![]() ![]() Quaid was searching, perhaps, for that very thing the film sets out to discover: “the right stuff.” ![]() ![]() Quaid learned to fly to get in the “heads and souls” of those pilots-turned-astronauts, the next generation of American frontiersmen. Each of the Mercury Seven troupe had been a test pilot and was specially selected for the US’s competitive (but sometimes losing) efforts against the Russian space program. The real-life Gordo Cooper was a member of the Mercury Seven, the United States’ first men in space. “What the f–––‘s going on here!?” Kauffman recalled them saying. He surprised director Philip Kauffman and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel with his new skills – by taking off as they sat together in a small plane. ![]() To play the role of pilot and astronaut “Gordo” Cooper in The Right Stuff, Dennis Quaid really did learn to fly. This piece first ran in June, and has been republished following the death of Chuck Yeager ![]()
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