You've been to the Moon and back with Ryan Gosling's Neil Armstrong, does First Man have an after-credits scene in store for you? The new film from Damien Chazelle (Whiplash, La La Land) is about the first man to walk on the lunar surface, exploring Armstong's family life as much as his humanity leaping actions.
It's a very different sort of biopic for sure. While all the key moments are there - Neil joining NASA, the near-fatal Gemini 8 mission, the successful and unforgettable Apollo 11 landings - the film takes a more abstract approach, with documentary-style filming and moments of reflection creating something more personal than a peek behind the curtain. One of the biggest aspects of this is the lack of any end cards that explain what happened to First Man's key players after the Moon landings.
Watch: The First Man Trailer
And if you're expecting to find out more by sticking around in the theater, you're out of luck: First Man does not have an after-credits scene. However, there are two very good reasons to still stick about. The first is Justin Hurwitz's score. In the movie itself, it's a stunning blend of grounded and magical styles, evoking 2001 and Interstellar while still being its own thing, and the credits suite is a perfect cap. Second, there's the use of archive NASA recordings at the end that serve as both a reminder of the reality of this story and how space exploration continued beyond the Moon landings.
It shouldn't be too surprising that First Man doesn't include anything after the credits. Even with it shirking a lot of drama genre conventions, it's not going to dip its toe into a trope typically saved for superhero movies. The story of both the Space Race and Neil Armstrong are completed by the movie's end, so there's no greater narrative to explore - even if that final scene is rather ambiguous. A stinger showing Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planting the US flag in the Moon would be humorous, but again not totally fitting.
There'll be other ways to keep up with the talent involved. Chazelle is going to be giving the big screen a break, but is set to direct the first two episodes of upcoming musical Netflix series The Eddy and is writing a project for Apple TV. Ryan Gosling has no other acting projects lined up, but Claire Foy will be back in cinemas next month for The Girl In The Spider's Web (but not on Netflix for The Crown, where the role of Queen Elizabeth has been recast with Olivia Coleman).
