Apollo 13 is a 1995 American drama film directed by
Ron HowardRonald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
. The film stars
Tom HanksThomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
,
Kevin BaconKevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
,
Bill PaxtonWilliam "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
,
Gary SiniseGary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
,
Kathleen QuinlanKathleen Denise Quinlan is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated American actress, mostly seen on television and in motion pictures.-Personal life:...
and
Ed HarrisEdward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
. The screenplay by William Broyles, Jr. and Al Reinert, that dramatizes the 1970
Apollo 13Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
lunar mission, is an adaptation of the book
Lost MoonLost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 , later re-named Apollo 13, is a book written by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger. It is about the failed Apollo 13 moon landing mission, of which Lovell was the commander...
by astronaut
Jim LovellJames "Jim" Arthur Lovell, Jr., is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered a critical failure en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission...
(the story's
protagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
) and
Jeffrey KlugerJeffrey Kluger is a senior writer at TIME Magazine, and author of several books on science topics including Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio; Simplexity; Journey Beyond Selene; and Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13...
.
Released in the United States on June 30, 1995, Apollo 13 garnered critical acclaim and was nominated for many awards, most notably nine Academy Awards including Best Picture; it won for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing. In total, the film grossed over $355 million worldwide during its theatrical releases.
Plot
On July 20, 1969, veteran astronaut
Jim LovellJames "Jim" Arthur Lovell, Jr., is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered a critical failure en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission...
hosts a party for other astronauts and their families, who watch on television as their colleague
Neil ArmstrongNeil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
takes his first steps on the Moon during the
Apollo 11In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
mission. Lovell, who orbited the Moon on
Apollo 8Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial...
, tells his wife Marilyn that he intends to go up again.
While giving a VIP tour of NASA's
Vehicle Assembly BuildingThe Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center was used to assemble and house American manned launch vehicles from 1968-2011. It is the fourth largest building in the world by volume...
, Lovell is informed by
Deke SlaytonDonald Kent Slayton , better known as Deke Slayton, was an American World War II pilot and later, one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts....
that he and his crew will fly the Apollo 13 mission instead of Apollo 14. After informing his family of his impending trip, Lovell and his crew,
Fred HaiseFred Wallace Haise, Jr. is an engineer and former NASA astronaut. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon. Having flown on Apollo 13, Haise was to be the sixth human to walk on the Moon, but the mission did not land due to a failure aboard the spacecraft.-Early life and...
and
Ken MattinglyThomas Kenneth "Ken" Mattingly II, is a retired American astronaut and rear admiral in the United States Navy who flew on the Apollo 16, STS-4 and STS-51-C missions. He had been scheduled to fly on Apollo 13, but was held back due to concerns about a potential illness...
begin training for their new mission. Days before launch, Mattingly, who was exposed to
German measlesRubella, commonly known as German measles, is a disease caused by the rubella virus. The name "rubella" is derived from the Latin, meaning little red. Rubella is also known as German measles because the disease was first described by German physicians in the mid-eighteenth century. This disease is...
, is replaced by backup Command Module Pilot
Jack SwigertHe later became staff director of the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives.Swigert was elected as a Republican to Colorado's newly created 6th congressional district in November 1982. He defeated Democrat Steve Hogan, 98,909 votes to 56,518...
.
As the launch date approaches, Marilyn's fears for her husband manifest in nightmares, but she comes to Cape Kennedy to see him off despite her misgivings, and later loses her wedding ring when it falls into her motel shower drain.
On April 11, 1970, Lovell, Haise and Swigert are suited up, secured inside the spacecraft, and Apollo 13 flight director
Gene KranzKranz's book, titled Failure Is Not an Option, published five years after the movie, stated, "...a creed that we all lived by: "Failure is not an option."" . The book has three index references for the phrase, but none of those give any indication of the phrase being apocryphal...
in Houston's
Mission Control CenterA mission control center is an entity that manages aerospace vehicle flights, usually from the point of lift-off until the landing or the end of the mission. A staff of flight controllers and other support personnel monitor all aspects of the mission using telemetry, and send commands to the...
gives the go-ahead for launch. As the
Saturn VThe Saturn V was an American human-rated expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. A multistage liquid-fueled launch vehicle, NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload...
rocket climbs into the sky, an engine on the second stage cuts off prematurely, but the craft successfully reaches Earth orbit. After the third stage fires, sending Apollo 13 on a trajectory to the Moon, Swigert docks the Command/
Service ModuleA service module is a spacecraft compartment containing a variety of support systems used for spacecraft operations. Usually located in the uninhabited area of the spacecraft, the service module is jettisoned upon the completion of the mission, and usually burns up during atmospheric reentry...
Odyssey with the Lunar Module Aquarius, and pulls it away from the spent stage. Three days into the mission, the crew send a live television transmission from Odyssey, but the networks, believing the public now regards lunar missions as routine, refuse to broadcast it live.
As part of routine procedures, Swigert flips a switch to stir up the two
liquid oxygenLiquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...
tanks in the Service Module, which unexpectedly causes one of them to explode. The other tank is soon found to be leaking, prompting Mission Control to abort the Moon landing, and forcing the crew to hurriedly shut down Odyssey and power up Aquarius, so it can keep them alive for the return home. As the Aquarius crew watches the Moon passing underneath them, Lovell imagines walking on its surface. On Earth, after flight director Kranz declares that "failure is not an option", Mattingly is recruited by flight controller
John AaronJohn W. Aaron is a former NASA engineer, and was a flight controller during the Apollo program. He is widely credited with saving the Apollo 12 mission when it was struck by lightning shortly after liftoff and played an important role during the Apollo 13 crisis, earning him the highly...
to help prepare procedures to restart Odyssey once the crew nears Earth.
The crew shuts down Aquarius to conserve power, subjecting them to freezing conditions. Swigert suspects Mission Control has made a mistake and is withholding it from them, and in a fit of rage, Haise blames Swigert's inexperience for the accident; an argument ensues but is quickly quelled by Lovell. As another problem arises—the dangerous buildup of
carbon dioxideCarbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
exhaled by the astronauts—an engineering team quickly formulates a solution which allows the Command Module's square air cleaners to be used in the Lunar Module's round receptacles. With guidance systems on Aquarius shut down, and despite Haise's fever and freezing conditions inside the cabin, the crew succeeds in making a difficult manual course correction by briefly igniting the Lunar Module's engine.
Meanwhile, as Mattingly and Aaron struggle to find a way to power up the Command Module with its limited power, procedures are finalized and sent to Swigert, who successfully revives Odyssey. After witnessing the damage to the jettisoned Service Module, the crew prepare for re-entry, unsure of the condition of Odysseys
heatshieldAtmospheric entry is the movement of human-made or natural objects as they enter the atmosphere of a celestial body from outer space—in the case of Earth from an altitude above the Kármán Line,...
. The crew releases Aquarius and re-enters the Earth's atmosphere in Odyssey, and after an unusually long period of radio silence, the crew reports they are alive and well; to the great relief of Mission Control and the astronauts' families. After splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, the three men are plucked out of the water and taken to the aircraft carrier
USS Iwo JimaUSS Iwo Jima was the lead ship of her class and type—the first ship to be designed and built from the keel up as an amphibious assault ship. She carried helicopters and a detachment of embarked Marines for use in the Navy's "vertical envelopment" concept of amphibious operations...
.
As the astronauts are greeted on deck, Lovell's narration describes the events that follow their return from space—including the investigation into the explosion on board the Service Module, and the subsequent careers and lives of Haise, Swigert, Mattingly and Kranz—and ends with Lovell saying "I look up at the Moon and wonder: When will we be going back, and who will that be?"
Cast
- Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
as Jim Lovell
- Bill Paxton
William "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
as Fred Haise
- Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
as Jack Swigert
- Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
as Ken MattinglyThomas Kenneth "Ken" Mattingly II, is a retired American astronaut and rear admiral in the United States Navy who flew on the Apollo 16, STS-4 and STS-51-C missions. He had been scheduled to fly on Apollo 13, but was held back due to concerns about a potential illness...
- Ed Harris
Edward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
as White team Flight Director Gene Kranz
- Kathleen Quinlan
Kathleen Denise Quinlan is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated American actress, mostly seen on television and in motion pictures.-Personal life:...
as Marilyn Lovell
- Mary Kate Schellhardt
Mary Kate Schellhardt is an American actress. She is known for her role as Ellen in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Nadine in Free Willy 2, and Jim and Marilyn Lovell's eldest daughter Barbara in Apollo 13. Other films in which she has appeared include Mr. Blue Sky, The Great Mom Swap and 9-9-09...
as the Lovells' elder daughter Barbara
- Max Elliott Slade
Max Elliott Slade is an American actor who starred in 3 Ninjas, 3 Ninjas Kick Back, and 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up. He was featured as Jay Lovell in Apollo 13, young Mark Goddard in The Sweeper, and young Gil Buckman in Parenthood.Slade was born in Pasadena, California...
as the Lovells' elder son James (Jay)
- Emily Ann Lloyd
Emily Ann Lloyd is an American actress. She is best known for her role was Susan Lovell, the daughter of Jim Lovell, in Apollo 13.-Private life:...
as the Lovells' younger daughter Susan
- Miko Hughes
Miko John Hughes is an American actor best known for his film roles as a child actor as Gage Creed in Pet Sematary , as an autistic boy opposite Bruce Willis in Mercury Rising and as Dylan, Heather Langenkamp's son in Wes Craven's New Nightmare .-Career:Hughes started his acting career in a...
as the Lovells' younger son Jeffrey
- Jean Speegle Howard
Jean Speegle Howard was an American actress who acted primarily in film and on television. Howard made appearances in over 30 television shows, mostly sitcoms, such as Married.....
as Jim's mother Blanch
- Tracy Reiner
Tracy Reiner is an American actress. She has appeared in more than 30 movies, among them Apollo 13 and A League of Their Own....
as Haise's wife Mary
- David Andrews
David Andrews is an American actor, best known for his role as General Robert Brewster in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.Andrews was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana...
as Pete ConradCharles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. was an American naval officer, astronaut and engineer, and the third person to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission. He set an eight-day space endurance record along with command pilot Gordon Cooper on the Gemini 5 mission, and commanded the Gemini 11 mission...
- Michele Little
Michele Little is a former American actress, best known for her appearances in the 1980s and early 1990s.She retired in 1995 to raise a family after giving birth to a daughter by husband Brett Cullen.-Filmography:...
as Conrad's wife Jane
- Chris Ellis
Chris Ellis is an American film and television actor who was born April 14, 1956 in Dallas, Texas.Ellis always wanted to be an actor because of television...
as Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton
- Joe Spano
Joseph Peter "Joe" Spano is an American actor who came to prominence through his role as Lt. Henry Goldblume on Hill Street Blues and is now well known for his work in NCIS as FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell....
as "NASA Director"
- Xander Berkeley
Alexander Harper "Xander" Berkeley is an American actor. His roles include George Mason on the television series 24.-Early life:Berkeley was born in Brooklyn, New York, but has lived most of his life in New Jersey...
as "Henry Hurt", a fictitious NASA Office of Public AffairsThe NASA Office of Public Affairs is tasked with media and public relations. Its mission is to "provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information to the media and general public concerning NASA activities and results" The function was created in the National...
staff member
- Marc McClure
Marc A. McClure is an American actor. McClure was born in San Mateo, California. He is not, despite a popular misconception, related to the late Doug McClure.-Superman film series:...
as Black team Flight Director Glynn LunneyGlynn S. Lunney is a retired NASA engineer. An employee of NASA since its foundation in 1958, Lunney was a flight director during the Gemini and Apollo programs, and was on duty during historic events such as the Apollo 11 lunar ascent and the pivotal hours of the Apollo 13 crisis...
- Ben Marley as John Young, Lovell's backup for Apollo 13.
- Clint Howard
Clinton "Clint" Howard is an American film and television actor. He is a character actor with numerous brief appearances on television and films. He has played many bit parts in movies directed by his brother, actor-turned-director Ron Howard. He is also the uncle of actress Bryce Dallas Howard...
as White team EECOM (Electrical, Environmental and Consumables Manager) Sy LiebergotSeymour "Sy" Abraham Liebergot is a retired NASA flight controller, serving during the Apollo program. Liebergot was an EECOM controller—he was responsible for the electrical and environmental systems on board the Command Module...
- Loren Dean
Loren Dean is an American actor. He has appeared onstage and in feature films.-Early life:Loren Dean Jovicic was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. His mother worked as a family and marriage counselor and his father was in the clothing business. His parents divorced when he was a small child...
as EECOM John AaronJohn W. Aaron is a former NASA engineer, and was a flight controller during the Apollo program. He is widely credited with saving the Apollo 12 mission when it was struck by lightning shortly after liftoff and played an important role during the Apollo 13 crisis, earning him the highly...
- Christian Clemenson
Christian Clemenson is an American film and television actor. He is well known for his portrayal of Jerry "Hands" Espenson in the television series Boston Legal, for which he won the 2006 Emmy Award for Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series.-Early life:Clemenson spent his childhood in Humboldt,...
as Flight Surgeon "Dr. Chuck"
- Thomas Mills Wood
Thomas Mills Wood is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his portrayal of "U.S. Marshal Noah Newman" in the 1993 movie The Fugitive and the 1998 movie U.S. Marshals and "Private Nash" in the 1992 movie Under Siege...
as Gold team EECOM
- Brett Cullen
Peter Brett Cullen is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures and television programs. Early in 2007, he was cast as the role of an estranged father to one of the American football players, Tim Riggins , in the NBC drama series Friday Night Lights.Cullen was born in Houston,...
as CAPCOM (Capsule Communicator) 1
- Ned Vaughn
Ned Vaughn is an American actor known for his television work. He attended Lee High School in Huntsville, AL and Birmingham-Southern College.-Filmography:*The Rescue, 1988 - Shawn Howard...
as CAPCOM 2
- Ray McKinnon
Ray McKinnon is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and producer. He was married to actress and producer Lisa Blount from 1998 until her death on October 25, 2010...
as White team FIDO (Flight Dyamics Officer)
- Mark Wheeler as Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
- Larry Williams as Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history...
- Endre Hules as Pad Leader Guenter Wendt
Günter F. Wendt was a German-American engineer noted for his work in the U.S. manned spaceflight program. An employee of McDonnell Aircraft and later North American Aviation, he was in charge of the spacecraft close-out crews at the launch pads for the entire Mercury and Gemini programs , and the...
- Steve Bernie as Virgil Grissom
Virgil Ivan Grissom , , better known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force pilot...
, Command Pilot of Apollo 1Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned mission of the Apollo manned lunar landing program, with a target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch pad test on January 27 at Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members: Command Pilot Virgil "Gus"...
- Steve Ruge as Edward H. White
Edward Higgins White, II was an engineer, United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. On June 3, 1965, he became the first American to "walk" in space. White died along with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test for the first manned Apollo mission at...
, Senior Pilot of Apollo 1
- Reed Rudy as Roger B. Chaffee
Roger Bruce Chaffee was an American aeronautical engineer and a NASA astronaut in the Apollo program. Chaffee died along with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Ed White during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at Cape Kennedy...
, Pilot of Apollo 1
- John Timothy Botka as Frank Borman
Frank Frederick Borman, II is a retired NASA astronaut and engineer, best remembered as the Commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, making him, along with fellow crew mates Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, the first of only 24 humans to do so...
, Lovell's commander on Gemini 7Gemini 7 was a 1965 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 4th manned Gemini flight, the 12th manned American flight and the 20th spaceflight of all time . The crew of Frank F. Borman, II and James A...
and Apollo 8Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial...
- Jim Lovell
James "Jim" Arthur Lovell, Jr., is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered a critical failure en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission...
as Navy Captain in command of USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2)USS Iwo Jima was the lead ship of her class and type—the first ship to be designed and built from the keel up as an amphibious assault ship. She carried helicopters and a detachment of embarked Marines for use in the Navy's "vertical envelopment" concept of amphibious operations...
, recovery ship for Apollo 13
- Gabriel Jarret
Gabriel Jarret is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the young genius Mitch Taylor in the 1985 comedy film Real Genius in which he co starred with Val Kilmer....
as White team GNC (Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Systems Engineer)
- Geoffrey Blake
Geoffrey Lewis Blake is an American film and television actor.Blake was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Marjorie Myers and Avery Felton Blake. Blake's film credits include Contact, Young Guns, Forrest Gump, and Cast Away...
as Gold team GUIDO (Guidance Officer)
- Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
as himself, provides introductory narration, and re-dubbed commentary from CBS NewsCBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
TV coverage of the Apollo 11In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
Moon landing, slightly tailored for the film; also appears in archival footage of the Apollo 11 Moon landing and Apollo 13 recovery, both edited into the film.
Pre-production and props
While preparing the director
Ron HowardRonald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
decided that every shot of the film would be original and that none of the actual footage from the original mission, or any other mission would be used. The spacecraft interiors were constructed by the
Kansas Cosmosphere and Space CenterThe Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center is a museum and educational facility in Hutchinson, Kansas that is best known for the display and restoration of spaceflight artifacts and educational camps...
's Space Works, who also restored the actual
Apollo 13Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
Command Module. Two individual lunar modules and two command modules were constructed for filming. While each was a replica, composed of some of the original Apollo materials, they were built so that different sections were removable, which enabled filming to take place inside the diminutive interior space of the capsules. Space Works also built modified command and lunar modules for filming inside a Boeing KC-135 Reduced gravity aircraft. Additionally, Space Works made the pressure suits worn by the actors, which are exact reproductions of those worn by the Apollo astronauts, right down to the details of being airtight. When the actors put the suits on with their helmets locked in place, oxygen was pumped into the suits to cool them down and allow them to breathe, in the exact manner of real astronauts.
The real Mission Control room is located on the third floor of a building in
Houston, TexasHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
.
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
offered the use of the actual control room for filming but Howard declined, opting instead to make his own replica from scratch. Production designer Michael Corenblith and set decorator Merideth Boswell were in charge of the construction of the Mission Control set at Universal Studios. Built to within 6 inches (15.2 cm) of the specifications of the real Mission Control in Houston, the set was equipped with giant rear-screen projection capabilities and a complex set of computers with individual video feeds to all the flight controller stations. In addition, the actors playing the flight controllers were able to communicate with each other on a private audio loop to better simulate reality. The Mission Control room built for the film was on a ground floor. One NASA employee who was a consultant for the film said that the set was so realistic that he would leave at the end of the day and look for the elevator before remembering he was not actually in Mission Control. By the time the film was made, the
USS Iwo JimaUSS Iwo Jima was the lead ship of her class and type—the first ship to be designed and built from the keel up as an amphibious assault ship. She carried helicopters and a detachment of embarked Marines for use in the Navy's "vertical envelopment" concept of amphibious operations...
had been scrapped, so her sister ship, the
USS New OrleansUSS New Orleans was an Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship in the United States Navy. She was the third Navy ship to be so named, and is the first named for the Battle of New Orleans, which was the last major battle of The War of 1812....
, was used as the recovery ship instead.
Cast training and filming
To prepare for their roles in the film,
Tom HanksThomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, Bill Paxton, and
Kevin BaconKevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
all attended the U.S. Space Camp in
Huntsville, AlabamaHuntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....
. While there, astronauts Jim Lovell and
David ScottDavid Randolph Scott is an American engineer, test pilot, retired U.S. Air Force officer, and former NASA astronaut and engineer, who was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963...
, commander of
Apollo 15Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the American Apollo space program, the fourth to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous...
, did actual training exercises with the actors inside a simulated Command Module and Lunar Module. The actors were also taught about each of the 500 buttons, toggles, and switches used to operate the spacecraft. The actors then traveled to Johnson Space Center in Houston where they flew in NASA's
KC-135A Reduced Gravity Aircraft is a type of fixed-wing aircraft that briefly provides a nearly weightless environment in which to train astronauts, conduct research and film motion pictures....
Reduced gravity aircraft to simulate weightlessness in outer-space. While in the KC-135, filming took place in bursts of 25 seconds, the length of each weightless period that the plane performed. The filmmakers would eventually fly 612
parabolaIn mathematics, the parabola is a conic section, the intersection of a right circular conical surface and a plane parallel to a generating straight line of that surface...
s which added up to a total of three hours and 54 minutes of weightlessness. Parts of the command module, lunar module and the tunnel piece that connected them were built by production designer Michael Corenblith, art directors David J. Bomba and Bruce Alan Miller and their crew to actually fit inside the KC-135 airplane. Filming in such an environment, while never done before for a film, was a tremendous time saver. In the KC-135, the actors moved wherever they wanted, surrounded by floating props; the camera and cameraman were weightless so filming could take place on any axis from which a shot could be set up. In
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, all the actors, including Ed Harris and the others who comprise Mission Control, enrolled in a Flight Controller School led by Gerry Griffin, an Apollo 13 flight director, and flight controller Jerry Bostick. The actors studied actual audiotapes from the mission, reviewed hundreds of pages of NASA transcripts and attended a crash course in
physicsPhysics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
.
Ron Howard stated that, after the first test preview of the film, one of the comment cards indicated "total disdain"; the audience member had written that it was a "typical Hollywood" ending and that the crew would never have survived.
Soundtrack
The score to Apollo 13 was composed and conducted by
James HornerJames Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
. The
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
was released in 1995 by
MCA RecordsMCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
and has seven tracks of score, eight period songs used in the film, and seven tracks of dialogue by the actors at a running time of nearly seventy-three minutes. The music also features solos by vocalist
Annie LennoxAnnie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
and Tim Morrison on the trumpet. The score was a critical success and garnered Horner an Academy Award nomination for
Best Original ScoreThe Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
.
- "Main Title" (1:31) - score
- "One Small Step" (0:42) - dialogue
- "Night Train" (3:27) - performed by James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
- "Groovin'" (2:26) - performed by The Young Rascals
- "Somebody to Love" (2:55) - performed by Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
- "I Can See for Miles" (4:09) - performed by The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
- "Purple Haze" (2:48) - performed by Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
- "Launch Control" (3:28) - dialogue
- "All Systems Go/The Launch" (6:39) - score
- "Welcome to Apollo 13" (0:38) - dialogue
- "Spirit in the Sky" (3:50) - performed by Norman Greenbaum
Norman Greenbaum is an American singer-songwriter. He was raised in a traditional Jewish household and went to Hebrew school. His initial interest in music was sparked by Southern blues music and the folk music that was hugely popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
- "House Cleaning/Houston, We Have a Problem" (1:34) - dialogue
- "Master Alarm" (2:54) - score
- "What's Going On?" (0:34) - dialogue
- "Into the L.E.M." (3:43) - score
- "Out of Time/Shut Her Down" (2:20) - dialogue
- "The Darkside of the Moon" (5:09) - score performed by Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
- "Failure is Not an Option" (1:18) - dialogue
- "Honky Tonkin" (2:42) - performed by Hank Williams
- "Blue Moon" (4:09) - performed by The Mavericks
The Mavericks is a country music band founded in 1989 in Miami, Florida, United States. Between 1991 and 2003 they recorded six studio albums, in addition to charting 14 singles on the Billboard country charts...
- "Waiting for Disaster/A Privilege" (0:43) - dialogue
- "Re-Entry & Splashdown" (9:05) - score
- "End Titles" (5:34) - score performed by Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
Box-office performance
The film was a box-office success, gaining $355,237,933 worldwide. The film's widest release was 2,347 theaters.
The film's opening weekend and the latter two weeks placed it at #1 with a domestic gross of $25,353,380, which made up 14.7% of the total domestic gross.
Apollo 13 box office revenue
| Source | Gross (USD The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
) | % Total | All time rank (unadjusted) |
| Domestic |
$173,837,933 |
48.9% |
126 |
| Foreign |
$181,400,000 |
51.1% |
N/A |
| Worldwide |
$355,237,933 |
100.0% |
140 |
Reception
Apollo 13 garnered critical acclaim and at
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, based on 51 reviews collected, the film has an overall approval rating of 97%, with a weighted average score of 8/10. Among Rotten Tomatoes's Cream of the Crop, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 88 percent. By comparison,
MetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a
normalizedIn statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
0–100 rating to reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 77 from the 22 reviews it collected.
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the
Chicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
praised the film in his review saying, "A powerful story, one of the year's best films, told with great clarity and remarkable technical detail, and acted without pumped-up histrionics."
Kenneth TuranKenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
of
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
gave a somewhat positive review of the film saying, "Ron Howard, is certainly well-suited to the kind of sentimental, middle-of-the-road filmmaking of which Apollo 13 is the epitome. And because the material to a certain extent cries out for this kind of worshipful treatment, the picture stands as Howard's most impressive to date. As noted, genuine courage was involved, and Howard is effective at putting the tension and bravery of that mission on screen."
Richard CorlissRichard Nelson Corliss is a writer for Time magazine who focuses on movies, with the occasional article on music or sports. Corliss is the former editor-in-chief of Film Comment...
from Time Magazine highly praised the film saying, "From lift-off to splashdown, Apollo 13 gives one hell of a ride." Edward Guthmann of
San Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
gave a somewhat negative review and wrote, "I just wish that Apollo 13 worked better as a movie, and that Howard's threshold for corn, mush and twinkly sentiment weren't so darn wide."
Peter TraversPeter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
from Rolling Stone Magazine praised the film and wrote, "Howard lays off the manipulation to tell the true story of the near-fatal 1970 Apollo 13 mission in painstaking and lively detail. It's easily Howard's best film."
James BerardinelliJames Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
from Reelviews highly praised the film saying, "While the events of this motion picture may not depict NASA's finest hour, the release of Apollo 13 represents Ron Howard's."
Janet MaslinJanet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
made the film an NYT Critics' Pick, calling it an "absolutely thrilling" film that "unfolds with perfect immediacy, drawing viewers into the nail-biting suspense of a spellbinding true story." According to Maslin, "like
Quiz ShowQuiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film produced and directed by Robert Redford. Adapted by Paul Attanasio from Richard Goodwin's memoir Remembering America, the film is based upon the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s...
, Apollo 13 beautifully evokes recent history in ways that resonate strongly today. Cleverly nostalgic in its visual style (Rita Ryack's costumes are especially right), it harks back to movie making without phony heroics and to the strong spirit of community that enveloped the astronauts and their families. Amazingly, this film manages to seem refreshingly honest while still conforming to the three-act dramatic format of a standard Hollywood hit. It is far and away the best thing Mr. Howard has done (and
Far and AwayFar and Away is a 1992 adventure-drama-romance film directed by Ron Howard from a script by Howard and Bob Dolman, and stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Cinematography by Mikael Salomon, with a music score by John Williams...
was one of the other kind)."
Re-release
In 2002 the film was re-released in
IMAXIMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
. It was the first film to be digitally remastered using IMAX DMR technology. The film was shortened by 24 minutes, and some
profanityProfanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
was removed.
Home media
A 10th-anniversary
DVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
of the film was released in 2005; it included both the theatrical version and the IMAX version, along with several extras. The IMAX version has a 1.78:1
aspect ratioThe aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of the width of the image to its height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. That is, for an x:y aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into x units of equal length and the height is measured using this...
.
In 2006, Apollo 13 was released on
HD DVDHD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
; on April 13, 2010, it was released on
Blu-ray discBlu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
, on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 13 accident (Central Standard Time).
Accolades
1996 Academy AwardsThe 68th Academy Awards were held on March 25, 1996, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The show was hosted by Whoopi Goldberg. The ceremony was watched 44.48 million viewers, with 30.5% households watching...
- Won – Best Film Editing
The Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
– Mike HillMike Hill, A.C.E. is a film editor who won an Academy Award for the film Apollo 13 . Hill and his editing partner Dan Hanley have had a longstanding, notable collaboration with the director Ron Howard, having edited all of Howard's films since Night Shift .Hill was raised in Omaha, Nebraska, and...
and Daniel HanleyDaniel P. Hanley, A.C.E. is a film editor who won an Academy Award for the film Apollo 13 . Hanley and his editing partner Mike Hill have had a notable collaboration with the director Ron Howard, having edited all of Howard's films since Night Shift...
- Won – Best Sound – Rick Dior
Rick Dior was an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound for the film Apollo 13. He worked on over 80 films between 1970 and 1998.-External links:...
, Steve PedersonSteve Pederson is an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound and was nominated for another in the same category. He has worked on over 130 films since 1978.-Selected filmography:...
, Scott Millan, David MacMillanDavid MacMillan is an American sound engineer. He has won three Academy Awards for Best Sound. He has worked on over 70 films since 1973.-Selected filmography:* The Right Stuff * Speed * Apollo 13 -External links:...
- Nominated – Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
– Ed HarrisEdward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
(lost to Kevin SpaceyKevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...
in Usual Suspects)
- Nominated – Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
– Kathleen QuinlanKathleen Denise Quinlan is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated American actress, mostly seen on television and in motion pictures.-Personal life:...
(lost to Mira SorvinoMira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite and is also known for her role as Romy White in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.- Early life :Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey...
Mighty AphroditeMighty Aphrodite is a 1995 romantic comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. The screenplay was inspired by the mythological tale of Pygmalion....
)
- Nominated – Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
– Michael CorenblithMichael Corenblith is an art director and production designer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:* Apollo 13 * How the Grinch Stole Christmas -External links:...
(art director), Merideth BoswellMerideth Boswell is a set decorator. She was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:* Apollo 13 * How the Grinch Stole Christmas -External links:...
(set decorator) (lost to Restoration)
- Nominated – Best Original Dramatic Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
– James HornerJames Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
(lost to Il PostinoIl Postino is a 1994 Italian film directed by Michael Radford. The film was originally released in the U.S. as The Postman, a straight translation of the Italian title...
)
- Nominated – Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
– Brian GrazerBrian Thomas Grazer is an Academy Award-winning American film and television producer who co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. Together they have produced many acclaimed films, including Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind .- Career :Brian Grazer began his career as a producer...
(lost to BraveheartBraveheart is a 1995 epic historical drama war film directed by and starring Mel Gibson. The film was written for the screen and then novelized by Randall Wallace...
)
- Nominated – Best Visual Effects
The Academy Award for Visual Effects is an Academy Award given for the best achievement in visual effects.-History of the award:The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first recognized the technical contributions of special effects to movies at its inaugural dinner in 1928, presenting a...
– Robert Legato, Michael Kanfer, Leslie Ekker, Matt Sweeney (lost to BabeBabe is a 1995 Australian-American film directed by Chris Noonan. It is an adaptation of the 1983 novel The Sheep-Pig, also known as Babe: The Gallant Pig in the United States, by Dick King-Smith and tells the story of a pig who wants to be a sheepdog...
)
- Nominated – Best Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
– William Broyles Jr.William Dodson Broyles, Jr. is an American screenwriter, who has worked on the television series China Beach, and the films Apollo 13, Cast Away, Entrapment, Planet of the Apes, Unfaithful, The Polar Express, and Jarhead...
, Al Reinert (lost to Sense & Sensibility)
1996 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (
Saturn AwardThe Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
s)
1996 American Cinema Editors (Eddies)
- Nominated – Best Edited Feature Film – Mike Hill
Mike Hill, A.C.E. is a film editor who won an Academy Award for the film Apollo 13 . Hill and his editing partner Dan Hanley have had a longstanding, notable collaboration with the director Ron Howard, having edited all of Howard's films since Night Shift .Hill was raised in Omaha, Nebraska, and...
, Daniel P. HanleyDaniel P. Hanley, A.C.E. is a film editor who won an Academy Award for the film Apollo 13 . Hanley and his editing partner Mike Hill have had a notable collaboration with the director Ron Howard, having edited all of Howard's films since Night Shift...
1996
American Society of CinematographersThe American Society of Cinematographers is an educational, cultural, and professional organization. It is not a labor union, and it is not a guild. Membership is by invitation and is extended only to directors of photography and special effects experts with distinguished credits in the film...
- Nominated – Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases – Dean Cundey
-Life and career:Cundey was born in Alhambra, California, United States. As a child, he used to build model sets, suggesting an interest in films from an early age...
1996
BAFTAThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
Film Awards
- Won – Best Production Design – Michael Corenblith
- Won – Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects – Robert Legato, Michael Kanfer, Matt Sweeney, Leslie Ekker
- Nominated – Best Cinematography – Dean Cundey
- Nominated – Best Editing – Mike Hill, Daniel Hanley
- Nominated – Best Sound – David MacMillan, Rick Dior, Scott Millan, Steve Pederson
1996
Casting Society of AmericaFounded in Los Angeles, California in 1982, the Casting Society of America is a professional society of about 350 casting directors for film, television, and theatre in Australia, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. The society is not to be confused with an industry union. The...
(Artios)
- Nominated – Best Casting for Feature Film, Drama – Jane Jenkins, Janet Hirshenson
1996
Chicago Film Critics AssociationThe Chicago Film Critics Association is an American film critic association.-Members:Current members include:*Sarah Knight Adamson*Zbigniew Banas*Shelley Cameron*Dave Canfield*Vittorio Carli*Erik Childress*Camerin Courtney*Bonnie DeShong...
Awards
1996
Directors Guild of AmericaDirectors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
- Won – Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures – Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
, Carl Clifford, Aldric La'Auli Porter, Jane Paul
1996
Golden Globe AwardThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
s
- Nominated – Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year....
– Ed Harris
- Nominated – Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year....
– Kathleen Quinlan
- Nominated – Best Director – Motion Picture
This page lists the winners of and nominees for the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Since its inception in 1943, it has been presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization composed of journalists who cover the United States film industry for publications based...
– Ron Howard
- Nominated – Best Motion Picture – Drama
This page lists the winners and nominees for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, since its institution in 1951. The organizer, Hollywood Foreign Press Association , is an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications...
1996
Heartland Film FestivalThe Heartland Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. First held in 1992, its goal is to "recognize and honor filmmakers whose work explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life."In May 2007, Heartland...
- Won – Studio Crystal Heart Award – Jeffrey Kluger
1996 Hugo Awards
- Nominated – Best Dramatic Presentation
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
1996
MTV Movie AwardsThe MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...
- Nominated – Best Male Performance – Tom Hanks
- Nominated – Best Movie
1996
PGA Golden Laurel AwardsProducers Guild of America is a trade organization representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 4,700 members of the producing establishment worldwide...
- Won – Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award – Brian Grazer, Todd Hallowell
1996
Screen Actors GuildThe Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
Awards
- Won – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role – Ed Harris
- Won – Outstanding Performance by a Cast
1996
Writers Guild of America AwardThe Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
s
- Nominated – Best Screenplay Adapted from Another Medium – William Broyles Jr., Al Reinert
1996 Young Artist Awards
- Nominated – Best Family Feature – Drama
1996
Space FoundationThe Space Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports the global space industry through information and education programs. It is a resource for the entire space community - industry, national security organizations, civil space agencies, private space companies and the military around the...
's Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award
2005
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie QuotesPart of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes is a list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. The American Film Institute revealed the list on June 21, 2005, in a three-hour television program on CBS...
- "Houston, we have a problem." 50th place
2006
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers100 Years…100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies is a list of the most inspiring films as determined by the American Film Institute. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series, which has been compiling lists of the greatest films of all time in various categories since 1998...
Technical and historical accuracy
The film is notable for its technical accuracy; principals reported that the film is reasonably faithful to the events of the mission, though some tension between the astronauts was added for dramatic effect.
The dialogue between ground control and the astronauts was taken verbatim from actual transcripts and recordings, with the notable exception of one of the taglines of the film, "Houston, we have a problem." (This quote was voted #50 on the list "
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie QuotesPart of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes is a list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. The American Film Institute revealed the list on June 21, 2005, in a three-hour television program on CBS...
".) According to the mission transcript, the actual words uttered by Jack Swigert were "I believe we've had a problem here." (talking over Haise, who had started "Ok, Houston"). Ground control responded by saying "This is Houston, say again please." Jim Lovell then repeated "Ah, Houston, we've had a problem." But the script deliberately changed the quote, since Lovell's actual words suggested the event had happened in the past, rather than currently happening in the present.
The tagline "Failure is not an option", stated in the film by Gene Kranz, also became very popular, but was not taken from the historical transcripts. The following story relates the origin of the phrase, from an email by Apollo 13 Flight Dynamics Officer Jerry Bostick:
- "As far as the expression 'Failure is not an option', you are correct that Kranz never used that term. In preparation for the movie, the script writers, Al Reinart and Bill Broyles, came down to Clear Lake to interview me on 'What are the people in Mission Control really like?' One of their questions was 'Weren't there times when everybody, or at least a few people, just panicked?' My answer was 'No, when bad things happened, we just calmly laid out all the options, and failure was not one of them. We never panicked, and we never gave up on finding a solution.' I immediately sensed that Bill Broyles wanted to leave and assumed that he was bored with the interview. Only months later did I learn that when they got in their car to leave, he started screaming, 'That's it! That's the tag line for the whole movie, Failure is not an option. Now we just have to figure out who to have say it.' Of course, they gave it to the Kranz character, and the rest is history."
Unlike the film, the book, and many first person accounts, the official accident investigation report did not conclude that the oxygen tank exploded. Instead, the report described in detail multiple safety measures such as pressure relief valves and rupture discs specifically designed so that the spacecraft pressure vessels would not explode. This ubiquitous misunderstanding is explained further in the Apollo 13 article. However, this remains controversial as most people, including Lovell, continue to characterize the failure as an explosion.
The film inaccurately depicts the oxygen tank "explosion" as occurring almost immediately after the tank-stir switch was thrown; in fact there was a delay of 93 seconds between the stir command and the tank failure.
Lovell, Mattingly, and Haise are said to have been bumped up from Apollo 14 to 13 due to "
Al ShepardAlan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA astronaut who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, in space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit...
's ear infection (flaring) up." Shepard had been grounded since 1964 after being diagnosed with
Ménière's diseaseMénière's disease is a disorder of the inner ear that can affect hearing and balance to a varying degree. It is characterized by episodes of vertigo and tinnitus and progressive hearing loss, usually in one ear. It is named after the French physician Prosper Ménière, who, in an article published...
, an inner ear disorder, not an infection. After Shepard underwent corrective surgery and was restored to active flight status in 1969, Deke Slayton intended to assign him to Apollo 13, but NASA management felt Shepard needed more time to train after being grounded for five years. Therefore, Lovell was asked to accept the earlier mission, while Shepard was held back for Apollo 14.
A DVD commentary track, recorded by Mr. and Mrs. Lovell and included with both the original and 10th-anniversary editions, mentions several inaccuracies included in the film, all done for reasons of
artistic licenseArtistic licence is a colloquial term, sometimes euphemism, used to denote the distortion of fact, alteration of the conventions of grammar or language, or rewording of pre-existing text made by an artist to improve a piece of...
:
- In the film, Mattingly plays a key role in solving a power consumption problem that Apollo 13 was faced with as it approached re-entry. Lovell points out repeatedly in his commentary that in this case Mattingly was a composite of several astronauts and engineers—including Charles Duke (whose rubella
Rubella, commonly known as German measles, is a disease caused by the rubella virus. The name "rubella" is derived from the Latin, meaning little red. Rubella is also known as German measles because the disease was first described by German physicians in the mid-eighteenth century. This disease is...
led to Mattingly's grounding)—all of whom played a role in solving that problem. Also, Ken Mattingly did not watch the launch at Cape Canaveral as depicted in the film, but from the command center in Houston.
- When Jack Swigert is getting ready to dock with the LM, a concerned NASA technician says, "If Swigert can't dock this thing, we don't have a mission." Lovell and Haise also seem worried. In his DVD commentary, the real Jim Lovell says that if Swigert had been unable to dock with the LEM, he or Haise could have done it. He also says that Swigert was a well-trained Command Module pilot and that no one was really worried about whether he was up to the job, but he admitted that it made a nice sub-plot for the film.
- A scene set the night before the launch, showing the astronauts' family members saying their goodbyes while separated by a road, a distance introduced to reduce the possibility of any last-minute transmission
In medicine and biology, transmission is the passing of a communicable disease from an infected host individual or group to a conspecific individual or group, regardless of whether the other individual was previously infected...
of disease, depicted a tradition not begun until the Space Shuttle programNASA's Space Shuttle program, officially called Space Transportation System , was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011...
.
- The film depicts Mrs. Lovell dropping her wedding ring down a shower drain. According to Lovell, this actually did occur, however the drain trap caught the ring and Mrs. Lovell was able to retrieve it. Lovell has also confirmed that the scene in which his wife had a nightmare about him being "sucked through an open door of a spacecraft into outer space" also occurred, though he believes the nightmare was prompted by her seeing a scene in Marooned
Marooned is a 1969 American film directed by John Sturges and starring Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus, and Gene Hackman....
, a 1969 film they saw three months before Apollo 13 blasted off.
See also
- From the Earth to the Moon
- Marooned
Marooned is a 1969 American film directed by John Sturges and starring Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus, and Gene Hackman....
, a 1969 film directed by John SturgesJohn Eliot Sturges was an American film director. His movies include Bad Day at Black Rock , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Magnificent Seven , The Great Escape and Ice Station Zebra .-Career:He started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932...
, about astronauts marooned in an Apollo Command/Service ModuleThe Command/Service Module was one of two spacecraft, along with the Lunar Module, used for the United States Apollo program which landed astronauts on the Moon. It was built for NASA by North American Aviation...
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