National Geographic’s mini-space-series, The Right Stuff, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and Warner Bros is set to premiere on Disney+ in fall 2020.
The US has never fared well with feelings of fear and decline. NASA’s Project Mercury was contrived to participate in a space-race with the soviets.
The Right Stuff, based on a book of the same name by Tom Wolfe, has its foundations in the same space race involving the Mercury Seven pilots.
At the height of the Cold War in 1959, the Soviet Union dominates the space race. To combat a national sentiment of fear and decline, the U.S. government conceives of NASA’s Project Mercury, igniting a space race with the Soviets and making instant celebrities of a handful of the military’s most accomplished test pilots. These individuals, who come to be known as the Mercury Seven, are forged into heroes long before they have achieved a single heroic act. The nation’s best engineers estimate they need several decades to make it into outer space. They are given two years.
Official Synopsis
The plot follows a close rivalry between star pilots John Glenn (Adams from Suits) and Alan Shepherd (Jake McDorman) in the midst of project Mercury.
Created by Mark Lafferty, The Right Stuff has a cast filled with artists such as Jake McDorman (Manhattan Love Story), James Lafferty (One Tree Hill), Aaron Staton (Mad Men) and Colin O’Donoghue (Once Upon a Time).
Watch behind-the-scenes snippets below: