A lonely astronaut adrift in the cosmos discovers a strange, alien companion in the upcoming Netflix sci-fi movie, Spaceman. Check out the first trailer here…
Six months into a solitary research mission to the edge of the solar system, Spaceman sees an astronaut, Jakub, realise that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things with his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), he is helped by a mysterious creature from the beginning of time he finds hiding in the bowels of his ship. Hanuš works with Jakub to make sense of what went wrong before it is too late.
The movie is based on the novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař, who says talks about the story’s humble beginning: “Spaceman began as a short story that I wrote in my last year of college,” he told Netflix. “Originally, it was just a punch line about an American astronaut who was stranded in orbit when he received a call from his wife asking for a divorce.”
Jakub is most definitely a different role for Sandler, as the movie’s director Johan Renck discusses: “I really wanted to have a performance from him that had nothing to do with the Adam Sandler we all know,” Renck told Netflix. “I don’t think people understand how [although] he may come across as funny and sweet and all that, he’s very intelligent, really smart, profound.”
Starring in a sci-fi movie does have its own challenges, including being stuffed in a space suit and dangling on wires to simulate zero gravity: “It’s tremendously uncomfortable with all these harnesses and hanging in your own body weight,” Renck explains. “I think it’s painful in a way that’s actually going to be intrusive to your performance — unless you’re Adam, because he just pushed through that in an incredible way.”
The movie also stars Kunal Nayyar, Lena Olin, Isabella Rossellini and Paul Dano as the voice of Hanuš.
“Paul was the first thing that came up in thinking about [the creature],” Renck says of Dano taking on the role of the strange creature. “He has this peculiar cadence when he’s speaking, his careful formulation of words, and his very unique voice.”
As for Kalfař, well, he’s very pleased with the adaptation of his novel: “I was completely blown away when I saw the film. I’ve seen it twice now,” he said. “I think all the people out there who love weird things and weird art will hopefully be delighted by it.”
Spaceman will be released in select theaters on 23 February and on Netflix on 1 March 2024.
Watch more trailers and videos at the SciFiNow YouTube channel.
