Astronaut Jim Lovell passed away this weekend, August 9, at age 97. A pioneer that lived that long has a library’s worth of accomplishments, but I know him most as a member of the three-man Apollo 13 mission. Outside of “That’s one small step for man…”, Lovell may have uttered some the most famous words of all time: “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
They made a movie about it. Released in 1995, it is incredible. It does one of the hardest things you can possibly do with a movie: surprise you with plot and emotion even though you already know the ending.
This setup led to one of my favorite anecdotes about life, something I repeat in my head constantly.
As it would turn out, everyone else would love it, too. A critical and box office hit, 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and brought in about $174,000,000 ($450,000,000 in today’s dollars). It was a summer blockbuster, but its sustained momentum carried over to the 68th Oscars. What started as a fun idea to even be nominated gave way to the movie being the favorite to win Best Picture. The producer, Brian Grazer, has said he went from being happy to being nominated to thinking there was a legitimate chance it would win. He had his speech ready in his pocket.
Grazer:
So at the Oscars, I’m five or six rows back from the podium, and Sidney Poitier opened the envelope. … I was positive I was going to win. So when it came to opening the envelope, he peels it open and I see what looks like an imperceptible ‘B’ coming off his lip.
Brian Grazer
I start walking to the stage, and he says, Braveheart. I’m so embarrassed. I got up in front of 35 million people. And then as I walked back to my seat to sit down, one of my friends, who’s chairman of a studio, goes, ‘Loser!’ I thought, ‘Oh, this is so embarrassing.’
And I sit down, and Jim Lovell, the astronaut, reached over Ron Howard and grabbed my wrist, and said, “Don’t worry. I never made it to the moon either.”