Kubrick’s Moon Landing Conspiracy Is Perfectly Explained in Operation Lune

With the romantic comedy Fly Me to the Moon recently arriving in theaters, conspiracies surrounding the legitimacy of the moon landing are once more making their way to the forefront. The film takes place in the 1960s during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. It follows Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), the NASA director in charge of the Apollo 11 launch, and Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson), a marketing specialist brought in to help fix NASA’s public image problems. While efforts are made to reach the Moon before the USSR, Jones simultaneously works to stage a fake Moon landing as “backup” in case the real mission somehow fails. Despite its fictional narrative, such a film highlights numerous Moon landing conspiracies, particularly Stanley Kubrick’s involvement in staging America’s arrival on the Moon 55 years ago.

For those unfamiliar with the conspiracy, there’s a mockumentary that perfectly explains the details of the Kubrick Moon landing conspiracy. Titled Opération Lune, also known as Dark Side of the Moon, the French film premiered in 2002 on the Franco-German television network Arte, a European public service channel dedicated to arts and culture. Through interviews with government officials, Kubrick’s family, and paid actors, the mockumentary purports that the televised footage of the Apollo 11 Moon landing was faked. While it maintains the Moon landing was successful, it argues that the footage from the mission didn’t turn out as expected and couldn’t be used. As a result, images and videos of the landing were created in a studio by the CIA with the help of famed Hollywood director Stanley Kubrick.

What Does Stanley Kubrick Have to Do With the Moon Landing in Opration Lune?

From the beginning, the mockumentary reports that Kubrick’s relationship with NASA began when he reportedly used one of the organization’s unique and secret lenses, the Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7 lens, for one of his films after requesting special access. As a quid pro quo, Kubrick eventually agrees to film a fake Moon landing years later, despite his initial reluctance to do so. In reality, nothing was loaned to Kubrick. He simply purchased leftover lenses NASA didn’t need. The lenses were originally commissioned by NASA for the Apollo program, and ten were made. While it’s true the director owned three of the lenses, he bought them after the fact and had to modify them quite a bit to retrofit them on his 35mm camera.

The mockumentary then explains that Kubrick’s 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was viewed by NASA officials as an important example of how the lunar program could garner support from the American public. As the film purports, Kubrick’s movie influenced how certain spacesuits and vessels were designed in order to give them a more “Hollywood” feel, which NASA hoped would help with its public image issues. In reality, the opposite occurred. Kubrick had consulted NASA about his film’s accuracy. Because the film’s production was happening in tandem with the Space Race, he understandably became entangled with emerging conspiracies surrounding NASA’s mission.

How Does Opration Lune Explain the Reasons Behind a Fake Moon Landing?

To be clear, Opération Lune never claims the Moon landing didn’t occur. It simply states a fake one was staged, and its footage is what the public has seen for the past 55 years. The mockumentary explains that in the time leading up to Apollo 11’s mission, President Nixon grew increasingly worried the mission would fail. He subsequently ordered a fake Moon landing to be filmed as backup, which proved helpful after the original footage couldn’t be used. Because of this, the CIA, alongside Stanley Kubrick, filmed a fake Moon landing in a London studio, the same one the director had used for his 2001: A Space Odyssey masterpiece.

However, not long after the top-secret CIA mission, Nixon grew paranoid that the truth about their staged landing would be discovered. This led to his impulsive decision to eliminate anyone involved with the project. According to the mockumentary, the only reason such information is now seeing the light of day is because one top official has decided to come forward with the truth. Of course, in true dramatic fashion, the official dies before completing the rest of his interviews with the filmmakers. To be clear, none of this is factual.

Theres a Major Problem With Opration Lune

While the mockumentary is clearly meant to be a joke, Opération Lune feels pretty authentic, at least in the beginning. Despite the breadcrumbs of inaccuracy regarding dates and simple facts throughout the film, it’s only when the credits roll that it’s revealed to be a purposefully fabricated hoax. As a result, it’s been used by many conspiracy theorists as proof to bolster their claims that such events actually occurred.

Furthermore, while paid actors and Kubrick’s family knowingly participated in the documentary in jest, the filmmakers edited actual interviews of government officials to juxtapose next to the film’s false, albeit tongue-in-cheek, claims. For those seeking to understand the details of the Kubrick Moon landing conspiracy, the mockumentary lays it out perfectly. Unfortunately, it seemingly does so a bit too well. Fly Me to the Moon is currently in theaters, and Opération Lune (Dark Side of the Moon) is currently streaming on The Roku Channel.