Ad Astra is a 2019 American psychological science fiction film produced, co-written, and directed by James Gray. Starring Brad Pitt (who also produced), 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 obsessive quest to discover intelligent alien life at all costs threatens the Solar System and all life on 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.[4][5] It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for Pitt's performance.[6] The film grossed $135 million worldwide against an $80–100 million budget. At the 92nd Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Sound Mixing.
Plot[]
In the early 22nd century, mysterious power surges threaten to destabilize human civilization. Major Roy McBride is informed that the surges have been traced to the "Lima Project", a space station in orbit around Neptune, sent twenty-nine years earlier to search for intelligent life. Roy's father, H. Clifford McBride, was the project's leader. Roy agrees to travel to Mars in an effort to determine whether the station's crew are still alive.
En route to the SpaceCom base on the Moon's far side, a band of scavenger pirates ambush Roy and his colleague Pruitt, but they manage to fight them off. Pruitt then reveals to him that should he fail to prove that the crew survived, the Lima Project station will have to be destroyed. Roy obtains passage to Mars on the SpaceCom cruiser Cepheus.
Roy tells the captain of Cepheus, Tanner, to ignore a distress signal being emitted by a biomedical research station, but the captain replies that they are bound by protocol to investigate it. The two men access the station, only to be attacked by a laboratory baboon that has gone feral. Tanner is mauled to death before Roy kills the baboon by suffocating it in an airlock. Another surge hits as the Cepheus attempts to land on Mars. Roy assumes command and calmly lands the ship. After securing himself in the underground SpaceCom complex, Roy begins recording voice messages and transmitting them to the Lima Project in hopes that Clifford will respond. After numerous attempts, SpaceCom finally receives a response, but Roy is denied permission to accompany the search party.
Roy is visited by facility director Helen Lantos, who reveals that her parents were Lima Project team members. She shows him 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 also admits that the Cepheus has secret orders to destroy the Lima Project with a nuclear weapon; the search party is merely a formality to keep him quiet. They decide that Roy should confront Clifford, so Lantos advises him to stow away aboard the party's rocket as it departs.
Roy climbs aboard as the rocket takes off and is immediately discovered by the crew, who are unintentionally killed in the confrontation. During the 79-day journey to Neptune, a solitary Roy reflects on his relationship with his father and with his estranged wife, Eve. He finally arrives at the station and plants the nuclear bomb before encountering Clifford, the sole survivor of the Lima Project. Clifford explains that the surges are coming from the ship's malfunctioning antimatter power source, which was damaged in the mutiny. He also admits to Roy that he never really cared about his family and does not consider Earth his home.
Roy copies data gathered by the Lima Project team and persuades Clifford to accompany him back to Earth. He arms the bomb 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. The old man pleads for Roy to untether him so he can die amongst the stars; Roy reluctantly does so and watches his father drift away into space. He propels himself back to the Cepheus using his own spacesuit. Roy relies on the shock wave from the explosion of the bomb causing the annihilation of antimatter in the station to propel the Cepheus.
The data retrieved from the Lima Project base suggests that humans are the only intelligent life in the galaxy, but also contains a treasure trove of information on exoplanets, planetary systems, and other celestial bodies in the Milky Way that could potentially aid scientific and human colonization efforts. Roy returns to Earth with a newfound optimism, meeting with his estranged wife again.
Cast[]
- Brad Pitt as Roy Richard McBride, a major in U.S. Space Command
- Tommy Lee Jones as H. Clifford McBride, Roy's father, and the Commander of the missing Lima Project
- Ruth Negga as Helen Lantos
- Liv Tyler as Eve McBride, Roy'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
Production[]
Development[]
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Casting[]
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Filming[]
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Music[]
- Main article: Ad Astra (soundtrack)
Release[]
Theatrical[]

Brad Pitt conversing with ISS astronauts via a teleconference at NASA Headquarters Space Operations Center about the film's release
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Home media[]
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.[7]
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.[3]
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Critical response[]
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Accolades[]
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References[]
- ↑ [TBA Ad Astra]. Venice Film Festival (July 15, 2019).
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- ↑ 3.0 3.1 [TBA Ad Astra (2019)]. The Numbers.
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- ↑ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pallotta, Frank (September 20, 2019). [TBA "'Ad Astra' could be the hit that 20th Century Fox desperately needs"] Check
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value (help). CNN. Retrieved October 21, 2019. - ↑ Zack Sharf (August 29, 2019). [TBA Brad Pitt's Stellar 2019 Continues as Critics Praise 'Ad Astra' Performance in First Reviews]. IndieWire. Penske Media Corporation.
- ↑ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Goldberg, Matt (November 5, 2019). [TBA "'Ad Astra' 4K and Blu-ray Arrives in December with a Deleted Epilogue Scene"] Check
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value (help). Collider. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
External links[]
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