'A Million Miles Away' Subject José Hernández on How His Story Became Major Film (Exclusive)

José Hernández lived the dream as he went from a migrant worker to being a NASA astronaut in space for nearly two weeks. And his remarkable story was made into a movie called A Million Miles Away which is now streaming on Prime Video. PopCulture.com spoke exclusively to Hernández, who shared details about when he learned a movie was going to be made based on his life. 

"It was a few years back that I learned that it was going to be turned into a movie, Hernández exclusively told PopCulture. "I had had overtures by producers, and it wasn't until I found the right film house that I felt comfortable partnering up with them. And this was Select Films. They had just finished filming McFarland USA. They've done Million Dollar Arm, Secretariat, so they specialize in motivational type of films. And I said, 'Okay, this is where we can do something here. And so we went ahead and pitched it to several studios and a few years later, here we are at the opening."

A Million Miles Away is based on the 2012 book Reaching for the Stars: The Inspiring Story of a Migrant Worker Turned Astronaut. Hernández said he got the idea of writing the book after he became a motivational speaker and people came up to him saying he should write about his journey. After writing multiple versions of his book, movie producers began taking notice. 

"I wrote an illustrated bilingual book, and then the publisher came and said, 'You need to write the middle reader book.' I said, 'Well, how many times can I tell my story?'" Hernández said. "So I did that, and once I did that, I think that's when we caught the attention of producers and saying someone, they started reading the books and they said, 'Hey, there's a good story here. It may make a good picture.' I never thought it would, but they did. And this is how A Million Miles Away was born."

Hernández flew in Mission STS-128 on Space Shuttle Discovery in 2009 with six other crew members. When talking about the experience, Hernández pointed out a key scene in A Million Miles Away. "I think it exceeded the expectations," he said. "There's a scene in the movie where I asked that same question to KC (Sarayu Blue), and she just answers the question saying, 'Oh, yeah,' and I can't agree with her more. It exceeds the expectations. It's hard to put how you feel and describe it in words because it just doesn't do it any justice."

Michael Peña plays Hernández in A Million Miles Away, and Hernández gave praise to the 47-year-old actor for his portrayal. Hernández also showed love to Rosa Salazar who plays Hernández's wife Adela. 

"He did a masterful job in portraying me," Hernández said about Peña. "He did his homework. He's a true professional. When he got the role, we were right in the middle of the pandemic. So we pretty much talk how we're talking right now over Zoom, and we did several sessions. So he got to know me as a person, my personality, my quirks, my sense of humor. And he did a very good job in portraying me throughout the film."

"But I'll tell you, the one that really stole the show, I think it's Rosa Salazar, the actress that plays my wife. When I see her on the screen from a personality perspective, I see my wife up there. She also did her homework, she talked a lot to my wife. They even cooked together over Zoom and things of that nature. And so she did a great job. And quite frankly, I thought she was a scene stealer."