5/8/03

AU PROFESSOR'S BOOK ON ASTRONAUT MAY BECOME EASTWOOD MOVIE

Neil Armstrong

AUBURN -- A biography that Auburn University history Professor James Hansen is writing about astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, may provide the basis for a motion picture directed by one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.

Hansen and Armstrong will meet later this month with actor-director Clint Eastwood to discuss final terms for a Warner Brothers movie about Armstrong.

In March, the three agreed in principle for Eastwood to direct the movie about the astronaut based on Hansen's forthcoming book.

The movement toward a movie contract began early this year, as a literary agent for Hansen discussed terms for the book with major publishing houses in New York. Learning about the book from sources in the publishing industry, a representative for Warner Brothers approached Hansen about adapting the Armstrong biography for film, with Eastwood as director, who from the start, took a strong personal interest in the project.

Although Eastwood is most famous for his work in front of a camera, he won an Oscar as director of "Unforgiven."

Hansen, who is the author of several books on aviation and the nation's space program, is in the final stage of research for the Armstrong biography.

"I didn't expect much attention until the book was finished, but I was surprised to learn that the studios do this quite often," he said.

The professor in AU's College of Liberal Arts has been conducting research for the book for months and plans to start writing the text this summer. He expects to complete the manuscript and have it ready for the editors at Simon & Schuster, the publisher, by mid-October 2004.

Hansen said Armstrong must be comfortable with the movie project before he signs any contract with the studio.

"It is my book, but Neil has given me access to his records and submitted to many hours of interviews, and he has cleared the way for me to contact his family and many of his former colleagues from NASA," Hansen said. "I have the makings for a truly remarkable book. If our meeting with Mr. Eastwood goes well, it could be quite a movie."

Although Armstrong is world famous as the first person in history to set foot on the Moon, his life was filled with adventure and challenges long before he entered the nation's space program, Hansen said.

"He flew 78 combat missions in the Korean War and as a civilian test pilot explored the edge of space in rocket-powered X-15 aircraft even before he started training to be an astronaut."

Hansen notes that test pilots like Armstrong, rather than fighter jockeys like Chuck Yeager, had "the real Right Stuff."

Unlike test pilots who pushed aircraft to their physical limits to break records, Armstrong, a college-educated aeronautical engineer, pushed experimental aircraft to their limits to find out how to make them better and learn about basic aerodynamic phenomena.

"With his engineering background, he was able to take a more active role than the other pilots in the scientific and technological development of aircraft," Hansen said. "He would push a vehicle aircraft to its limits in order to find out what they were and how systems would perform under such duress. The goal was understanding and discovering ways to push the limits even further."

With the 1969 lunar mission capping his NASA career, Armstrong retired from the space program in the early 1970s and then taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Retiring from academe in 1978, he then assumed various corporate responsibilities. He entered full retirement last year.

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may03:AU-movie

CONTACT: Hansen, 334/844-6628.