Venice Film Festival: First Reactions Describe James Gray's 'Ad Astra:' "Melancholic, Terrifying, Sensational"

James Gray's "Ad Astra" world premiered at the Sala Darsena at the 76th Venice Film Festival Thursday morning. Press attendees came out of the screening raving about the film, collectively describing it as "atmospheric, melancholic and awe-inspiring."
The film stars Brad Pitt on a voyage to space where the solar system's mysteries keep his missing astronaut father out of reach. The film also stars Liv Tyler, Ruth Negga, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland.
The press conference for "Ad Astra" featured Pitt, Gray and Tyler. In an article written by Elsa Keslassy for Variety, Pitt talked about how the space odyssey film touches on personal masculinity:
“In retrospect, what James and I were digging at was that definition of masculinity,” Pitt said at a news conference, alongside Gray and co-star Liv Tyler. “We’ve both grown up in an era where we were asked to be strong…and there is a value in that, but barrier because you’re hiding some of those things you feel ashamed of. We all hide and carry individual pain and wounds.”
“The story is so delicate and we knew that any clips, voiceover could tip the film over, make it too obvious, so it was a constant effort to try to maintain a balance and keep this story unfolding in a very subtle and delicate way,” he said.
For Reuters, Marie-Louise Gumuchian also reported from the film's press event, detailing Pitt's companion advice exchanged with fellow actor George Clooney, who starred in Alfonso Cuarón's 2013 space drama, "Gravity."
Venice is no stranger to screening space movies, having previously premiered the Oscar-winning “Gravity”, starring Pitt’s regular co-star and friend George Clooney, as well as “First Man”, about the 1969 moon landing.
Asked if he had exchanged any space movie tips with Clooney, Pitt referenced the process of hanging from wires during such shoots, saying: “George and I exchanged some discomfort stories.”
First reactions to Gray's latest began to pour out of Venice via Twitter:
https://twitter.com/OasisAwais/status/1167093538150109190
https://twitter.com/lucamattiolz/status/1166999581051240449
https://twitter.com/rotovisor/status/1166993104001540096
https://twitter.com/rdfolta/status/1167001209645010944
https://twitter.com/firstshowing/status/1166991249758466048
"Ad Astra" is produced by New Regency Pictures and Pitt's Plan B Entertainment. Twentieth Century Fox is distributing the film. It releases in US theaters September 20.

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