"Damien had a very clear vision from the outset. He said, 'Can we get across how challenging this was? Can we get across the visceral nature of this?' The space program has been depicted, tonally, on the softer side in the past," the screenwriter told The Boston Globe. "Damien said, 'I want to be terrified the entire time.' It’s one of the earliest things we talked about. Neil’s heroism isn’t because he landed on the moon, it’s because he had the wherewithal to live through it all."