Principal photography on Johan Renck’s “Spaceman” began in April 19, 2021 and wrapped on July 1, 2021 in the Czech Republic. It still hasn’t been released.
“Spaceman” stars Adam Sandler as real-life astronaut Jakub Procházka. Carey Mulligan plays his wife and Paul Dano is a fellow astronaut. There’s a lot of talent involved in this movie. It also comes to us from director Johan Renck (“Chernobyl“), with a screenplay by Colby Day. The whole thing is being distributed by Netflix.
Many believed “Spaceman” would be seen in 2022, but it didn’t show up anywhere on the calendar. It was scheduled to be released by Netflix in 2023, but news just came yesterday that it’s been again delayed to 2024. We’ll have to wait another year to catch this one.
There were actually three test-screenings for “Spaceman” last year. What I had heard wasn’t good. It seemed as though Sandler was miscast in a role that demanded a range of emotions. The screenplay was also another problem, according to those I spoke to.
The film is based on a true story, Procházka was orphaned as a boy and raised in the Czech countryside by his grandparents, but overcame the odds to become the country's first astronaut.
The delay is disappointing news as I am a fan of Sandler’s dramatic turns — he gave impressive performances in “Punch-Drunk Love,” “Uncut Gems” and “The a Meyerowitz Stories.” His next project again re-teams him with Netflix and ‘Uncut’ filmmaker Josh Safdie.
Meanwhile, the Swedish-born Renck is a pretty big name in television having directed all five episodes of HBO’s critically-acclaimed “Chernobyl.” He’s also directed episodes of “Breaking Bad,” “The Walking Dead” and “Vikings.”