Netflix has released the trailer for Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood, Richard Linklater’s new animated film, launching on the service on April 1, 2022. The movie was written, directed, and produced by Linklater.
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood is rated PG-13 for some suggestive material, injury images, and smoking. You can watch the trailer on YouTube.
The movie 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.
Taking inspiration from Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Richard Linklater’s own life, Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood is a snapshot of American life in the 1960s that is part coming-of-age, part societal commentary, and part out-of-this-world adventure.
The cast includes Milo Coy, Lee Eddy, Bill Wise, Natalie L’Amoreaux, Josh Wiggins, Sam Chipman, Jessica Brynn Cohen, Danielle Guilbot with Zachary Levi, Glen Powell, and Jack Black.
Linklater produced with Mike Blizzard, Tommy Pallotta, Femke Wolting, and Bruno Felix. The executive producer is John Sloss.
“After the years of work on Apollo 10 1/2, I think everyone involved is excited to take folks on these intermingled journeys – one a young astronaut’s trip to the moon and another that runs hand-in-hand with him and his family in the suburbs near NASA,” said Linklater.
“I wanted it to be many things at once: a re-creation, a fantasy, and a memoir of ephemera, and making a large portion of the film during these dark and unsettling last two years only sharpened our focus as to what we were primarily trying to share in this story, namely the hope, optimism, communal spirit, and creativity of that time.”
The live-action shoot wrapped in March 2020 in Austin, and the hybrid of hand-drawn and computer-animated imagery was completed at Minnow Mountain in Austin and Submarine in the Netherlands.
“It struck me years ago that this was my film to make, from both a chronological and proximity level – I was there, going into 3rd grade,” Linklater said previously.
“Our unique animation style allows both the conjuring of a world long gone and the flowing, playful expression of memory and imagination,” he continued.
“It’s been a fun, creative journey to incorporate things like 3D graphics into a live-action shoot to help bring this story to life.”
Mirko Parlevliet has been reporting on the entertainment industry since 1998 and founded Vital Thrills in 2018 to cover the latest news on streaming, movies, TV, and video games.