This pivotal yr for the nation was on Greg Berlanti‘s thoughts throughout an intimate screening of his interval movie Fly Me to the Moon that came about on the night time of this week’s presidential debate.

Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum star in Apple Authentic Movies‘ romantic comedy function from director Berlanti that hits theaters July 14, with Sony dealing with distribution. Set in opposition to the backdrop of the Apollo 11 moon launch in the course of the Area Race of the late Nineteen Sixties, Fly Me to the Moon facilities on a NASA director (Tatum) and advertising and marketing specialist (Johansson) who butt heads within the lead-up to the high-pressure second.

Among the many notable friends on the occasion held on the San Vicente Bungalows in West Hollywood had been performers who had beforehand labored with Berlanti, together with Cole Sprouse (Riverdale), Lucy Hale (Katy Keene) and Lukas Gage (You). Additionally in attendance had been Nina Dobrev, Billie Lourd, Alex Edelman, Donald De Line and Jim Rash, with the latter co-starring in Fly Me to the Moon as a filmmaker employed to assist stage the moon touchdown as a fallback plan.

Berlanti, who helmed the film from a script by Rose Gilroy, advised The Hollywood Reporter on the occasion that “this second within the nation” was on his thoughts with the movie being proven simply because the tense face-off between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump was winding down. The director and prolific tv producer stated the movie has led to viewers feeling nostalgic for a extra unified nation.

“Once I began to see that response from folks from each side, didn’t matter the place we examined — in Denver or Texas or right here — all people was feeling that very same factor,” Berlanti stated. He likened the response to equally fond emotions generated by his earlier movie, Love, Simon: “It was a bit reminiscent to once I was doing Love, Simon, and wherever we went, folks had been very nostalgic about their highschool expertise. It didn’t matter that it was a homosexual love story. It was very unifying.”

Whereas introducing Fly Me to the Moon on stage, Berlanti thanked the groups at Apple and Sony for believing in a theatrical launch for the movie and inspired attendees to assist unfold the phrase concerning the undertaking. “That is an extremely auspicious crowd, and we’re extremely grateful to your time — and on debate night time, no much less,” he stated.

This led occasion host Sara Foster to quip concerning the debate, “No one needs to observe that shit present.” Throughout the reception that adopted the screening, some friends could possibly be overheard voicing issues about how the talk unfolded.

Berlanti additionally advised THR that the present proliferation of conspiracy theories was on his thoughts whereas making Fly Me to the Moon, on condition that the story entails the federal government encouraging NASA to movie a faux model of the moon touchdown in case the actual mission falls quick.

“The truth that they’re so prevalent now — this was nonetheless a film that was about why the reality is necessary, and that folks will convey no matter they’re going to convey to it,” stated Berlanti, who emphasised that the subject of belief within the authorities continues to be value exploring, regardless of the fraught nature of our modern second.

The filmmaker stated that he aimed to make “a really entertaining film [that] hopefully nonetheless has one thing to say about that. There’s a motive to take a look at that head-on and never shrink back from doing one thing like that now as a result of it’s so politicized.”