At one point, Brad Pitt was supposed to star in historical drama The Lost City Of Z for director James Gray. But Pitt ended up just taking on a behind-the-scenes role as an executive producer while Charlie Hunnam assumed the part of explorer Percy Fawcett. However, according to Gray, he and Pitt are going to collaborate on a sci-fi film called Ad Astra, in which an engineer searches for his father, who disappeared looking for aliens during a journey to Neptune.
Gray confirmed to Collider that Pitt is on board and that filming will start on July 17. “I’m terrified by it,” he said. “The science-fiction genre is so tricky because there are elements of fantasy usually involved, and there are also fantastical elements. What I’m trying to do is the most realistic depiction of space travel that’s been put in a movie and to basically say, ‘Space is awfully hostile to us.’ It’s kind of a Heart of Darkness story about traveling to the outer edge of our solar system. I have a lot of hopes for it but it is certainly ambitious.” Gray’s two most recent films—Lost City Of Z and The Immigrant—have been carefully crafted period pieces.