Nostalgia is one helluva drug. For instance, it can make you feel like there was actually a day when the entire United States banded together — just weeks after the Stonewall riots, and in the thick of the Vietnam War, supported by a president who would soon be on the verge of impeachment — in sheer fascination and pride over the news that a man had landed on the moon. At least, that’s the way the story goes in director David Fairhead’s new documentary, “Armstrong.”
To be honest, the idyll that the country was united on July 20, 1969, came (ironically) from the aforementioned President Richard Nixon himself, who phoned astronaut Neil Armstrong to congratulate him for his momentous moon arrival but especially for prompting a national day of celebration, complete with parades and other fanfare.
It’s an alluring sentiment that permeates the entire film, which almost deifies the eponymous rocketeer,...
To be honest, the idyll that the country was united on July 20, 1969, came (ironically) from the aforementioned President Richard Nixon himself, who phoned astronaut Neil Armstrong to congratulate him for his momentous moon arrival but especially for prompting a national day of celebration, complete with parades and other fanfare.
It’s an alluring sentiment that permeates the entire film, which almost deifies the eponymous rocketeer,...
- 7/10/2019
- by Candice Frederick
- The Wrap
The Peak TV bubble would seem to have been a bonanza for independent producers. But the sheer volume of TV content in production in recent years has made the traditional job of assembling and shepherding a television show that much more complicated in many instances.
In today’s edition of Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast, Assembly Entertainment CEO Christina Wayne speaks candidly about the challenges indie producers face in getting projects on the air even in a boom market.
The former AMC development executive who championed “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” Wayne has been in the trenches as a producer for a decade. At present her projects include a drama series based on the “Mercury 13” female astronauts project from the early 1960s, with Jessica Chastain producing, and a YouTube comedy pilot “It’s a Man’s World,” penned by Theresa Rebeck. Wayne is also coming off a two-season run...
In today’s edition of Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast, Assembly Entertainment CEO Christina Wayne speaks candidly about the challenges indie producers face in getting projects on the air even in a boom market.
The former AMC development executive who championed “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” Wayne has been in the trenches as a producer for a decade. At present her projects include a drama series based on the “Mercury 13” female astronauts project from the early 1960s, with Jessica Chastain producing, and a YouTube comedy pilot “It’s a Man’s World,” penned by Theresa Rebeck. Wayne is also coming off a two-season run...
- 10/23/2018
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Star Thrower Entertainment has acquired rights to Bill Minutaglio and Steven L Davis’ book The Most Dangerous Man In America. In what I hear was a competitive situation, Tim and Trevor White’s Star Thrower bought the book, originally published in January and subtitled Timothy Leary, Richard Nixon and the Hunt for the Fugitive King of LSD, with plans to develop it into a limited series.
Based on freshly uncovered primary sources and firsthand interviews, The Most Dangerous Man In America follows Leary’s daring prison escape and run from the law in 1970. Aided by the Weather Underground, Leary’s prison break was the counterculture’s union of “dope and dynamite,” aimed at sparking a revolution and overthrowing the government. The ensuing global manhunt, led by President Nixon, spanned 28 months and wound its way among homegrown radicals, European aristocrats, a Black Panther outpost in Algeria, an international arms dealer,...
Based on freshly uncovered primary sources and firsthand interviews, The Most Dangerous Man In America follows Leary’s daring prison escape and run from the law in 1970. Aided by the Weather Underground, Leary’s prison break was the counterculture’s union of “dope and dynamite,” aimed at sparking a revolution and overthrowing the government. The ensuing global manhunt, led by President Nixon, spanned 28 months and wound its way among homegrown radicals, European aristocrats, a Black Panther outpost in Algeria, an international arms dealer,...
- 5/29/2018
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Winning what was a competitive bidding situation, Amy Pascal via Pascal Pictures just nailed down a sci-fi pitch from screenwriter Kat Wood. This is the second project that Pascal has bought from Wood, following another sci-fi project, Envoy, that Pascal brought into her company last year. This latest pitch is entitled Genus, described as a thriller about a scientist who accidentally brings back a prehistoric form of human species. It’s set in modern day and, of course, has a strong female lead.
Wood is a former Earth scientist and journalist for the BBC, who is from the UK. Since starting a career as a screenwriter, she has been named as one of the UK’s rising stars. She is one of several up and coming women who write, direct and produce.
Pascal has been steadily building up her feature film and television development slate with such projects as Beneath a Scarlet Sky,...
Wood is a former Earth scientist and journalist for the BBC, who is from the UK. Since starting a career as a screenwriter, she has been named as one of the UK’s rising stars. She is one of several up and coming women who write, direct and produce.
Pascal has been steadily building up her feature film and television development slate with such projects as Beneath a Scarlet Sky,...
- 5/25/2018
- by Anita Busch
- Deadline Film + TV
By Glenn Dunks
“That’s one small leap for a woman, another giant step for mankind” is how Mercury 13 opens. Ignore that it is probably the teensiest bit too twee of a means to open a movie – and also doesn’t make much sense in so far as what they’re referencing – and consider for a moment what could have been. David Sington and Heather Walsh’s film isn’t one of speculative fiction, but rather the untold story of the women who partook in a Nasa program.
In many ways, Mercury 13 feels like a blueprint for a feature narrative drama film. Watching the doc and one can almost see it playing out with actors like Emma Stone in the roles of these determined women who took to the skies and played an important part in the war efforts before being recruited for a secret mission to test...
“That’s one small leap for a woman, another giant step for mankind” is how Mercury 13 opens. Ignore that it is probably the teensiest bit too twee of a means to open a movie – and also doesn’t make much sense in so far as what they’re referencing – and consider for a moment what could have been. David Sington and Heather Walsh’s film isn’t one of speculative fiction, but rather the untold story of the women who partook in a Nasa program.
In many ways, Mercury 13 feels like a blueprint for a feature narrative drama film. Watching the doc and one can almost see it playing out with actors like Emma Stone in the roles of these determined women who took to the skies and played an important part in the war efforts before being recruited for a secret mission to test...
- 5/1/2018
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
MaryAnn’s quick take… An essential documentary look at yet another example of historical feminism that should never have been forgotten: the first American in space might have and probably should have been a woman. I’m “biast” (pro): big space nerd; desperate for stories about real women
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film
(learn more about this)
You’ve heard of the Mercury 7. They were America’s first astronauts: the first to sit atop a rocket and get shot into space, the first to experience zero gravity, the first to orbit our planet. They were the subject of the multiple-Oscar-winning film The Right Stuff, based on the bestselling book of the same name. They were global celebrities for their exploits in the 1960s and remain national heroes to this day.
The Mercury 7 were all men.
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film
(learn more about this)
You’ve heard of the Mercury 7. They were America’s first astronauts: the first to sit atop a rocket and get shot into space, the first to experience zero gravity, the first to orbit our planet. They were the subject of the multiple-Oscar-winning film The Right Stuff, based on the bestselling book of the same name. They were global celebrities for their exploits in the 1960s and remain national heroes to this day.
The Mercury 7 were all men.
- 4/23/2018
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Some of the women who were tested and trained the same as the Mercury 7 astronauts before Nasa shut the unofficial program down, the topic of the Netflix documentary Mercury 13, premiering on April 20. Photo courtesy of Netflix and Falco Ink.
Did you know that there were a group of women pilots who went through the same testing and training as the male pilots who became Nasa’s first astronauts, the Mercury 7? Despite the fact that 13 of the women achieved the same scores or even higher than the men chosen as astronauts, none of the women were even considered for the space program.
Likely most of you answered no, which is why this hidden bit of history makes such a good subject for Mercury 13, a documentary debuting on Netflix on April 20. Hidden Figures uncovered the untold story of mathematically-gifted women who played key roles in Nasa’s space program yet went unrecognized or worse.
Did you know that there were a group of women pilots who went through the same testing and training as the male pilots who became Nasa’s first astronauts, the Mercury 7? Despite the fact that 13 of the women achieved the same scores or even higher than the men chosen as astronauts, none of the women were even considered for the space program.
Likely most of you answered no, which is why this hidden bit of history makes such a good subject for Mercury 13, a documentary debuting on Netflix on April 20. Hidden Figures uncovered the untold story of mathematically-gifted women who played key roles in Nasa’s space program yet went unrecognized or worse.
- 4/20/2018
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
At a time when much has been written about the limited opportunities for female filmmakers, it is worth remembering that this sexist bias has infected many other fields as well. Mercury 13, a fascinating documentary that had its first showings at the San Francisco Film Festival and will premiere Friday on Netflix, demonstrates the prejudice against women pilots that had a devastating impact at the beginning of the Space Age.
The Oscar-nominated 2016 feature film Hidden Figures highlighted the female mathematicians who played a behind-the-scenes role at Nasa. But this new doc directed by David Sington and Heather Walsh adds a crucial...
The Oscar-nominated 2016 feature film Hidden Figures highlighted the female mathematicians who played a behind-the-scenes role at Nasa. But this new doc directed by David Sington and Heather Walsh adds a crucial...
- 4/19/2018
- by Stephen Farber
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
So far what we know about Netflix’s newest documentary, Mercury 13, is that it’s bound to detail a very serious injustice done to the women that did their best to prove that they were worthy of the chance to be the first Americans in space and possibly the first Americans on the moon. The only problem was that this was during the early 1960’s when their program, that over half of them passed no less, was conceived of. What this means is that they weren’t accepted by Nasa, as women still didn’t have every right that men did across the
What We Know about Netflix’s Space-Program Documentary “Mercury 13”...
What We Know about Netflix’s Space-Program Documentary “Mercury 13”...
- 4/16/2018
- by Tom
- TVovermind.com
Trailer For Netflix's Mercury 13 Which Tells The Story of The First Women Who Trained to Go To Space
A couple of years ago I found and read a book called The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight. As soon as I read it, I thought that it needed to be adapted into a movie or TV series. It tells the fascinating true story of the first women ever to go through the training to become astronauts. They were doing everything that the men were and they were fully qualified to go to space, but in the end, it didn't happen.
Netflix has released the first trailer for a new documentary that will tell the inspiring story of these 13 women who trained so hard only to have their dreams of going to space shut down by Nasa:
On April 9, 1959, Nasa introduced their first astronaut class of all men, Mercury 7, to the world. This is the story of the 13 women who...
Netflix has released the first trailer for a new documentary that will tell the inspiring story of these 13 women who trained so hard only to have their dreams of going to space shut down by Nasa:
On April 9, 1959, Nasa introduced their first astronaut class of all men, Mercury 7, to the world. This is the story of the 13 women who...
- 4/13/2018
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
There was a time when being an astronaut was the dream of many Americans. However, all of the talk was about putting the first person in space, and all of the astronauts being sent up in rockets and landing on the moon were men. But there were plenty of women who wanted a chance to […]
The post ‘Mercury 13’ Trailer: The Untold Story of Female Pilots Who Secretly Reached for the Stars appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘Mercury 13’ Trailer: The Untold Story of Female Pilots Who Secretly Reached for the Stars appeared first on /Film.
- 4/10/2018
- by Ethan Anderton
- Slash Film
The Netflix Original Documentary "Mercury 13", follows a group of American women who underwent rigorous screening tests as stand-ins for astronauts selected by 'Nasa' in 1959 for "Project Mercury", streaming April 20, 2018 on Netflix:
William Randolph Lovelace II, a former 'Flight Surgeon' and later, chairman of the 'Nasa Special Advisory Committee on Life Science'...
...helped develop the tests for Nasa's male astronauts and became curious to know how women would do taking the same tests.
"In 1960, Lovelace invited female pilot 'Jerrie' Cobb to undergo the same rigorous challenges as the men.
Cobb became the first American woman (and the only one of the Mercury 13) to undergo and pass all three phases of testing.
Since doctors didn't know what stresses astronauts would experience in space, tests ranged from the typical X-ray and general body physicals to the women having to swallow a rubber tube so their stomach acids could be tested.
William Randolph Lovelace II, a former 'Flight Surgeon' and later, chairman of the 'Nasa Special Advisory Committee on Life Science'...
...helped develop the tests for Nasa's male astronauts and became curious to know how women would do taking the same tests.
"In 1960, Lovelace invited female pilot 'Jerrie' Cobb to undergo the same rigorous challenges as the men.
Cobb became the first American woman (and the only one of the Mercury 13) to undergo and pass all three phases of testing.
Since doctors didn't know what stresses astronauts would experience in space, tests ranged from the typical X-ray and general body physicals to the women having to swallow a rubber tube so their stomach acids could be tested.
- 4/10/2018
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Premiering on Netflix April 20, 2018 is the documentary Mercury 13.
On April 9, 1959, Nasa introduced their first astronaut class of all men, Mercury 7, to the world. This is the story of the 13 women who were just as deserving of their place in space.
Mercury 13 is a remarkable story of the women who were tested for spaceflight in 1961 before their dreams were dashed in being the first to make the trip beyond Earth. Nasa’s ‘man in space’ program, dubbed ‘Project Mercury’ began in 1958. The men chosen – all military test pilots – became known as The Mercury 7. But away from the glare of the media, behind firmly closed doors, female pilots were also screened.
Thirteen of them passed and, in some cases, performed better than the men. They were called the Mercury 13 and had the ‘right stuff’ but were, unfortunately, the wrong gender. Underneath the obsession of the space race that gripped America,...
On April 9, 1959, Nasa introduced their first astronaut class of all men, Mercury 7, to the world. This is the story of the 13 women who were just as deserving of their place in space.
Mercury 13 is a remarkable story of the women who were tested for spaceflight in 1961 before their dreams were dashed in being the first to make the trip beyond Earth. Nasa’s ‘man in space’ program, dubbed ‘Project Mercury’ began in 1958. The men chosen – all military test pilots – became known as The Mercury 7. But away from the glare of the media, behind firmly closed doors, female pilots were also screened.
Thirteen of them passed and, in some cases, performed better than the men. They were called the Mercury 13 and had the ‘right stuff’ but were, unfortunately, the wrong gender. Underneath the obsession of the space race that gripped America,...
- 4/10/2018
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
While “Hidden Figures” explored the progress of black women behind the scenes as the U.S. launched the first man into space, the Netflix-produced documentary “Mercury 13” probes another struggle for inclusion taking place at the same time — the attempt by several woman to make the cut as astronauts. Unfolding as a series of tests in 1958 as Nasa prepared for Project Mercury, the experiments on the eponymous 13 women have received far less exposure than the stories surrounding the Nasa excursions themselves, but this straightforward, informative documentary provides an efficient historical revision, arguing that the bracing stories of the first men to enter space aren’t complete without an acknowledgement of the women stuck on Earth.
An engaging blend of modern-day interviews and archival footage, “Mercury 13” complicates the traditional narrative of triumph surrounding the Mercury missions of the ‘60s and their culmination with the moon landing. The surviving members...
An engaging blend of modern-day interviews and archival footage, “Mercury 13” complicates the traditional narrative of triumph surrounding the Mercury missions of the ‘60s and their culmination with the moon landing. The surviving members...
- 4/9/2018
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Netflix will attempt to preempt Amazon’s planned narrative miniseries on a group of Kennedy-era, aspiring female astronauts — “Mercury 13” — with a documentary of the same name. The Netflix offering features interviews with pilots who underwent physical and psychological testing in 1961 as part of a privately-funded secret program. The program was not Nasa sanctioned, however, and opposition from orbit-bound John Glenn and others prevented the women’s training from being recognized as legitimate.
While Netflix’s project has flown mostly under the radar, Deadline reported in November that “The Post” co-writer Liz Hannah would adapt Martha Ackmann’s 2003 memoir, “The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and the Dream of Space Flight” for its rival streaming service. Hannah will be the Pascal Pictures-produced Amazon series’ showrunner and executive producer. With her Freckle Films banner, Oscar-nominated actress Jessica Chastain was once slated to produce yet another Mercury 13 account,...
While Netflix’s project has flown mostly under the radar, Deadline reported in November that “The Post” co-writer Liz Hannah would adapt Martha Ackmann’s 2003 memoir, “The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and the Dream of Space Flight” for its rival streaming service. Hannah will be the Pascal Pictures-produced Amazon series’ showrunner and executive producer. With her Freckle Films banner, Oscar-nominated actress Jessica Chastain was once slated to produce yet another Mercury 13 account,...
- 4/9/2018
- by Jenna Marotta
- Indiewire
"I want to be up there, that's part of me!" Netflix has launched an official trailer for a documentary titled Mercury 13, made by filmmakers David Sington (In the Shadow of the Moon, The Fear of 13) & Heather Walsh. This doc profiles women who were tested in 1961 for spaceflight, but had their dreams dashed when only men were chosen to become astronauts. On April 9, 1959, Nasa introduced their first astronaut class of all men, Mercury 7, to the world. This is the story of the 13 women who were just as deserving of their place in space. I'm sold already based on that pitch alone. I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking, "I didn't know anything about these women?" Perhaps that's the way Nasa wanted it to be, but now we get to learn their story. This looks like a great doc to watch when it's out. And I'm a big fan...
- 4/9/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The documentary “Mercury 13” could be seen as a companion piece to the award-winning film, “Hidden Figures.” However, while “Hidden Figures” told the triumphant tale of the women behind the math and engineering aspects of Nasa, ultimately to become integral to the space program in the ‘60s, “Mercury 13” looks to tell a similar story, but without the happy ending.
Read More: Jessica Chastain Goes To TV With ‘Mercury 13’
In the first trailer for “Mercury 13,” we are introduced to the women who underwent testing to become astronauts in 1961, for the Mercury space program.
Read More: Jessica Chastain Goes To TV With ‘Mercury 13’
In the first trailer for “Mercury 13,” we are introduced to the women who underwent testing to become astronauts in 1961, for the Mercury space program.
- 4/9/2018
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
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