Tommy Lee Jones is a welcome addition to any film, and Deadline has reported that the grizzled actor is in final talks to star alongside Brad Pitt in James Gray's AD ASTRA. The futuristic sci-fi epic will find Brad Pitt starring as the "slightly autistic" space engineer Roy McBride, who, twenty years after his father left on a one-way mission to Neptune in order to find signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence, sets out on his own journey through the solar system to find his father and understand why his mission failed.
Deadline believes that Tommy Lee Jones will be playing the father to Brad Pitt's character, and that the film will have a bit of a "Heart of Darkness" vibe, only set in deep space. Production on AD ASTRA is due to kick off this September. Brad Pitt and James Gray have come close to working together several times in the past, with Pitt at one point attached to star in Gray's THE LOST CITY OF Z before he had to drop out and was replaced by Charlie Hunnam.
James Gray confirmed that Brad Pitt would be starring in AD ASTRA a little over two months ago, and also teased that he's hoping to make the film as realistic as possible when it comes to its depiction of space travel.
The science-fiction genre is so tricky because there are elements of fantasy usually involved, and there are also fantastical elements. What I’m trying to do is the most realistic depiction of space travel that’s been put in a movie and to basically say, ‘Space is awfully hostile to us.’ It’s kind of a Heart of Darkness story about traveling to the outer edge of our solar system. I have a lot of hopes for it but it is certainly ambitious.
As a sucker for space travel movies, I'm hugely excited to see what James Gray and Brad Pitt can come up with; throw in a little Tommy Lee Jones for good measure, and you've certainly got my attention.