Followed by a moon shadow
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday July 20, 2009
Michael Idato meets a docudrama producer who always tackles the big subjects. Tucked away in an attic office in a narrow London terrace, television producer Richard Dale seems an unlikely salesman for the infinite majesty of outer space. But Dale's latest docudrama, the visually stunning Moonshot: The Flight Of Apollo 11, is just that."This is the story of man's exploration of the moon but really it is the story of man's discovery of the Earth," Dale says. "They're orbiting the moon and they see the Earth rise and from then on they don't look at the moon, they just look at the Earth. This is about human endeavour of a kind that you can't really imagine. It is something that flavours our lives for all time."Dale's credits include the big-ticket docudramas D-Day 6.6.1944 (2004), 9/11: The Twin Towers (2006) and Diana: Last Days Of A Princess (2007). He says those stories, like the moon landing, resonate because of the prominence they have in the audience's life. "Because we lived through it, somehow we're part of the story ourselves," he says."It's very important to tell these stories as a present-tense experience, so we have to go back to a time when those events were happening," Dale says. "Moonshot is a drama, so we've identified those characters and we're living through those experiences with them. Luckily for us, that period the 1960s is popular right now. Mad Men is in the middle of it, so it's sexy and cool, it's James Bond and these people were at the coolest end of it."Production on the film took more than a year and involved NASA footage that was kept under armed guard due to its historical value. "We went back to the original film negative and spent a lot of time cleaning it up. All the views you see outside the window are real views, which we have remastered."The key moment, Dale says, is when the crew realise the significance of their journey. "It's two or three guys in a tin can, arguing about who's doing to get out first and you realise, almost as they realise, that they are the first human beings to stand on another celestial body. That's what makes the story so fantastic for me, because the thrill of it creeps on you as it did for them."Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 airs on BBC Knowledge tonight at 8.30pm. See preview, p6.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald