The Making of Apollo 13

The Making of Apollo 13

When making Apollo 13, Ron Howard's intention was to make his film as

exciting as possible. He wanted to make a chemistry on set that would

show throughout the film. Ron wanted Apollo 13 to be realistic, as

well as exciting and enjoyable.

Within the characters, Ron wanted to capture their real personalities.

This was done by the actors (Tom Hanks and Kathleen Quinlan) meeting

the real-life Jim and Marilyn Lovell. They each spent a day in their

home to help capture the right characteristics and get a real idea how

they felt.

To make the film realistic and scientifically correct, actors and the

film crew went to NASA in Florida and watched real Apollo 13 footage.

Apollo 13 is faithful to the real life story. To make the film

dramatic and realistic, Ron allowed real life events, phrases and

outfits were copied.

Marilyn Lovell's ring did slip off in the shower and fall down the

drain. Ron found this out when he met Marilyn and added it into his

film to add realism.

Gene Kranz wore a cream waistcoat whilst working at mission control.

Ron saw this in the real footage, so in his film, Ed Harris (who plays

Gene Kranz) also wears a cream waistcoat.

Real footage was watched and used by the film directors to help when

they filmed the lift off scenes. This ensured Ron's scenes were

realistic and looked accurate.

The actors watched footage of the real conference to make sure they

captured the crew's actions, feelings and emotions at that time.

Whilst in the space ship trying to find out what went wrong with the

oxygen tank, Jack checks with mission control if his mathematical

workings are cor...

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...lly exciting.

Most of the effects were when filming the lift-off. Ron had cameras on

cranes swinging around to create a spacious feel, so you can see the

huge scale.

To create the thrust scene where once the rocket has launched, there

is smoke sucked back in; they just filmed the lift-off and reversed

the film. Shakes were added to cameras to make it more dramatic.

Model spaceships, photographers and 3D computer effects were all used

and then put together to create realism. All the footage used in

Apollo 13 was generated by the film crew themselves. Ron makes you

believe his scenes are the real thing when you watch them.

Although Ron's scenes are dramatic and look realistic, we as an

audience are put in impossible positions. It is not possible to be

that close to a spaceship at lift-off or when it is space.