First Man is touching down in New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, and hasn't been without controversy.
The film is Neil Armstrong's story, told with the help of his family.
It hopes to show the world who the astronaut really was, and the price so many people paid to win the space race.
Armstrong is played by Ryan Gosling in the film. He and filmmaker Damien Chazelle went straight to the source to get his story right - Armstrong's surviving two sons, Rick and Mark.
"He's been mischaracterised for a long time by the media," says Mark Armstrong. "It's nice to see this movie show more of what he really was like."
"The more you feel like you know him, the more there is to learn," says Gosling. "He is just such a complicated and unique person.
"It was just such a pleasure to get to know him the way that I did, through his family and friends."
First Man faced some criticism after its first screenings as partisan Americans were upset it failed to show the actual planting of the US flag on the moon.
But the filmmakers had their focus on what we didn't know about the Apollo program.
"I think it's one of those events we still have a hard time fathoming," says Chazelle.
"So it felt important to try and shed light on not just the famous parts of the story, but the untold parts of that story - the in-between moments, the personal moments."
First Man opens in cinemas across New Zealand this week, including the IMAX theatre in Auckland.
Newshub.
