Director

James Gray

United States, Brazil, China | 2019 | 124 min | English, Japanese, Russian, with English Subtitles

• Producer Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, James Gray, Anthony Katagas, Rodrigo Teixeira, Arnon Milchan
• Production Company  New Regency Pictures, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, Bona Film Group, Keep Your Head, MadRiver Pictures, Plan B Entertainment, RT Features
• Screenplay James Gray, Ethan Gross
• Cinematography Hoyte Van Hoytema
• Editing John Axelrad, Lee Haugen
• Sound Douglas Murray, Gary Rydstrom
• Cast Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, Donald Sutherland
• Contacts

  United Motion Pictures

  ump.ump@ump.com.eg

About the Film

Set in the near future, Major Roy McBride (played by a perfectly cast Brad Pitt) sets out to Neptune, looking for his long-lost father (Tommy Lee Jones), who could be responsible for a series of unexplained cosmic rays that threaten life on Earth. Director James Gray admitted in interviews that Ad Astra is a “giant mash-up” of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Apocalypse Now (1979)—and from the latter the American director draws inspiration in both tone and theme. He replaces the steamy jungles of Coppola’s masterpiece with the vast unknown of the universe, and instead of Brando’s now-infamous turn as Colonel Kurtz, Gray casts the haunting Jones as the rogue, larger-than-life element, thus turning Ad Astra into a space opera with the ability to both entertain and enlighten.

For those who love the sci-fi genre, Ad Astra has it all, from man-eating primates to a breathtaking, vertigo-inducing opening sequence. The film is also masterful at telling the tale of an abandoned boy who goes looking for his father, as Ad Astra is as much about Roy’s search to find closure in that lost relationship, as it is about his quest to save the world. Gray also proves that he is a versatile filmmaker who is able to jump into a blockbuster as easily as he can tell a story of two lovers.

E. Nina Rothe