James Gray Says ‘Ad Astra’ Was “Taken” From Him During The Edit: “Creatively, “It Became A Very Torturous Experience”

Director James Gray gave us an ambitious sci-fi film with the Brad Pitt-led “Ad Astra, “making his off-world version of Joseph Conrad’s classic novel “Heart of Darkness.” The novel helped previously influence Francis Ford Coppola’s nightmare-esque vision of the Vietnam War film “Apocalypse Now,” and Gray seemed to borrow ideas from the book and the film.

Filmmaker James Gray has arguably been trying to avoid himself and his past these last few years, perhaps in order to create something new. A filmmaker who has spent much of his time exploring America and his roots in New York, with humanistic, moral, and family stories about class within the genre of crime (“Little Odessa,” “The Yards,” “We Own The Night”), in the last few years of his filmmaking career, Gray has seemingly gone as far away from New York as possible, into the jungles of the amazon for “The Lost City Of Z” (2014) and into the far reaches of outer space for “Ad Astra” (2019).  And while those films have expanded the palette of his preoccupation, “Ada Astra” in particular tackling ideas of American exceptionalism and its myths, perhaps both films—still centered on class, family, fatherhood and more— demonstrated, as far as he travels, the filmmaker cannot escape himself or his human obsessions and concerns.

Over the past two weekends in limited release, Martin McDonagh’s tragicomedy starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson has posted better numbers than Focus Features’ “Tár” but well short of McDonagh’s 2017 Oscar winner “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” That trend has continued as “Inisherin” beat the $1 million total earned last weekend by “Tár” from 1,095 theaters while grossing roughly half of the $4.4 million 3-day total that “Three Billboards” earned from 614 theaters on Thanksgiving weekend five years ago. Such a result is to be expected, as arthouses that survived the COVID-19 pandemic labor to bring audiences back to theaters for critically-acclaimed but challenging fare.

Filmmaker James Gray has arguably been trying to avoid himself and his past these last few years, perhaps in order to create something new. A filmmaker who has spent much of his time exploring America and his roots in New York, with humanistic, moral, and family stories about class within the genre of crime (“Little Odessa,” “The Yards,” “We Own The Night”), in the last few years of his filmmaking career, Gray has seemingly gone as far away from New York as possible, into the jungles of the amazon for “The Lost City Of Z” (2014) and into the far reaches of outer space for “Ad Astra” (2019).  And while those films have expanded the palette of his preoccupation, “Ada Astra” in particular tackling ideas of American exceptionalism and its myths, perhaps both films—still centered on class, family, fatherhood and more— demonstrated, as far as he travels, the filmmaker cannot escape himself or his human obsessions and concerns.

“Till” is sixth on the box office charts after expanding to 2,058 theaters, grossing just $2.8 million for a per-theater average of $1,366 and a running total of $3.6 million. The good news for Chinonye Chukwu’s true-story drama about the murder of Emmett Till is that critical and audience praise has been overwhelming, with a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score and an A+ on CinemaScore.

Filmmaker James Gray’s “Armageddon Time” opens in limited release this weekend, Friday, October 28. A soulful, melancholy drama about family, friendship, loss, privilege, and more, it’s also a movie, like many of Gray’s films about class and America, and how its 1980s-set Ronald Regan-era echoes back to where we are today.

James Gray‘s “Armageddon Time” finally hits theaters today after its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this past May. And the film, Gray’s follow-up to 2019’s “Ad Astra,” has a great deal of buzz surrounding it, with near-unanimous critical support.

James Corden has become notorious for having some awkward feuds with other celebrities - and usually admits that he has been the cause of the bad blood. However, the talk show host has revealed that he once had a bizarre run-in with Hollywood A-lister Pierce Brosnan that he is still puzzled over .

Filmmaker James Gray’s “Armageddon Time” opens in limited theaters on October 28. The drama, a 1980s period piece, sees Gray return to his roots in New York.

Lise Pedersen U.S. film writer and director James Gray (“Little Odessa”, “Two Lovers”, “The Immigrant”, “Armageddon Time”) drew several laugh-out-loud moments from a packed theatre during a masterclass at the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon.   In a disarmingly honest conversation laced with humorous self-deprecation, the Venice Silver Lion Winner (“Little Odessa”, 1994) opened up about his love of cinema and the ups and downs of his career.  Speaking about the highly autobiographical nature of his new film, “Armageddon Time”, a deeply personal look at his Queens childhood in 1980s America, Gray explained that it was a natural evolution after his two previous films, “The Lost City of Z”, which is partly set in the Amazon and left him physically exhausted, and “Ad Astra.”  

It’s been quite the year for films that look for inspiration in the autobiographical. James Gray returned to his childhood in Queens for “Armageddon Time,” Steven Spielberg reflected on the origins of his love for cinema in “The Fabelmans,” and Alejandro González Iñárritu investigated the pained ripples of diaspora and guilt in “Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.” In 2022, one more semi-autobiographical film will grace the screens, Gary Oldman’s BAFTA-winning directorial debut “Nil By Mouth.” Back to British cinemas for the first time since its original release in 1997, the film has been recently remastered in celebration of its 25th anniversary.

Is there a better way to prove the virtue of the cinematic experience than to get 5,000 people on their feet giving a film a standing ovation?  Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Fremaux did just that on the opening night of his 14th Lumière Film Festival in Lyon with Louis Garrel’s romantic comedy “The Innocent.”  The movie played in the jam-packed Halle Tony Garnier before a star-studded crowd, including Garrel and his cast, Noémie Merlant and Roschdy Zem, as well as Sebastián Lelio, Costa Gavras, Leila Bekhti, Marina Fois, Lee Chang-dong, Nicole Garcia, Sabine Azema and Damien Bonnard. 

Antonio Ferme editor James Gray’s “Armageddon Time” explores the complexity of the American Dream — the idea that every citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success through hard work and initiative — from the perspective of a Jewish family in 1980. “In some ways,” according to star Anne Hathaway, the status of this idealistic pursuit has remained “very similar” over the years. At the same time, the actor pinpointed a notable societal change that she hopes continues to persist. “If there’s one thing that I really do hope that we keep coming to a different place about because it keeps coming up at such an impossibly high cost, is that we’re more willing to see ourselves as a part of the problem,” Hathaway told Variety on Wednesday night at the “Armaggedon Time” New York Film Festival premiere. “Not in a fragile way, but in a way that we can affect change by changing ourselves.”

Martin Scorsese gave a long shout-out to the NYFF and the art of cinema on stage at Avery Fisher Hall as the fest celebrated its 60th anniversary with the world premiere of his latest documentary, Personality Crisis: One Night Only. It followed a screening of Armageddon Time, another New York story by native New Yorker James Gray.

Anne Hathaway goes bold and bright for a few appearances to promote her new movie, Armageddon Time, in New York City on Wednesday (October 12).

The Oscar winning producer of 12 Years a Slave, The Departed and Moonlight and recent awards season movies like Blonde and She Said, is exploring deals with potential investors, including an outright sale.

Brad Pitt is maintaining his innocence after his ex-wife, Angelina Jolie, alleged that he was abusive toward her and their children during a September 2016 flight from France to California.