Sartaj Singh
Helmed by director Greg Berlanti, ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ narrates the romantic tale of a NASA director and a marketing specialist as they work towards making the moon landing a success. Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) is brought in by NASA to improve the space agency’s image and help prepare a contingency in the event of the moon landing failing. She has to work alongside the by-the-books launch director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), who initially has little patience for her theatrics as the lift-off date is approaching fast. However, when orders from high up force them to work on a fake moon landing video in case the real one fails, the two start to grow close. The romantic comedy film transports us to the 1960s amidst the Cold War space race and immerses us in the time.
Fly Me to the Moon Filming Locations
The historical Florida locations and NASA offices in ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ were largely recreated using several sites across Atlanta, Savannah, and Tybee Island, Georgia. However, the shooting did take place around the actual space launch center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Filming began in October 2022 in Atlanta and wrapped by early March 2023 in Cape Canaveral. Tentatively titled ‘Project Artemis,’ the movie initially had a different filming schedule that was shifted after Jason Bateman stepped back from the director’s role and was joined on his way out by Chris Evans, who was unavailable at the rescheduled shooting dates.
Cape Canaveral, Florida
The second production unit of ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ traveled to Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida, where they rolled cameras around actual and former NASA grounds. The active sites included the Kennedy Space Center at Space Commerce Way on Merritt Island, where they employed the institution’s press site as a filming location. They captured aerial views of the center with a helicopter, and vintage vehicles were parked around the press site. The crew also set up large tents for their operation and built the launch viewing stands seen in the movie.
Interestingly, three actual rocket launches took place at the center while filming was taking place, and the production team captured their lift-offs. To create the historical environment, the team also utilized the now-deactivated Launch Complex-34 site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The complex contributes to the authenticity of the movie’s backdrops as it was the site of many of the Apollo program launches between 1961 and 1968, including the Saturn I and IB rockets.
Savannah Metropolitan Area, Georgia
Filming for ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ was also carried out on location in and around Savannah, particularly towards its eastern coast in the town of Tybee Island. The beach of the barrier island stood in for Florida’s Cocoa Beach that’s seen in the movie. When Kelly and Cole are standing on a pier and spending time at the beach, the structure seen is actually the Tybee Beach Pier.
The scene of Kelly attempting to break a store window with a trash can while wearing a green dress was filmed in Savannah a day prior to the beach sequence. The city of Pooler, situated west of Savannah, also served as a filming location on December 5, 2022, with extras having vintage cars called to the set. The cast and crew also shot a few scenes at the Fort Pulaski National Monument on 101 Fort Pulaski Road, which doubled as a set for the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
Metro Atlanta, Georgia
The production team created the office spaces and interiors for a majority of the film’s scenes in studio locations in Atlanta, where shooting started in October 2022. The cover name for the shoot was ‘Eleven,’ and a casting call was made for extras who owned vintage vehicles from 1969 or older. Their involvement with the shoots in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area was between November 2022 and February 2023. The cast also had some extras who were NASA employees at the time of the Apollo 11 launch.
The production team under Shane Valentino crafted sets that effectively mimicked the 1960s NASA offices and vast building spaces, with some of the cast members in awe at their creations. “When we first saw it, it was breathtaking, it was so big,” said actress Anna Garcia about the moon landing film set in an interview. “It’s bigger than you can even imagine. Every day, I would beg, ‘Can I please go on the catwalk? Can I please?’ and look at it from above. They said it was very dangerous, but on the very last day, they let me go up there.”
Read More: Fly Me to the Moon: Is the Movie Inspired by a True Story?
