Ad Astra (film)

Ad Astra (Latin for “To the Stars”) is a 2019 American psychological science fiction 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 ventures into space in search of his lost father, whose obsession at all costs to find intelligent alien life threatens the solar system and all life on the earth. 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, 2019, by 20th Century Fox. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for Pitt’s performance, Gray’s direction, visual effects, and the cinematography. However, the film was a box office bomb, grossing $135 million worldwide against an $80–100 million budget. At the 92nd Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Sound Mixing.

Plot

In the late 21st century, the solar system is being struck by mysterious power surges, threatening all human life. Major Roy McBride, son of astronaut H. Clifford McBride, believed dead, is informed by U.S. Space Command (SpaceCom) that the surges have been traced to the “Lima Project”, created 29 years earlier to search the galaxy for intelligent life, under Clifford’s leadership. Nothing has been heard from the Lima crew since reaching Neptune 16 years ago. Told his father may be alive, Roy agrees to travel to Mars from where he can attempt to establish communication with him. Roy is joined by Colonel Pruitt, his father’s old associate. Roy, acclaimed for his ability to remain calm under extreme pressure, shows little emotional reaction to his father possibly being alive.

Arriving on the Moon, Roy and Pruitt are then escorted by U.S. military personnel to the SpaceCom base, located in a disputed war zone on the Moon’s far side. En route in lunar rovers, scavenger pirates ambush them and kill the escorts. Roy and Pruitt make it to the base, but Pruitt suffers cardiac problems and remains behind. He gives Roy a classified message stating that if Roy fails to contact his father, then the Lima Project station will have to be destroyed. As Roy travels to Mars aboard Cepheus, a distress signal is received from a Norwegian biomedical research space station. Captain Tanner insists they must investigate, overriding Roy’s protests that the mission takes precedence and other ships can respond. The station appears to be abandoned. Tanner and Roy split up to investigate; Roy discovers an escaped baboon attacking Tanner. Roy kills it and then another baboon. Tanner dies from his injuries, but Roy shows little emotion. In a psychological evaluation, he admits to experiencing rage and recalls his father expressing his own rage.

Another surge hits as the Cepheus is attempting to land on Mars. Roy assumes command and calmly lands the ship after the acting captain/pilot is overcome with fear. In the underground SpaceCom base, Roy meets facility director Helen Lantos. He is tasked with recording voice messages to send to the Lima Project in hopes that Clifford will respond. After receiving no response from their first message, the crew sends another, during which Roy goes off-script with an emotional appeal to his father. Clifford responds though Roy is prevented from hearing the message. SpaceCom plans a mission to the Lima Project station, but refuses to allow Roy to participate, believing his personal connection poses a risk. Roy’s demand to hear the response is ignored, and he is summarily removed to a “comfort room”.

While sequestered, Roy is visited by Lantos, who reveals that both her parents were Lima Project team members. She shows Roy classified footage revealing that Clifford’s team mutinied and attempted to return to Earth, causing him to shut off their life-support systems; her parents were among those killed. She tells Roy that the Cepheus will go to the Lima Project station to destroy it with a nuclear weapon. The two decide that Roy should confront Clifford, and Lantos helps Roy access the rocket launch site.

Roy climbs aboard as the rocket takes off and is immediately discovered by the crew, who are instructed to neutralize him. The entire crew is unintentionally killed in the ensuing confrontation. During the 79-day journey to Neptune (at ~0.2% light speed), a solitary Roy reflects on his relationship with his father, and also his estranged wife, Eve. The mission’s isolation and stress take a mental toll. While approaching the Lima Project station in a shuttle attached to the Cepheus, the shuttle is damaged in a collision with objects in Neptune’s rings during another surge and unable to dock with the station. Roy enters the station via a spacewalk while the shuttle drifts away. Finding the crew’s dead bodies inside, he plants the nuclear weapon before encountering Clifford, the station’s sole survivor. Clifford explains that the surges are coming from the ship’s malfunctioning antimatter power source, which was damaged in the mutiny. Clifford has continued to work on the project, refusing to lose faith in the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life. Clifford admits to Roy that he never really cared about his family and no longer considers Earth his home.

Roy copies data gathered by the Lima Project team and persuades Clifford to accompany him back to Earth. He arms the nuclear payload, and they climb out on the station’s outer hull to return to the Cepheus. Clifford suddenly launches them into space using his spacesuit’s thrusters. Clifford pleads for Roy to un-tether him; Roy reluctantly does so and watches his father drift away into space. He propels himself back to the Cepheus using his own spacesuit. Without enough fuel, Roy relies on the shock wave from the nuclear explosion in the station to gain the required speed.

The data retrieved from the Lima Project base suggest that humans are the only intelligent life in the galaxy. Roy is inspired to reconnect with those closest to him, and he returns to Earth with a newfound optimism. After expressing his opinions in a psychological evaluation, he reconnects with his wife, Eve.

Cast

Production

Director James Gray first confirmed his plans to write and direct Ad Astra on May 12, 2016, during the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. In April 2017, while promoting The Lost City of Z, Gray compared the story of Ad Astra to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Gray also mentioned that he intended for the film to feature “the most realistic depiction of space travel that’s been put in a movie and to basically say, ‘Space is awfully hostile to us'”. Gray also confirmed that filming for Ad Astra would commence on July 17, 2017.

On April 10, 2017, Gray confirmed that Brad Pitt would star in Ad Astra. In June, Tommy Lee Jones joined the cast to portray Pitt’s lost father. In August, Ruth Negga, John Finn, and Donald Sutherland joined the cast.

Principal photography on the film began in mid-August 2017 in Santa Clarita, California, lasting 60 days. Following poor initial test screenings, reshoots were conducted (although Pitt was unavailable), increasing the production budget from $80 million to over $100 million. Charlie Kaufman provided an uncredited rewrite of the voice-over dialogue in the film.

The visual effects were by Moving Picture Company, Method Studios, Mr. X, Weta Digital, Brainstorm Digital, and Capital T, and supervised by Allen Maris, Christopher Downs, Guillaume Rocheron, Ryan Tudhope, Aidan Fraser, Olaf Wendt, Anders Langlands, Eran Dinur, Jamie Hallett, and Territory Studio. Max Richter composed the film’s score, with Lorne Balfe later writing additional music. James Gray consulted with experimental film scholars Gregory Zinman and Leo Goldsmith for inspiration on the visuals.

Release

Ad Astra had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 29, 2019. It was released on September 20, 2019, by 20th Century Fox. It had previously been scheduled for January 11, 2019, and then for May 24 before being pushed back.

Ad Astra was released on digital and Movies Anywhere by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on December 3, 2019, with Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, and DVD releases following on December 17.

Reception

Box office

Ad Astra grossed $50.2 million in the United States and Canada and $85.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $135.4 million against an estimated production budget of $80 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Downton Abbey and Rambo: Last Blood, and was projected to gross $15–20 million from 3,450 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $7.2 million on its first day, including $1.5 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $19 million, finishing second behind Downton Abbey. The opening was compared to First Man (2018), another drama involving outer space which received high praise from critics but a lukewarm audience reception, resulting in a muted box office turnout despite its cast and budget. Deadline Hollywood deduced the film would lose $30 million off a projected $150 million final worldwide gross (a figure it would ultimately fall short of). The film made $10.1 million in its second weekend and $4.4 million in its third, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 83% based on 374 reviews, with an average rating of 7.52/10. The website’s critical consensus reads, “Ad Astra takes a visually thrilling journey through the vast reaches of space while charting an ambitious course for the heart of the bond between parent and child.” On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 80 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews”. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “B−” on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed at PostTrak gave it an average 2.5 out of 5 stars, with 40% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, writing, “In the hands of director and co-writer James Gray, Ad Astra is one of the most beautiful films of the year, even when it makes little sense and even when Brad Pitt’s performance veers between one of his all-time best and one of his all-time not-best.” David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film an “A” and said, “Ad Astra is one of the most ruminative, withdrawn, and curiously optimistic space epics this side of Solaris. It’s also one of the best.” Similarly, Xan Brooks of The Guardian gave the film five out of five stars, called it a “superb space-opera”, and praised Pitt’s performance, saying, “Pitt embodies McBride with a series of deft gestures and a minimum of fuss. His performance is so understated it hardly looks like acting at all.”

Variety critic Owen Gleiberman praised Pitt’s performance, explaining, “Gray proves beyond measure that he’s got the chops to make a movie like this. He also has a vision, of sorts – one that’s expressed, nearly inadvertently, in the metaphor of that space antenna.” Peter Travers of Rolling Stone rated the film four out of five stars and referred to it as “absolutely enthralling” and praised Gray for his direction and his unique approach to the science fiction genre, as well as the cinematography and Pitt’s performance (whom he referred to as “marvel of nuanced feeling”). He also drew comparisons of the film’s tone and themes to other notable films set in space, particularly 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Solaris (1972), Gravity (2013), and Interstellar (2014). Critic Kurt Loder praised the visual effects but criticized the lack of originality and the patchwork style of the script. Adam Graham writing for The Detroit News found problems with the film, giving it a “C” rating: “This is slow, obtuse filmmaking with little emotional connection.”

Accolades

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s) and nominee(s)	Result	Ref(s)
Academy Awards	February 9, 2020	Best Sound Mixing	Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano	Nominated
Art Directors Guild Awards	February 1, 2020	Excellence in Production Design for a Fantasy Film	Kevin Thompson	Nominated
Austin Film Critics Association	January 22, 2019	Best Cinematography	Hoyte van Hoytema	Nominated
Awards Circuit Community Awards	2020	Best Sound	Grant Elder, Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano (Sound)	Nominated
		Best Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Won
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	2020	Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie	Ad Astra	Nominated
		Best Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Nominated
Central Ohio Film Critics Association	January 2, 2020	Actor of the Year	Brad Pitt	Nominated
		Best Cinematography	Hoyte van Hoytema	Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	December 14, 2019	Best Use of Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Nominated
Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle Awards	January 4, 2020	Best Cinematography	Hoyte van Hoytema	Nominated
		Best Production Design	Kevin Thompson	Nominated
		Best Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Nominated
CinEuphoria Awards	December 3, 2019	Best Actor -International Competition	Brad Pitt	Nominated
Club Média Ciné	January 8, 2020	Best Foreign Film	James Gray	Nominated
Critics’ Choice Movie Awards	January 12, 2020	Best Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Nominated
		Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie	Ad Astra	Nominated
Denver Film Critics Society	January 6, 2020	Best Science-Fiction/Horror Film	Ad Astra	Nominated
DiscussingFilm Critics Awards	December 27, 2019	Best Motion Picture	Ad Astra	Nominated
		Best Film Actor	Brad Pitt	Nominated
Dragon Awards	2020	Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie	Ad Astra	Nominated
Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards	December 19, 2019	Best Cinematography	Hoyte van Hoytema	Nominated
		Best Actor	Brad Pitt	7th Place
Faro Island Film Festival	2020	Best Motion Picture of the Year	Ad Astra	Won
		Best Achievement in Directing	James Gray	Nominated
		Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role	Brad Pitt	Won
		Best Cinematography	Hoyte van Hoytema	Nominated
		Best Production Design	Kevin Thompson	Nominated
		Best Visual And Sound Effects	Grant Elder, Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano (Sound) Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher (Visual)	Won
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards	December 23, 2019	Best Film	Ad Astra	Nominated
		Best Cinematography	Hoyte van Hoytema	Nominated
		Best Score	Max Richter	Nominated
		Best Production Design	Kevin Thompson, Kevin Constant, Christa Munro, Alison Sadler, David Scott and Gary Warshaw	Nominated
		Best Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Nominated
Georgia Film Critics Association	January 10, 2020	Best Cinematography	Hoyte van Hoytema	Nominated
Gold Derby Awards	February 4, 2020	Sound	Grant Elder, Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano	Nominated
		Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Nominated
Golden Schmoes Awards	2019	Best Sci-Fi Movie of the Year	Ad Astra	Nominated
		Most Underrated Movie of the Year	Ad Astra	Nominated
Grammy Awards	March 14, 2021	Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media	Ad Astra – Max Richter	Nominated
Greater Western New York Film Critics Association Awards	November 10, 2019	Best Picture	Ad Astra	Nominated
		Best Director	James Gray	Nominated
		Best Actor	Brad Pitt	Nominated
		Best Cinematography	Hoyte van Hoytema	Nominated
		Best Score	Max Richter	Nominated
Hawaii Film Critics Society	January 13, 2020	Best Sci-Fi Film	Ad Astra	Nominated
		Best Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Nominated
Hollywood Critics Association	January 9, 2020	Best Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Nominated
Houston Film Critics Society Awards	January 2, 2020	Best Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Nominated
Indiewire Critics’ Poll	December 16, 2019	Best Lead Actor	Brad Pitt	Nominated
International Online Cinema Awards	September 20, 2020	Best Actor	Brad Pitt	Nominated
Jupiter Awards	August 29, 2020	Best International Film	Ad Astra	Nominated
Latino Entertainment Journalists Association Film Awards	January 20, 2020	Sound	Grant Elder, Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano	Nominated
		Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Nominated
London Film Critics Circle Awards 2019	January 30, 2020	Technical Achievement of the Year	Allen Maris (Visual Effects)	Nominated
Motion Picture Sound Editors	January 19, 2020	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Music Score for Feature Film	Jason Ruder, Katrina Schiller, Lena Glikson, Terry Wilson, Will Kaplan, Philip Tallman, Darrell Hall, Sam Zeines and Richard Ziegler	Nominated
North Carolina Film Critics Association	January 3, 2020	Best Cinematography	Hoyte van Hoytema	Nominated
		Best Special Effects		Nominated
North Texas Film Critics Association	December 16, 2019	Best Cinematography	Hoyte van Hoytema	Nominated
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards	December 15, 2019	Best Body of Work	Brad Pitt	Nominated
Online Association of Female Film Critics	December 23, 2019	Best Cinematography	Hoyte van Hoytema	Nominated
Online Film & Television Association	February 2, 2020	Best Sound Effects Editing	Gary Rydstrom and Brad Semenoff	Nominated
		Best Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Nominated
Online Film Critics Society Awards	January 6, 2020	Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Won
Phoenix Critics Circle	December 14, 2019	Best Science Fiction Film	Ad Astra	Won
San Diego Film Critics Society	December 9, 2019	Best Cinematography	Hoyte van Hoytema	Nominated
		Best Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Won
Sant Jordi Awards	April 23, 2020	Best Actor in a Foreign Film	Brad Pitt	Won
Seattle Film Critics Society	December 16, 2019	Best Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Won
St. Louis Film Critics Association	wikiepdi	Best Visual Effects	Allen Maris, Jedediah Smith, Guillaume Rocheron and Scott R. Fisher	Runner Up
		Best Score	Max Richter	Nominated
Venice Film Festival	September 7, 2019	Golden Lion	Ad Astra	Nominated
World Stunt Awards	December 15, 2019	Best High Work	Stunt Team of Ad Astra	Nominateda