The Big Picture

Greg Berlanti’s romantic comedy ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ tackles skepticism of the moon landing with humor and a star-studded cast.
The film showcases the editing process, with Berlanti revealing how they cut 30-40 minutes to tighten the narrative and add more comedy.
Dariusz Wolski, acclaimed cinematographer, makes his acting debut in the film, bringing authenticity to the fake moon landing scenes.

You think your job is hard? Imagine trying to get skeptical Americans to believe in the impossible during the space race of the 1960s. In Greg Berlanti’s (Love, Simon) romantic comedy, Fly Me to the Moon, NASA’s launch director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) is dealing with just that, with the help of marketing specialist Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson), albeit reluctantly so. Together, and with the help of a film crew (and a real-life cinematographer) and dedicated experts, they have to sell the Apollo 11 moon landing — and film a backup just in case!

Berlanti, a producer of hit series and films since the late ’90s and a filmmaker with a knack for romance, takes the lead on this Apple TV+ feature, spinning a love story written in the stars with comedy. Fly Me to the Moon plays on the conspiracy theory that we never actually landed on the moon, but rather, it was all a carefully crafted ruse in a studio somewhere. In the movie, however, the filmed version is more of a backup should anything go wrong while trying to record one of man’s greatest achievements in history.

During this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Berlanti talks about the tricks he’s learned over the years on the sets of hit series like Arrow, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and more to tighten films in the edit, as well as whether we’ll get to see deleted scenes in the future. He also reveals how he got acclaimed cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (The Martian, Napoleon) to play the director in Fly Me to the Moon in his first-ever appearance on camera and teases Netflix’s upcoming Scooby-Doo! The Live-Action Series.

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or read the transcript below.

Fly Me to the Moon (2024) Marketing maven Kelly Jones wreaks havoc on launch director Cole Davis’s already difficult task. When the White House deems the mission too important to fail, Jones is directed to stage a fake moon landing as back-up.Release Date July 12, 2024 Main Genre Comedy Writers Keenan Flynn , Rose Gilroy , Bill Kirstein

Finding the Tone for ‘Fly Me to the Moon’

COLLIDER: I love talking about the editing process because that’s where it all comes together. For this film, what was it like in the editing room? Did you have to make any radical changes?

GREG BERLANTI: Historically, both in movies and on the shows, I overshoot things. I’ve never had to do pickups, but I’ve always started with too much in the editing room. I start with more than I need, and then it becomes about carving it down and subtraction in terms of options. But we had 30 or 40 minutes that were not in the film that was in the script that we shot. My gut is always that you can subtract that stuff away. Maybe it comes from TV, where we had to get stuff down to 42 [minutes] and change. The audience can feel that it was there even though it’s not there on the screen anymore, and they feel that narrative connectedness even though you can’t leave the scene. Test audiences were really helpful in terms of tonally where we should have more comedy. There was a lot more at the top where we carved out stuff, and then just throughout, there was probably an extra 30 or 40 minutes of stuff that the world will see in some extras at some point.

Some directors I’ve spoken with love to release deleted scenes and others are like, “You will never see them.”

BERLANTI: I would release some. It’s a tutorial. My film school was watching DVD extras, as is so many people’s, and directors’ commentaries and things like that. I always enjoy why stuff was removed. As long as the actors agree to let it be released, I think it could be a good lesson.

‘Fly Me to the Moon’ Marks Dariusz Wolski’s First Acting Credit
Wolski has served as the DP for projects like The Martian, Napoleon, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

One of the things that made me laugh was seeing your real director of photography playing the director of photography in the fake moon landing. Was it tough to get Dariusz [Wolski] to agree? He’s very good in it.

BERLANTI: It was fun. I’m glad you noticed that. I think if you asked a lot of DPs who their favorite DP was, they would say Dariusz. He’s so respected, and he’s so talented and was such a professor for me throughout. There were so many moments that we were talking about how we were going to pull off faking, with 1969 technology, the moon landing part, and in hearing him discuss it while I was watching readings of other people pretending to be a director of photography, my impulse was at some point, “Dariusz, you should just do this.” He thought I was kidding. Everyone thought I was kidding. Then we did a camera test, and at the end of the camera test I turned the camera on him and I asked him just to say a line. He said it and I sent it to Apple, and they were like, “Alright, if you want to cast him, go for it.” He didn’t realize, I think, the amount of work that was going into acting until he realized how much he was actually in the movie while we were shooting, and he was trying to set up a light or set something up, and I would say, “No, no, no, you have to go over there now and be in the scene.” But by the end he delighted in it.

That’s very funny, and I’m very happy that you did that. You’ve produced so many things. If you had the opportunity to go back and shoot one more season of something that you’ve produced, what would the show be and why?

BERLANTI: That’s a great, great question. No one’s ever asked me that before. My impulse is just to say Everwood just because it was my first show I created. I love all the casts I’ve done, but that was such a special cast and such a special family. It’s very nostalgic for me now, in the loss of some of the people that I did that show with, to even think about emotionally, to be honest. So, I would probably do it just to spend time with them again, to be honest.

‘Scooby-Doo! The Live-Action Series’ Introduces a New Generation to Mystery Inc.

You guys are going to do a live-action Scooby-Doo show at Netflix, [Scooby-Doo! The Live-Action Series.]

BERLANTI: We are. Yes.

What is it about that that says, “I want to do it?” What can you tease for fans?

BERLANTI: We searched for a year and a half for people with a take, the right kind of take, that celebrated the show. I will tell you this, when I started out in the business, one of my first jobs was holding the animation cells for Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera while they signed them. I would sit with them, each, for a day while they would sign. Joe Barbera was such a larger-than-life character. He would tell all the stories about the development of these shows and where they came from, and he talked obviously a lot about Scooby. It was ‘69 when it happened. It was the end of the ‘60s, and kids felt this sense of tumult and being out of control and this show gave them back a sense of empowerment of, “Adults don’t always know what they’re doing, but young people are more pure of heart and do.” He told me about the origin of throwing in a talking dog. So, I have very fond memories of that moment at the beginning of my career, and I have a special affinity for those projects.

But it’s a beginning. Like with the DC stuff that you were a part of so much when we were working on it, my goal with those things is always, when we are lucky enough to take a character off the shelf, to return it more valuable than we took it off. So, if we can’t anywhere along the way, we stop. But I think that there’s a real opportunity to reintroduce those characters in a live-action way to a new generation.

Fly Me to the Moon is in theaters now. Check the link below for showtimes.

Get Tickets