Operation Avalanche is a 2016 found footage conspiracy thriller film directed by Matt Johnson, who co-wrote it with Josh Boles. Set in the late 1960s, Johnson and Owen Williams star as CIA agents who infiltrate NASA to expose a suspected KGB mole, only to become embroiled in a conspiracy to fake the Apollo 11 moon landing. Johnson and producer Matthew Miller conceived of the project shortly after the release of their 2013 film The Dirties; neither believed that the moon landing was faked but found it appealing subject matter for a faux documentary. Principal photography took place in Toronto, Houston and Washington, D.C.. Operation Avalanche was largely improvised and combines newly shot footage with archival material to emulate the appearance of a 1960s documentary. Additionally, the production shot on location at NASA's facilities under the guise of filming a documentary. Operation Avalanche premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically in the United States by Lionsgate on September 16, 2016. It received generally favorable reviews from critics.
Plot The film opens with President John F. Kennedy's 1962 "We choose to go to the Moon" speech. In 1967, ambitious CIA agents Matt Johnson, Owen Williams, Andy Apelle, and Jared Raab convince their superiors to let them infiltrate NASA—disguised as a documentary crew filming the Apollo 11 mission—in an effort to root out a KGB mole inside the organization. After bugging NASA administrator James Webb's phone, the crew discovers from Webb's secret conversation with an unidentified man that the Lunar Module Eagle lander is incapable of landing on the Moon. When the crew inform their superior, Brackett, they are told to leave NASA. To prevent the Soviet Union from winning the Space Race and secure a promotion, Matt conceives of "Operation Avalanche", whereby the crew will fake footage of the Moon landing. Matt directs test footage of Owen in an astronaut suit, which gains the approval of Brackett, who sends agent Josh Boles to keep an eye on their progress. Jared reviews footage captured at a NASA pool party and notices a pair of men filming the crew. Matt learns that director Stanley Kubrick is in production on 2001: A Space Odyssey, which involves sequences on the moon. Matt and Jared travel to Shepperton Studios in England, where they film the 2001 set with a hidden camera and learn about front screen projection, which enables the crew to make their faked moon footage more convincing. Back in the United States, the crew construct a lunar module and moon set in a studio, and plan for the Apollo 11 astronauts to transmit the pre-recorded footage whilst in orbit. Matt becomes frantic when he learns that, if "Operation Avalanche" fails, the CIA plans to shoot down the real Apollo 11 lander and blame the Soviets. Matt begins burying incriminating footage in a field. During a shoot, Owen notices a pair of men waiting outside the studio who drive away when approached. Boles informs Matt and Owen that the mole has been caught. However, Owen identifies the supposed mole as the unidentified man from Webb's secret conversation. Owen believes that Boles is part of the CIA, and planning to kill the crew to tie up loose ends. Matt delivers the completed moon landing footage to Boles. The Apollo 11 launch goes ahead and Matt burns the props used in the videos. Owen calls Matt to warn him that the men watching him are outside his house. Matt returns to his motel room, finding it trashed by men sweeping the premises. Matt, Jared and Andrew dig up Matt's incriminating film reels from the field. As they leave, they are engaged in a shootout and car chase with two men, but narrowly escape. Matt finds Owen hanged in his garage, staged to look like a suicide. Matt trusts Andrew with hiding the film reels. He calls Brackett on a payphone and offers to trade his location for the names of the agents who killed Owen. He threatens to release the footage and declines Brackett's offers to make him head of his own department. As a forlorn Matt watches the "Moon landing" play on public television, Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" plays over America celebrating the Apollo 11 landing.
Cast Many of the actors, including the five leads, used their real names and are shown in the end credits as "Himself" or "Herself".
Production
Conception
On a flight home from the premiere of their film The Dirties (2013), director Matt Johnson and producer Matthew Miller conceived of a "fake documentary" focused on faking the Apollo 11 moon landing. Although Johnson did not believe that the Apollo 11 moon landing was faked, he found the "lies and duplicity" surrounding Moon landing conspiracy theories "very appealing". Miller and Johnson reunited with various cast and crew of The Dirties, including co-writer Josh Boles, co-star Owen Williams and composer Jay McCarrol. Influences on the film included the Maysles Brothers film Gimme Shelter (1970), the documentary series An American Family (1973), Orson Welles's docudrama film F for Fake (1973) and the political thriller films The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and JFK (1991).
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