Ad Astra is a 2019 American science fiction adventure film produced, co-written, and directed by James Gray. Starring Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland, it follows an astronaut who goes into space in search of his lost father, whose experiment threatens the Solar System.
The project was announced in early 2016, with Gray saying he wanted to feature “the most realistic depiction of space travel that’s been put in a movie”. Pitt signed on to star in April 2017 and the rest of the cast joined later that year. Filming began around Los Angeles that August, lasting through October.
Ad Astra premiered at the Venice Film Festival on August 29, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 20 by 20th Century Fox. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for Pitt’s performance and vivid imagery, but was a box-office disappointment, having grossed $127 million worldwide against a $80–100 million budget.
Cast
- Brad Pitt as Roy McBride, a major in U.S. Space Command
- Tommy Lee Jones as H. Clifford McBride, the Commander of the missing Lima Project
- Ruth Negga as Helen Lantos
- Liv Tyler as Eve, Major McBride’s wife
- Donald Sutherland as Colonel Thomas Pruitt
- John Ortiz as Lieutenant General Rivas
- Greg Bryk as Chip Garnes
- Loren Dean as Donald Stanford
- Natasha Lyonne as Tanya Pincus
- John Finn as Brigadier General Stroud
- Kimberly Elise as Lorraine Deavers
- Sean Blakemore as Willie Levant
- Bobby Nish as Franklin Yoshida
- LisaGay Hamilton as Adjutant General Amelia Vogel
- Donnie Keshawarz as Captain Lawrence Tanner