On Thursday March 24th, co-stars Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse sat down to discuss their newest sci-fi romance, “Moonshot”. The movie follows Sophie, as played by Condor, and Walt, as portrayed by Sprouse, as they journey to reunite with their one true loves on the planet Mars. Quirky, witty, and topical, this movie was a win in the books for HBOMax and Warner Bros!Â
“I kind of modeled Sophie after my mom,” said Condor of bringing her character to life, “my mom is type A… she loves a plan.” The character of Sophie is an engineering student dedicated to her long long distance boyfriend and the plan they have created for their future. As such, her mother became the perfect model for Condor. “I think for me I wanted Walt to feel super approachable,” said Sprouse, “I wanted him to feel like your kind of old best friend – the really annoying guy that used to hang around like the edge of the group. So I just shadowed my brother for awhile!” he joked. As the film primarily focuses on these two characters and their newfound friendship, building these personalities and making them feel familiar to the audience definitely paid off.Â
Set in the year 2049, “Moonshot” depicts a not so distant imagined future. A few themes may even feel very familiar to viewers. “Us young people have kind of grown up in this space where video conferencing, especially during the pandemic, is very normal. Long distance relationships and dating virtually is very normal I think. So there’s aspects of that in our movie that are very relevant to just how young people these days have to coexist online,” said Condor of the futuristic worldbuilding. “I think the movie really deals with a question that I think is going to be the biggest question, especially for younger generations but our generation too, is what should our focus really be upon resource wise,” said Sprouse. Each character brings a passion for exploration and progress but in very different ways. Sophie loves Earth and is hesitant to leave, but Walt can’t wait to abandon our only true spaceship for another. While delivered with what Sprouse calls “a spoonful of sugar,” the messages in this film are hard pressing upon climate change and youth activists.Â
Found family, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, or they only have tonight – whatever your favorite romance trope may be, there is space for it in this film! “How many sci-fi rom coms are even out there? Or space adventure rom coms? I don’t think there’s many,” said Condor, “so for me, trying something new that’s so niche and so not done was really exciting.” Curious about Cole Sprouse’s draw to this film? “On my bucket list as a child was to have a space suit. I wanted to do a movie where I was in a space suit, and I did it! So now I get to mark it off my list.”Â
“I really enjoy doing films that are uplifting and joyous and make people feel less alone and feel happier after they’ve finished it!” explained Condor. This movie achieves just that. Another excellent and feel-good romcom is in the books for these well versed actors. Be sure to watch “Moonshot” on HBOMax, streaming March 31st.