You had us at “friendly alien space spider”: Netflix drops Spaceman trailer
Adam Sandler stars as a lonely astronaut on a solo mission who befriends an alien spider in Spaceman.
Some people were not pleased when Netflix and other streaming platforms began making feature films. But in an industry in which smaller or medium films tend to be squeezed out in favor of big-budget fare, there's a solid argument to be made that Netflix and others could help fill that niche. That certainly seems to be the case with Netflix's forthcoming sci-fi film, Spaceman, judging by the official trailer. Adam Sandler stars as an astronaut who is not coping well with the isolation and disintegration of his marriage while on an eight-month solo mission and strikes up a friendship with a friendly alien space spider who wants to help him work through his emotional distress. Honestly, Netflix had us at friendly alien space spider.
(Some spoilers for the 2017 novel below.)
Directed by Johan Renck (Chernobyl, Breaking Bad), the film is based on the 2017 novel, Spaceman of Bohemia, by Jaroslav Kalfa. Kalfa has said he was inspired to write his novel after a childhood experience of becoming briefly separated from his grandfather while on a nighttime walk through the woods. The "perfect darkness, with nothing but the stars" made a strong impression, as did the silence and sense of loneliness. Spaceman of Bohemia started as a short story about an astronaut stranded in orbit as his wife filed for divorce and eventually became a novel that incorporated not just the theme of loneliness, but also Kalfa's formative experiences growing up in the Czech Republic.