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The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks

Lightroom, London

2023-24

A unique new perspective on humankind’s past and future voyages to the moon.

Now open at Lightroom, London. Co-written by Tom Hanks and Christopher Riley, double BAFTA-nominated writer-director, the show tells the stories of the Apollo missions, reflecting their gripping journeys at spectacular scale. Newly filmed interviews between Hanks and astronauts of the current Artemis programme grant an insight into the return of crewed surface missions to the moon.

Hanks himself provides the voiceover, accompanied by a spectacular original score by Anne Nikitin whose previous work includes the Apple TV+ hit series HIJACK starring Idris Elba and the cult heist movie American Animals starring Evan Peters and Barry Keoghan.

Original NASA footage and breath-taking images from Andy Saunders’ Apollo Remastered transform Lightroom’s vast space into an immersive voyage to the lunar surface, brought to life by co-directors Nick Corrigan and Lysander Ashton.

Accessible viewings

We offer BSL (British Sign Language), Relaxed, and Sensory-Adapted showings of The Moonwalkers.

You can find more information here.

★★★★★
A thrilling presentation of the 1969 space mission at London’s Lightroom will have your spine tingling with pleasure… The air vibrated. The ground shook. Apollo 11 blasted, roared, and yet somehow floated into space. And as onscreen Apollo 11 left the Earth behind, my cynicism was left behind too. My spine started tingling, and it did not stop for the next 40 minutes of this 50-minute film. The tale of Apollo is a tale told many times. I can think of few better venues for its grandeur and poetry than this show by Hanks and his co-writer Christopher Riley.
★★★★
An exemplar of how new visual technologies and ideas can facilitate extraordinarily immersive storytelling…This show is, literally, awesome.
★★★★★
Prepare to have your inner child unleashed in this glorious immersive show. This 50-minute production (how best to describe it: a show, a film, an immersive experience?) celebrates the endeavour, the science, the art and the sheer exuberance of how humanity reached the moon – and it’s a glorious, exhilarating ride. The writing from Hanks and Riley is authoritative and told with a lightness of touch; frequently it is beautifully poetic. It examines the scientific endeavour of space travel, as well as humanity’s need to explore, but what’s really striking is how time and again it talks about the art of it all, pulling in references that include Michelangelo – and made its case beautifully… ultimately it just leaves the viewer with wonder.
★★★★
It’s a thrilling escapist educational adventure… This show is the very definition of immersive. One moment, we’re in Texas’s Rice stadium as President John F Kennedy makes his famous “we choose to go to the Moon” speech. The next, the room becomes Nasa’s control centre. Schoolchildren in particular will love Moonwalkers, while adults will gawp and wonder what they’ve really actually done with their lives.  At its best, this is stunning, Occasionally, it’s out of this world.’
★★★★
It’s about feelings first and facts second. And at its best it lets us experience Tom Hanks’s awe at man’s struggle for the stars – and that is a lot of awe

Credits

Created by
Tom Hanks & Lightroom

Designed by
59 Productions

Written by
Tom Hanks
Christopher Riley

Directed by
Lysander Ashton
Nick Corrigan

Original music composed by
Anne Nikitin

Recorded by
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,
conducted by Tom Kelly

Sound Design
Tom Hackley

Producer
Richard Slaney

Executive Producer
Tom Hanks
David Sabel
Nick Starr

Collaborating Producer
Andy Saunders

59 Team

Project Director
Lysander Ashton

Project Lead
Nick Corrigan

Associate Video Designer & Animation Supervisor
Felix Green

Line Producer
Kate Stanley

Associate Producer
Anna Jones

Video Design Intern
Benjamin Khan

Animators
Leandro Barros
Dale Croft
David Curtis
Emily Howells
Tom Munday
Raphael Pimlott
Lorna Pittaway
Marco Sandeman
Edd Stockton
Claire Thimon
Lawrence Watson

Editors
Ed Saunders
Carlo Taranto

Illustrator
Kate Munday

Assistant Researcher
Ellie Davy

Programmers
David Callanan
Iain Syme