Now that the sequel to ‘World War Z’ has been put on the shelf, Brad Pitt has a bit of a hole in his very busy schedule. The veteran actor probably has a number of projects that could take up his time, but it looks like he may be tackling an original science fiction film next.
According to Deadline, the Academy Award winner is now considering the futuristic sci-fi epic ‘Ad Astra’ as his next film. Directed and co-written by ‘The Lost City of Z’ director James Gray (with a title that means “to the stars” in Latin), Pitt would play the slightly autistic space engineer named Roy McBride who embarks on a journey across the universe to Neptune twenty years after his father took that same trip in order to discover why the first mission failed. And not only is he considering a part in front of the camera, but Pitt might also take up a role behind the scenes as the actor’s production company Plan B Entertainment is being lined up to produce the picture as well.
If this deal pans out, it will mark the first time that Pitt and Gray would be working together, but not for lack of trying. At one point, Pitt was meant to star in ‘The Lost City of Z’, which was recently acquired by Amazon Studios for an April release. However, scheduling didn’t work out and Charlie Hunnam of ‘Pacific Rim’ and ‘Sons of Anarchy’ took the role instead. Prior to that, the two were also meant to collaborate on the scrapped assassin movie ‘The Gray Man’ and the filmmaker’s third film ‘We Own The Night’, which features Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, and Robert Duvall. Now after all these years of searching for the right production, it would seem that the fourth time is a charm for this pair.
Are you interested in seeing Brad Pitt star in ‘Ad Astra’? Do you think that the movie will rival some modern sci-fi space hits such as ‘The Martian’, ‘Arrival’, and (to a much, much lesser extent) ‘Passengers’? Let us know in the comments.
Despite being a “professional writer”, Ben likes run-on sentences far too much. For more of his attempts at being funny and the occasional insightful thought, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
