Brad Pitt reunites with his Fury director, David Ayer, for a new wilderness survival movie titled Heart of the Beast. Paramount has just released the new trailer for the thriller, which you can watch in the embed above. Joining Pitt in the film is J.K. Simmons and Anna Lambe. Cameron Alexander executive produces and wrote the screenplay, which Damien Chazelle and Olivia Hamilton also produced through Wild Chickens Productions. Ayer produces via his Crave Films banner alongside Temple Hill Entertainment and Brad Pitt’s Plan B studio.
The official synopsis from Paramount reads,
“After a harrowing plane crash, Special Forces officer James Belmont (Brad Pitt) and his combat dog, Odin, find themselves stranded deep in the Alaskan wilderness. Together, they are forced into a brutal fight for survival against the elements. From acclaimed filmmaker David Ayer, Heart of the Beast is an intense adventure thriller that explores the unbreakable bond between a man and his best friend as they face their greatest battle yet.”
Other executive producers on this movie include Scott Lumpkin, Chris Long, Pete Chiappetta, Anthony Tittanegro, Andrew Lary, Sophie Cassidy and Zack Conroy.
GQ recently unveiled new photos from Heart of the Beast. The pictures showcase Pitt and his canine co-star, along with some behind-the-scenes photos with Pitt and David Ayer. The director, who broke out with his screenplay for Training Day, reflects on similar dynamics in his movies, “Whether it’s a couple soldiers in a tank, two cops in a car, or a retired military operator and his working canine, it’s two beings that have gone through hell and back together and share this deep bond and intimacy.” Then, he talks about working with a dog in the film, “Working with animals is its own experience, and sometimes you can see the lack of connection when people do these movies, but we really made the dog a living, breathing, fully-formed character, with a soulful presence. And you can feel their history, their connection.” Check out the photos below.
Ayer was asked what it was like to reunite with Brad Pitt after all these years. He stated, “I think we’ve both matured a lot in life. And Fury was interesting because it’s a war movie, there’s tanks, stuff blowing up, people everywhere, and there’s a scale to it. In this film, there’s nowhere to hide. It’s me, Brad, a camera, and a dog. He’s coming off the success of F1, and it’s such a big international world, with the cars and the noise and the crowds, and then he got compressed down into this aesthetic of simple beauty and playing such intricate…I don’t want to say suffering, because there’s so much joy and hope in it. But it was definitely an evolution. And it’s probably the most difficult film I’ve made, for those exact reasons. There was not any room for a misstep.”
The release is set for September 25.