In the 2010s, a mysterious Dutch organization launched a project called ‘Mars One,’ and began recruiting volunteers for a one-way trip to Mars. Of course, they also began receiving donations, merchandising profits, and other funds for what was essentially a hoax; they ended the so-called ‘mission’ after collecting tens of millions of dollars.

News stories mostly focused on the 2,700 applicants who applied to live on Mars and never return to Earth. Who were these people? What kind of lonely or eccentric person would do that? As the years progressed, though, it seems that more and more people want to leave Earth behind. From the ultrarich billionaires developing their own spaceships, to the Millennial and Gen Z doomers who see the end of the planet in sight, it seems like the Mars One applicants weren’t as quirky as we thought.
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The new film Space Oddity, directed by Kyra Sedgwick and written by Rebecca Banner, focuses on one of those applicants and the situation surrounding his desire to leave the planet. It’s a sweet, quiet movie about a family in the aftermath of tragedy, and how that grieving is expressed in different ways. Lead star Kyle Allen spoke with MovieWeb about the film and its topical relevance.

Space Oddity Is About Escaping the Planet (and Your Life)

Samuel Goldwyn Films

Allen stars as Alex McAllister, a young man who is mourning the loss of his brother by putting all of his energy into what seems like a slow-motion, long-distance suicide — a one-way trip to Mars. In the film, Alex is ‘training’ for a private company called Mission Mars, which he’s become a finalist for.

His family more or less humors him, knowing that his interest and dedication with Mission Mars is the first time he’s seemed like himself since his brother’s death. His mother (Carrie Preston) encourages everything, his father (Kevin Bacon) is quietly indifferent, and his sister (Madeline Brewer) is outright hostile to the idea, representing a full spectrum of responses.

When Alex goes to get insured, he develops a relationship with Daisy (Alexandra Shipp) and begins to actually care about something on this planet (i.e. real) for the first time since his family tragedy. That’s ultimately what the film is back — returning to the present, to real connections, rather than the fatalistic wish to escape everything and sail away, be it to Mars or six feet under. “I think it brings people back to Earth,” said Allen of the film. He continued:

That’s one thing that was brilliant about the script, is that people want to run from trauma. So he’s kind of doing both simultaneously. He’s running from the predicted trauma and the existing trauma of the planet, and also that of the death of his family. So he’s just trying to leave. He’s trying to solve the problem by running away from the problem. And that was amazing, how those two things coincide in the film. But yeah, ultimately, you’ve got to face it, and I think that stands for both your trauma and our planet.

A Sensitive Study of Depression

Samuel Goldwyn Films

Alex is a difficult character to play. He’s someone who has been very depressed, and may even be suicidal, but has repressed this and projected his ideation onto this fanciful Mission Mars trip, which he is actually excited and passionate about. So how does one approach playing a depressed person who is also passionate and excited?

“There’s manic-depressive as well,” explained Allen. “I think that’s what I leaned into more. There is a hyper focus that comes with black and white thinking. Black and white thinking meaning, you know, ‘I’m either gonna do this or I’m gonna die. I’m going to go to Mars, or I’m gonna kill myself.'” Allen elaborated:

Mars then becomes survival. You start treating it like your survival option. And it’s very weird, and you’re not really in reality all the way. I think I struggled, I really worried about being boring. Honestly, I don’t think I actually nailed it the entire time. It was difficult finding something that was dynamic, but also depressed. When is he manic, and when isn’t he manic? And when is he pleasant and charming, and when are the moments where there’s remnants of his old personality? For me, it was like, you’ve got the obsession, and you have the depression, and then you have him emulating his brother and how his brother treated people. Kind of anything good that Alex says is copied from his brother.

Allen is an extremely thoughtful actor who puts a lot of consideration into his choices. It’s paid off in the past few years, as the actor has starred in multiple popular films, including The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, West Side Story, The In Between, and The Greatest Beer Run Ever (“it’s luck,” mused Allen).

Related: Exclusive Clip: Kyle Allen Plans for Life on Mars in Space Oddity

So it’s a bit surprising to hear him say that he didn’t think he “nailed it the entire time” in Space Oddity. “It’s miserable to watch yourself sometimes. I gotta look at this face in the mirror every day, and you get sick of it,” confessed Allen with a slight laugh. “It’s really hard to judge your performance. I fully empathize with actors who refuse to watch themselves. I don’t judge that at all. I consider it sometimes.”

The Kyle Allen School of Acting

Samuel Goldwyn Films

So how does Allen approach acting, then, a profession that is so visible and vulnerable? “I think something that clicked for me actually was, instead of doing things correctly, I did them the way that I would find most entertaining,” explained Allen. “That’s the one thing I changed. I was like, what if this isn’t entertaining to me, and I’m doing it? Why would they be entertained by it? And isn’t that my job?” It’s important to clarify what’s meant by “entertainment,” though:

It’s not like always, you know, juggling and smiling. It’s entertaining. I feel like when people go see a movie, they want to see something that, like, they’re not supposed to, something that’s so intimate and honest, that it’s like, “I wasn’t supposed to see that! That actually happened, and there shouldn’t have been a camera there.” And that only comes with finding depth, I think with truth and depth in anything, I find one of the ways to do that is to create intimate memories that only you know about at the time. And then you can speak from them and around them, and you can create that intimacy.

Samuel Goldwyn Films

Space Oddity was filmed at a beautiful flower farm and small town in Rhode Island, which helped Allen get into character. “I loved it. We were there for about two months in Rhode Island,” said Allen, who used the beauty of the area to get into character. “I’d think about how much I loved it, and then I’d think about losing it, I’d think about the things and the circumstances on the planet that are coming to destroy it.”

Related: Kevin Bacon’s Long Lasting Love Affair With Horror

Allen continued:

It’s great when you get to spend so much time in the environment that your character actually spends so much time in, because you can create all these little memories and details and things. And then you forget about it, and you’ll be in the middle of a scene, and you’ll suddenly look over, and you’re like, “This is where I scraped the crap out of my knee, and my brother picked me up, and like, we hid it from my parents, because he’s supposed to be watching me, and it was this whole like bonding moment that I had,” it’s a kind of thing I created and then forgotten about.

“Then you’re in the middle of the scene, and you get reminded of it,” said Allen. “That can only happen when you’re just existing in this one space for months on end. You’re forced to use your imagination and stuff like that. And so that’s rewarding. That’s really, really fun, because then it feels like you live there, because you’ve been creating memories there that you don’t actually have.”

Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick Give Allen Hope

Samuel Goldwyn Films

That’s kind of a beautiful approach, and an undoubtedly thoughtful one. It works in Space Oddity, which also succeeds because of Sedgwick’s sensitive directing and the great, subtle performance of her husband, Kevin Bacon. “They’re just great people, and they love each other, and they work incredibly well on set, and they make each other better,” said Allen about Segwick and Bacon. “It was really amazing for me to see, actually. It just kind of gave me hope.” Space Oddity is a timely, sweet, and slightly sad film that speaks to our moment, and may give you hope, too.

From Big Swing Productions, Rolling Pictures, The Arlook Group, and Unique Features, Samuel Goldwyn Films has now released Space Oddity in theaters.