How Damien Chazelle’s ‘First Man’ took a page out of Christopher Nolan’s playbook

Chazelle assembled a team that included production designer Nathan Crowley, known for working on Christopher Nolan films such as the space drama Interstellar.

“I really wanted Nathan because of all his work, not just with Nolan. I knew he’d bring the practical approach, the same approach he brings to all of Nolan’s movies,” says Chazelle. “He relies on in-camera effects, miniatures, full-scale replicas, gimbals, motion control and also sets, down to the smallest detail, that feel lived in, that doesn’t feel overly clean, that feel like they’ve got dirt, grime and a real texture to them. Nathan is the best in the world at doing all that stuff, and I was really overjoyed to get him. I certainly spent a lot of time asking him about tricks he had used on movies with Chris like Dunkirk and Interstellar.”