The famous director of “Capricorn 1” also joined NASA! ? Space movie history of intrigue

"Capricorn 1" synopsis

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in Houston is about to launch the first manned Mars spacecraft in human history. The three astronauts boarded Capricorn One and the countdown began. But five minutes before launch, the three were taken from the ship and taken to an old base in the middle of the desert. There, the three are told by the person in charge of the project that manned flight is no longer possible due to a malfunction in the life support system, and since they cannot cancel the plan due to political reasons, they are ordered to fabricate the fact that they went to Mars. It will be done. The three of them refused, but with their families' safety taken hostage, they had no choice but to accept, and the big play of fabrications begins...

Index

• The reality created by the Watergate scandal and NASA cooperation
• Relationship with the legendary documentary drama “The Third Choice”
• The origins of the Apollo program conspiracy theory
• Relationship between the Apollo program and movies
• Even Kubrick was involved! ? Apollo program conspiracy theory

The reality created by the Watergate scandal and NASA cooperation

Movies are a mirror of the times, and their evaluation changes depending on the time. In fact, a project that was ignored at one time may be accepted as a timely project when times change. It can be said that the society surrounding America in the late 1960s and early 1970s encouraged the filmization of Capricorn One.

Director Peter Hyams wrote the script for this film back in 1969, when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and became the first humans to walk on the moon. As I watched the broadcast of the moon landing, I wondered if we were putting too much trust in the newspapers, let alone the TV footage we saw on TV. What if the moon landing itself was a lie? The script was written based on this idea. Hyams originally worked on documentaries on the Vietnam War for CBS/TV News, and had seen first-hand how authorities intervened and fabricated The Truth, so it's no wonder that he looked at the Apollo program with skepticism. .

“Capricorn One” (C) Capricorn One Associates 1978

At the end of the 1960s, the script for Capricorn One was not approached by any film company. At times, he even faced severe rejection. The point is, it's absurd. However, Director Hyams decided to let the script sit for several years, saying, ``On the contrary, I thought it would be a success. It's not a bad thing to get a strong reaction,'' (Kinema Junpo).

Then, in 1972, when the Apollo program was canceled, the Watergate scandal exposed a state-wide conspiracy and behind-the-scenes operations that would eventually lead to the resignation of the sitting president, and Capricorn One took a turn from the absurd to the vivid reality. The film came to be accepted by film companies as a work of art.

When preparations for production began, there were a lot of problems to overcome since it was a suspense action blockbuster that included car action and sky action, but above all, there were many problems that had to be overcome to deceive the people watching the broadcast all over the world. The focus was on what to do with the spaceship and Mars sets, which required realism. Fortunately, six months before filming began, Viking 1 and 2 landed on Mars consecutively and sent back photos of the Martian surface, making it possible to create a Mars set that was closer to the real thing than just an imagination. Became.

“Capricorn One” (C) Capricorn One Associates 1978

Furthermore, with cooperation from NASA, the spacecraft's lander was built in full size based on the Apollo program blueprints, and the original command module was provided. This was made possible by the film's producer, Paul N. Lazarus III, who leveraged the NASA connections he developed while making Future World . As expected from the producer of Umisenzansen, he did not show NASA the script, but only gave a rough outline of the plot.

It wasn't until the second half of filming, when NASA's upper management showed their enthusiasm, that their expression changed. Since then, they have not been as cooperative as they once were, but Hyams says that everyone at NASA's lower level was friendly throughout. The reason for this was that since he was convinced that humans had gone to the moon, he had the fortitude to accept such movies as fiction.However, when NASA took such an adult attitude, Hyams said, ``Actually, this is not true.'' ``I wish I had put a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie that said ``The movie was made despite various sabotage pressures from NASA'' (``Kinema Junpo''), he regrets.

Relationship with the legendary documentary drama “The Third Choice”