Scarlett Johansson’s latest film Fly Me to the Moon has opened with some good response in theaters. The film follows the relationship between a marketing specialist, played by Johansson, and the NASA director in charge of the Apollo 11 mission, played by Channing Tatum. With the talents involved, fans would be surprised to know that neophyte Rose Gilroy was tasked with writing the screenplay.
However, Rose Gilroy is not just any writing newbie. Writing is imbibed in her DNA as she is the daughter of screenwriter Dan Gilroy and granddaughter of playwright Frank D. Gilroy. Her mother is actress Rene Russo. However, the big names associated with her did not make it any easier for her to land her gig with Johansson.
Scarlett Johansson Played A Huge Gamble In Tasking Rose Gilroy to Write For Fly Me To The Moon
Coming from a writing family, Rose Gilroy did not immediately delve into writing screenplays. She tried to go into other careers including modeling, but the writing DNA brought her back to her family profession. She wrote the scripts for the psychological thriller The Pack and a sci-fi film. The Pack is currently in the works, with Alexander Skarsgård directing and starring in the film.
These two scripts also got the attention of Scarlett Johansson‘s production company, These Pictures. Keenan Flynn, a producing partner at the company, had a story titled Project Artemis which revolved around televising a fake Moon landing. Gilroy met with Flynn and his co-writer Bill Kirsterin and liked their pitch.
She shared with THR that she was so honored that they would consider her for a script related to NASA and space. However, These Pictures had major challenges in hiring Gilroy for the project. She did not have any experience at that point and she was not a member of the WGA. However, Gilroy agreed to write the first 15 pages on spec and won the job. Gilroy shared with THR:
No one had ever pitched me anything for space and NASA, and I was so honored that they would even think of me for it. So I started harassing them for the job. But, ultimately, I was really green and not in the guild, so they were like, ‘We like your stuff, but this is such a gamble.’ So I wrote the first 15 pages on spec with their pitch, and I won the job that way.
Johansson initially only had plans to produce the film under her company banner. However, the script impressed her so much that she also took on the lead role of Kelly Jones. Gilroy shared that Johansson and Flynn gave her a lot of notes on her first draft. She shared that she was pinching herself at the fact that Johansson would be delivering lines from something she wrote.
Rose Gilroy Used Don Draper As Inspiration For Scarlett Johansson’s Kelly Jones
Rose Gilroy further opened up about the inspiration behind Scarlett Johansson’s character of a marketing executive Kelly Jones. She shared that Mad Men‘s Don Draper was a major inspiration for the character. She also admitted that Better Call Saul characters Saul Goodman and Kim Wexler (played by Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn) also served as inspirations.
Gilroy shared that the scene where Kelly Jones pulls off a grift using a fake pregnant belly was inspired by Seehorn’s character and was included in her spec script as well. She also named Leonardo DiCaprio‘s character from Catch Me If You Can as another inspiration. Gilroy shared:
Don Draper was absolutely a part of the conversation. Leo’s [DiCaprio] character in Catch Me If You Can was another character in the conversation. So Don Draper was totally an inspiration, and that scene of Kelly with the belly was actually in the first 15 pages that I wrote on spec to win the job. So Don Draper and the idea of truth and lies totally inspired by that.
When asked if she got any notes from her family, Gilroy shared that she took notes from everyone she could meet. She shared that her parents gave her honest feedback without “BS-ing” her, which helped her to get better.
Fly Me to the Moon is currently running in theaters and is expected to hit AppleTV+ at a later date.
