IT’S THE STUFF OF DREAMS
THE RIGHT STUFF’S PATRICK J ADAMS HAS LOVED TOM WOLFE’S NOVEL SINCE CHILDHOOD. BY JOSH STEPHENSON
names but despite Tom Wolfe’s brilliant novel (The Right Stuff) and the 1983 movie adaptation that followed, very little has been created about them. Disney, though, has spotted the gap in the space market and brought Wolfe’s novel back to life in a delicious, expanded look at the project that goes deeper into the lives of the seven men than ever before – and just so happens to star Meghan Markle’s first love (if you know, you know), Patrick J Adams.
Naturally, the ‘M’ word is completely off the table but the affable Adams is more than happy to talk about a passion project that dates back to his childhood.
‘I was very familiar with the story because The Right Stuff was one of my favourite novels growing up,’ says Adams. ‘I’ve always been fascinated by it and I’m mystified it hasn’t been covered more. I think it’s because the space programme moved so quickly – we went from Mercury to Gemini and then to the moon in 1969.’
Adams, 39, steps into the space suit of John Glenn, an eventual US senator, who was the most experienced of the Mercury Seven and was outspoken in his desire to leave a legacy.
‘Glenn was incredibly driven and felt like he had a calling’, says Adams. ‘When the space programme came about he got the sense that this was what he was put on Earth to do. It wasn’t just about glory, although he knew fame was going to be a part of it and he certainly wasn’t running away from that.’
This new-found fame is a key focus for the series. Here were seven men with little or no media experience, then – boom – overnight everyone wanted a piece of them. While most of the men were hiding mistresses and debauchery, Glenn was the odd one out. A devoted family man, he had already accrued a small amount of fame for appearing on game show Name That Tune – and was determined to use it to his advantage. ‘Glenn was the only one in the group who had spent some time in front of the camera and he was pretty savvy with the media,’ says Adams. ‘He knew that was a key part to winning over the country and understood that was going to play a pivotal role in getting the programme funded properly. But I don’t think even he understood just how famous these guys were going to become.’
Of course, you can’t make a TV show about space exploration and not feature a scene were some poor actor is strapped into something horrific to be spun around for hours on end. Did Adams have to suffer it? ‘No!’ he says. ‘I saw it being built and I was so excited to get in. I was waiting for the script where John Glenn would be in the seat but it never came. But after watching Colin O’Donoghue [who plays Gordon
Cooper] and Jake McDorman [as Alan Shepard, who in 1961 became that first American in space] go through it, and seeing what they looked like after,
I was OK with skipping it!
‘Because like anything on television, it might be 15 or 20 seconds on the screen but that means you’re shooting in that chair all day. I watched them during the first part of the day walking up all excited and then, after lunch, they were trudging up and their eyes were rolling around in their heads.’
Adams’ chance could be coming sooner than he thinks if Elon Musk or Richard Branson get their way and passenger space travel becomes a reality. Would he be on the first rocket?
‘I would do anything to go to space,’ says Adams. ‘If they asked me to be on the first, I would do it. When I found out that Tom Cruise was making a movie in space with my friend [and Suits producer] Doug Liman, I sent him an email immediately saying I’d play any role if it means I get to go to space. Fingers crossed.’
The first two episodes of The Right Stuff are available now on Disney+. New episodes every Friday