Chaffee was one of the astronauts in the Apollo program serving as capsule communicator for the Gemini 3 & Gemini 4 missions. In 1967, he died in a fire along with fellow astronauts Virgil (Gus) Grissom and Edward H. White II during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at what was then the Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34, Florida.

Smith joins a cast that includes Ryan Gosling, Jon Bernthal, Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Pablo Schreiber, Jason Clarke and Brian D’Arcy James.

Smith, who plays The Riddler aka Edward Nygma on Fox’s hit series Gotham, will next be seen as one of the leads in Todd Haynes’ Wonderstruck with Julianne Moore opening in theaters on Friday.

He most recently wrapped the leading role of filmmaker Yen Ten’s AIDS drama film 1985, alongside Michael Chiklis, Virigina Madsen and Jamie Chung.