Richard Linklater is rotoscoping the moon landing in the Apollo 10 1/2 trailer
With Jack Black’s help, the Boyhood director is sending children to space. Cartoon children, that is.
Aux News Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater is returning to his very recognizable brand of animation. Using the rotoscoping visual effects he used to turn Alex Jones into a cartoon in Waking Life, Linklater plans to send a kid into space with Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood.
Landing on Netflix next month, Apollo 10 1/2 takes viewers back to the summer of ‘69. It was a summer that seemed to last forever, but also, it was the summer of the moon landing. In Linklater’s retelling, though, a secret NASA program needs one special little boy to go in a special little rocket and save the world. Sort of. We just hope that the little boy can help Mars, which is in desperate need of moms.
Here’s the logline from Netflix:
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood tells the story of the first moon landing in the summer of 1969 from two interwoven perspectives – the astronaut and mission control view of the triumphant moment, and through the eyes of a kid growing up in Houston, Texas who has intergalactic dreams of his own.
The trailer has more in common with Dazed And Confused than A Scanner Darkly despite the sci-fi story. Linklater set the movie in his hometown of Houston, Texas, in the late 60s, where his cartoon family comments on the “vibe shift” of the changing decade. And what a vibe shift it was. Long hair on men. Bell bottom jeans. People going into space. The vibe would never be the same.
Per Deadline, Linklater said that he began working on the movie during Boyhood’s 20-year production:
Eighteen years ago, I was pulling out memories of 2nd grade to help me construct the narrative of Boyhood’s second year. Even though that movie is a celebration of the non-extraordinary, it became clear to me I had lived through and close to something truly extraordinary – the grandest and most enduring engineering feat in human history. I think it took decades for us to fully process that the Apollo program and walking on the moon was the apex because we’d all believed it was just a great beginning.
Linklater won’t be taking on the mission alone. He’s re-teaming with his Bernie bro and School Of Rock classmate Jack Black, as well as Glen Powell and Zachary Levi.
Apollo 10 1/2 launches on Netflix on April 1.
33 Comments
I feel like I’ve seen the whole movie from that trailer, but I guess I’ll watch the extended cut regardless.
Hey congratulations on never seeing a Linklater film. You’ll probably love this one.
I have seen every Linklater film, so I’ll probably watch this one too 😉
I actually was a kid growing up in the Houston area in the late ‘60s. While the part of the story about NASA recruiting a kid to test out a too small lunar lander is fantasy, the actual life of the kids is pretty spot on—riding down the freeway in the open beds of trucks, eating Frito pie, the regular fogging for mosquitoes while we played outside—all with absolutely no concern for safety.
Looking forward to the premiere 12 years from now.
Apollo 10 1/2 launches on Netflix on April 1.
Ah, but what year?!
It was meant to be a joke about Linklater’s tendency for extended length filming projects, but I guess if you have to explain a joke, it’s a failed one.
All these years later I’d rather watch the miniDV footage of the Scanner Darkly actors acting. Instantly-dated rotoscoping and digital filtering just looks goofy.
I don’t see how rotoscoping looks dated, it never really enjoyed mainstream trend status, it just pops up from time to time when a director feels like putting in the time to do it. Scanner Darkly ages really well in my opinion.
Counterpoint, I like the rotoscoping. It gives a dreamlike quality to everything, like the filtration of memory.
Agreed. I didn’t care for A Scanner Darkly, but the rotoscoping suited it.I’m pleased that even after Undone, which should be the poster child for rotoscoping as a visual style that perfectly suits the material, it hasn’t become overused to the point of annoyance!
i think this is one of those things where if you look at it and shrug and say ‘looks goofy’ that says more about you than the movie. no offence.
Absolutely love Linklater films! So looking very forward to this! Probably the first film I have been hyped about since the pandemic started.
Watching the trailer, the rotoscoping began to almost feel completely unnecessary, until hinting that this might be really good? Always liked Richard Linklater.
It looks good. I felt warm and happy watching it, but not in a cloying way.
It’s so weird that Alex Jones had small parts in two rotoscoped films
I didn’t even realize he was in A Scanner Darkly. He appeared in Waking Life because at the time he was just a nutty AM radio host in Austin, whose bizarre conspiratorial rants fit well with the overall vibe of WL. I believe Linklater has expressed regret for casting him in the film—IIRC he says so on the DVD commentary—which rings a little hollow given him being cast again, especially given that, by 2006, Jones was definitely not just a kooky conspiracy guy with a small-time radio show.
Didn’t he play Gollum in the Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings?
“eyes of a kid growing up in Houston, Texas”Slightly off topic, but as a Houstonian, is it necessary to point out that Houston is in Texas, for Chrissake?
Okay but actually Wikipedia says there are 15 other Houstons in America, 6 of which are even official cities. I bet you feel really silly now.The largest one is in Mississippi and it’s the only one above 1k residents.
I can see how as a Houstonian you might thinks it isn’t, but maybe it is? This site has both a national and international audience, and perhaps not everyone knows where Houston is. Also, there may have editorial guidelines that dictate that state be included whenever a city is mentioned. I’m not sure about this latter point, but many publications do have such guidelines, just in the interest of consistency. Who gets to decide which city is big and famous enough such that a state and/or country name is not required?
There are 6 cities named Houston in the US. Alternatively, they may have grown up on Houston Streey in NYC.
It may not be necessary but it’s certainly not as strange and uncommon as you’re implying.
It could’ve been Houston St in NYC (pronounced HOUSE-ton for some reason), or Houston’s, the steakhouse chain. The clarification is appreciated.
It was named for William Houstoun.
Houston Street is an awesome street. I don’t know why those weirdoes in Texas don’t pronounce the name of their little city the correct way.
I remember in the Gawker days there was an article about a fire station that caught on fire (I guess the ironic headline was enough to run the story) and it was in Houston County Tennessee. The pics showed a small metal building that housed one burned out fire engine. Everyone in the comments started clowning on Houston, as if the 4th largest city in America would have a tiny fire station with one fire truck. Anyway, sometimes the distinction is warranted.
Seing that a lot of people in the US thinks Georgia can’t join the EU because it’s a state then – yes.
There are a couple of dozen places called Houston scattered across the country. Granted, none are as big as Houston, Texas, but there might be some confusion. It’s unlikely but I guess it’s possible. I agree, the cast majority of people will assume you’re talking about the Houston in Texas unless you say otherwise. Also, it’s evident which one the story is about given the story’s context.The AP Style says the Houston in Texas is a dateline city, meaning it doesn’t need to have the state added, but each publication has its own rules as well. It may be that the site requires it. Or, as you suggest, the writer just doesn’t know better.
Pfft. Kubrick did it first.
I think it took decades for us to fully process that the Apollo program and walking on the moon was the apex because we’d all believed it was just a great beginning.Damn that’s sad. Sort of feels like the perfect eulogy for the sixties in general.
I got a 7 year old who is gonna make me watch this a bunch. He is obsessed with space travel. He regularly watches the Apollo 11 documentary on Hulu that CNN made a few years back. It’s just two hours of footage of the first moon mission with just radio chatter and newscasts from the events for audio. He can’t get enough of it. We are planning a trip to Florida for Disney World and he’s more excited to go see Cape Canaveral.