discussing with Noah, sort of the origins of like, how Kelly [Scarlett Johannson] found each other, and she discovered me one day painting a wall basically. And I think getting into the art that she does would be wonderful!
Nick: I love that! I’m getting the wrap here, so I’d love to finish by finding out, as a massive fan of Community, what would the Dean think about Lance’s outfits? And vice versa, what would Lance have to say about the Dean’s costumes?
Jim Rash: I think they would be [a match] made in heaven! I don’t know if they’d get along. The Dean, because he always wants to be liked…
Anna Garcia: [laughs] That would be tough!
Jim Rash: He would get railroaded by Lance. However, I think they would always bow to each other for their fashion.
Nick: Guys, thank you so much for your time! I really appreciate. And Jim, I just have to say, The Way, Way Back is one of the best coming-of-age movies of all time!
Jim Rash: Oh my god! You waited until the end to do that! I’ll take it!
Thank you so much to Anna Garcia and Jim Rash for their time, and to Sony Pictures for organising the interview. Fly Me To The Moon is in cinemas July 11.
