EXCLUSIVE: Apollo 13 mission commander astronaut Jim Lovell, memorialized through Tom Hanks’ performance in the Best Picture-nominated Ron Howard film, will have another screen moment. Days after the passing of Lovell at 97, a Fifth Season-financed documentary, Odyssey, is nearly complete and about to be brought to distributors.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Avi Belkin, Odyssey is produced by Delirio Films and financed by Fifth Season. It focuses on the harrowing five days of the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, mostly using over 2000 hours of previously unseen archival footage that captures the perspective of Lovell and his family, as well as the surprising level of international cooperation that helped bring the astronauts home. Filmmakers got cooperation from the Lovell family to tell that side of the story. NASA’s plan for Apollo 13 to be the third manned craft to land on the moon were dashed, but a disaster was averted after an oxygen tank exploded and harmed the electrical and life support systems, making reentry into the earth’s atmosphere perilous.
Still in post-production, the film will launch sales early this fall through CAA and Fifth Media.