Interviews: Apple TV+ FOR ALL MANKIND Premiere Event, Series Launch Nov 1

For All Mankind premiere event 001 — FOR ALL MANKIND Premiere event at Fox Regency Village Theater Westwood

FOR ALL MANKIND Premiere Event Interviews

Filmed on October 15, 2019

Location: Fox Regency Village Theater Westwood, CA

There are red carpets, green carpets, even blue carpets, but I’ve not attended a premiere carpet event quite like this. Apple TV+ new series FOR ALL MANKIND, starring Joel Kinnaman, who reunites with his AMC’s The Killing co-star, Eric Ladin. The series also stars Shantel VanSanten (The Boys), Sonya Walger (The Librarian: The Quest for the Spear), Chris Bauer (True Blood), Nate Corddry (The Circle), Jeff Branson (Major Crimes), and more!

Apple TV/Apple TV+ steps it up and goes beyond in this spaced out no-carpet – red carpet event. With astronaut gear lining one wall, while the other has images of space suits and the cosmos, it is certainly something to remember.

For All Mankind premiere event - Edward James Olmos and Mason Thames - 004 — For All Mankind premiere event – Pictured L-R: Mason Thames and Edward James Olmos. Photo Cr: Judy Manning/Your Entertainment Corner

But like all premiere events, it’s a crap-shoot of celebrities and actors, and as Forrest Gump said, “It’s like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”

While I didn’t get an on-camera interview, the fact that I was inches away from the one and only Edward James Olmos nearly brought me to tears. He was a guest of Ronald D. Moore – the man behind Battlestar Galactica.

What I gathered by the end of my interviews is that hardly any of the cast got a full script before they were brought in to audition. Some got a couple pages, some got a few lines, and it seems as if Apple TV, like their high-end tech products, were keeping the lid on the show as much as possible.

I hadn’t heard about the series until recently and, after watching the trailer, I was quite intrigued with the premise of the show. What if the space race never ended? What if NASA continued and were able to do all the things they promised – space stations, a moon base, and so much more? Well, creator and executive producer Ronald D. Moore provides some great insight in to the idea that sparked FOR ALL MANKIND’s development.

Of course, you’re wondering – who the heck did I talk to on the carpet?

Tracy Mullholland

I had the pleasure of speaking with the delightfully charming Tracy Mullholland who plays Gloria Sedgewick, the wife of an astronaut. While she didn’t want to spoil anything, she does say that Gloria will make you laugh.

Mason Thames and Tait Blum

I spoke with two of the child actors that portray the children of two astronauts. These two young men were charismatic and quite articulated in their responses.

Sonya Walger

I fangirled over Sonya Walger, who will play Molly Cobb, a female astronaut candidate on the series, and who some may remember from The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles, Lost, and The Catch. I, of course, had to mention that I loved The Librarian because I’m a dweeb like that.

During my interview with Sonya Walger, she’s holding my mini-microphone and it’s tad difficult to hear my questions. After my initial question and her response, I reply “That sounds amazing. You said earlier that you did not get the script, so how were you approached for the part?” And then my follow-up question – “Have you been interested in any type of space exploration…” and “I loved The Librarian.” and “So now you’re ready to do all/more space movies right?”

Former NASA Astronaut Garrett Reisman – Technical Consultant for the series

If you didn’t know, I’m a bit of a space nerd. I don’t own a lot of telescopes or things like that, but I love star gazing (even if I don’t know all the constellations by name) and I have plans to finally visit Roswell, NM (the famed site of Area 51). So, like the space nerd I am, I geeked out (internally) at the opportunity to speak to a real live NASA astronaut.

I wanted to keep it fun, so I asked Garrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut and current technical advisor on the series, a question that many of us have wondered – are aliens real? Sure, it’s not directly related to the series, but for all my space nerds out there who are desperately hoping to find out if there is life out there in the vast cosmos, Reisman gives a surprising and realistic answer.

Ronald D. Moore

Another fangirl moment for me happened when I talked to series creator and executive producer Ronald D. Moore about what sparked the idea behind FOR ALL MANKIND. I’m a huge fan of his work and met him previously at San Diego Comic-Con for season two of his Syfy series Helix.

Judy: We’re here with Ronald D. Moore. You have so many things under your belt – Battlestar Galactica, Helix, Outlander, and now you have For All Mankind. What was it that sparked this idea for you?

RDM: This came from a conversation I had with an executive at Apple, Zack Van Amburg, who I used to work with at Sony before he went to Apple, and many years ago, he and I discussed, just briefly, the idea of doing a show set at NASA in the 70s. And once he moved to Apple, he called me up and said, ‘I still think about that idea; what if we did it?’ and I got very excited and I decided kind of early on that I wanted to do an alternate history version of the space program.

So we could do the space program I was promised as a kid but that we didn’t get, where we’re doing big things – having moon bases and colonies and a space station, going to Mars – you know it was a very sort of inspirational idea when I was a kid growing up and I was always a little heartbroken that didn’t happen in reality and this is an opportunity to sort of do it, and show it to people, and say ‘this is the world we could have had and this is world that we still can have.’

Joel Kinnaman

And finally, I got a gloriously 12 (short AF) seconds with one of the main stars of FOR ALL MANKIND, Joel Kinnaman, who plays astronaut Edward Baldwin.

I didn’t think he was actually going to stop for me because I was at the very end of the media line (I was dead last) and it was getting down to crunch time for the premiere to start and he was well on his way. I flagged him down because you got to shoot your shot, right?

To my complete surprise, he stops.

Judy: Hi, how are you? I wanted to talk to you real quick about the show. What was it about your character that drew you to the role?

Joel: It’s just a great character, you know, and a very interesting project.

Judy: Great, thank you so much. (And mini-mic drop)

And let the streaming wars begin!

FOR ALL MANKIND Premiere Event Interviews

———-

Well, I hope you enjoy the interviews and the close-up of Joel’s chest and chin in his fancy pink velvet jacket. My tripod is clearly too short for all that height! Lessons learned and a new (much taller) tripod is being ordered.