“Houston, we have a problem.” Even if you haven’t seen Apollo 13, you probably know this sentence. The adventure with Tom Hanks tells of a true space catastrophe that almost seems documentary nominated for nine Oscars became. Today Apollo 13 is on TV.
What is the astronaut drama Apollo 13 about?
Houston, 1970: The mission to the moon is already under an unfavorable star when Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) and his team, consisting of Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise), unexpectedly take over the rocket flight should. Shortly before departure, Mattingly falls ill and is replaced by the inexperienced Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon). At first everything seems to be going well, but on the third day Lovell sends out the famous radio message: “Houston, we have a problem“. From then on, the fight for survival begins for the crew.
The true story of the Apollo 13 flight is based on the Memoirs by Jim Lovellwhich he wrote together with Jeffrey Kluger in the book Lost Moon held on. Director Ron Howard filmed the story extremely realistic and takes his time to tell the story and the training in detail before the life-threatening catastrophe in space occurs.
Steven Spielberg gives crucial tips for filming
Steven Spielberg already proved in the early 90s that he could use robot models and computer effects to bring dinosaurs to life that also looked deceptively real. But as Ron Howard Film tricks wanted to use it to artificially represent weightlessness, Spielberg, of all people, advised him against it. He practically urged his colleague turn in true weightlessness.
Universal Pictures
The crew of Apollo 13 is still confident.
Howard revealed this in the Directors Guild of America magazine. Of course, the film crew couldn’t just fly into space, but he still found it Brainstorm with Steven Spielberg a possibility. The KC-135 aircraft rises and descends like a roller coaster 23 seconds of weightlessness be generated. After the cast and crew underwent extensive testing and training, NASA allowed filming to begin.
A full four hours of footage was recorded in the machine, which probably wasn’t the most pleasant experience for those involved. The affectionate nickname “vomit comet“ (Vomit Comet) that they gave to the trial probably says it all. But the hard filming was worth it because the result was a realistic film that will be followed by others Space adventure sets new standards has.
When is Apollo 13 on TV?
Apollo 13 will be today (Thursday, January 4th) at prime time at 8:15 p.m. on ZDFneo broadcast. It will also be shown on the Austrian channel Puls4 on Saturday (January 6th) at 12:05 p.m. and on Sunday (January 7th) at 2:25 a.m.