“I don’t think that Neil viewed himself as an American hero”- When Ryan Gosling defended The First Man amidst American Flag controversy

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After the tumultuous success of Barbie, Ryan Gosling is effectively one of the most efficient leading men in Hollywood, taking on a broad variety of roles with some real challenges along the path. Not long ago, Gosling was a go-to actor for the critically acclaimed auteur Damien Chazelle, who cast him as the legendary Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the moon.

Alongside chronicling the legendary achievement in the acclaimed masterpiece, The First Man, the creators managed to stir up some controversy by omitting a particular scene that left many Americans disheartened. Chazelle omitted the iconic placing of the American flag on the moon, which started a controversy as early as the film’s Venice Film Festival debut ahead of its release.

Gosling later defended the film’s choice of removing the flag-placing scene, saying Armstrong’s moon walk, “transcended countries and borders,” effectively shifting the discourse into a more positive light.

He also said:

“So I don’t think that Neil viewed himself as an American hero. From my interviews with his family and people that knew him, it was quite the opposite. And we wanted the film to reflect Neil.”

The controversy could have gained further momentum at the time because Ryan Gosling is originally Canadian.

“I also think Neil was extremely humble”- Ryan Gosling on why Damien Chazelle chose to omit the American flag on the moon

As seen in the latest interviews around Barbie, Ryan Gosling can be quite persuasive when he talks about his characters. The promotion campaign for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie owes a lot to Gosling’s vibrant “kenergy,” which he carried around very well throughout the promotion campaign.

For The First Man, Ryan Gosling was extremely defensive of his director’s choice of not showing the American Flag and chose to turn the conversation in a more humanitarian direction.

Ryan Gosling told the UK Telegraph:

“I think this was widely regarded in the end as a human achievement [and] that’s how we chose to view it,…I also think Neil was extremely humble, as were many of these astronauts, and time and time again he deferred the focus from himself to the 400,000 people who made the mission possible.”

He also joked about his Canadian heritage saying that he may have a “cognitive bias.”

At the time of the incident, however, there was a rather big spike in disgruntled Americans who wanted this “error” to be rectified.

Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio tweeted:

“This is total lunacy,…And a disservice at a time when our people need reminders of what we can achieve when we work together. The American people paid for that mission, on rockets built by Americans, with American technology & carrying American astronauts. It wasn’t a UN mission.”

Damien Chazelle did not explicitly address this controversy.

The First Man went on to become one of the best-received films of the year and received numerous accolades, including two nominations at the 76th Golden Globe Awards (winning Best Original Score), ten nominations at the 24th Critics’ Choice Awards (winning Best Editing and Best Score), seven nominations at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards, and four nominations at the 91st Academy Awards.

The First Man is available for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video.