In honour of the 51st anniversary of the 1969 Apollo mission to the moon, Netflix have today announced a new upcoming feature film from director/writer Richard Linklater. Helmed by Linklater’s own Detour Filmproduction alongside Submarine in the Netherlands, Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Adventure will be produced by Tommy Pallotta, Mike Blizzard, Femke Wolting (Submarine) and Bruno Felix (Submarine).

Taking inspiration from the director’s childhood memories of growing up in Houston, TX, the film will combine live-action with a variety of animation styles, from hand-drawn to CG. Having wrapped the live-action shoot in March of this year, the animation phase is underway at Submarine with the character animation interpreted from the actors’ performances taken on at Minnow Mountain in Austin, led by Steph Swope (Character Animation Unit producer) and Craig Staggs (creative lead).

Richard Linklater directs Milo Coy during the live action shoot for his new animated film, APOLLO 10 1/2, which blends a unique combination of hand drawn animation, live action and CGI. Cr. Matt Lankes/NETFLIX © 2020

Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Adventure tells the story of the first moon landing in the summer of 1969 from two interwoven perspectives.  It both captures the astronaut and mission control view of the triumphant moment, and the lesser-seen bottom up perspective of what it was like from an excited kid’s perspective, living near NASA but mostly watching it on TV like hundreds of millions of others.  It’s ultimately both an exacting re-creation of this special moment in history and a kid’s fantasy about being plucked from his average life in suburbia to secretly train for a covert mission to the moon.

The film’s cast includes Jack Black,  Zachary Levi, Glen Powell, Josh Wiggins, Milo Coy, Lee Eddy, Bill Wise, Natalie L’Amoreaux, Jessica Cohen, Sam Chipman and Danielle Guilbot.

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.  Our unique animation style allows both the conjuring of a world long gone, and the flowing, playful expression of memory and imagination.  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.

-Richard Linklater (Director, Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Adventure)