The indie stalwart chats about his new space epic, navigating the Fox-Disney merger and why he’s not afraid to take on Trump in his next movie.
Back in 2011, director James Gray happened upon two science articles that provided the seedling for his latest film, Ad Astra. The first chronicled an experiment to split the atom that posed a small, but real, risk that all known matter in the universe would be destroyed. The second dealt with NASA’s quest to enlist astronauts with schizoid personality disorder, who would be ideal for deep-space missions because they wouldn’t have to interact socially. Enter Brad Pitt as the space thriller’s protagonist, and suddenly Gray, who is best known for indies like The Immigrant and Two Lovers, was working with a budget much bigger — $87.5 million — than any of his previous outings. Ahead of Ad Astra’s world premiere in Venice, Gray, 50, talked with The Hollywood Reporter about whether he’s gone mainstream, how the film landed in the crosshairs of Disney’s acquisition of Fox, and why he’s bringing Donald Trump’s father to the big screen.
What was the mind-set behind casting Pitt as your lead?
I thought about a very retro, almost 1960s idea of the all-American astronaut. The idea was to break down the myth of what it means to be traditionally masculine, macho. And the only way you can really break down the myth is to start with the myth. There’s this whole mythology that comes along with [Pitt], and that’s what you can play with.
POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT
Among the many enigmas, controversies and unexplained mysteries within Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” is a bit of backstory about Brad Pitt’s character, Cliff Booth. What happened to his late wife?
A stuntman and war veteran resigned that his best days are behind him, Booth works as a handyman, driver and general aide-de-camp for actor Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. But Pitt’s character also can’t escape the rumor that he killed his wife.
The exact circumstances of her death and its aftermath are never fully discussed — was Cliff charged or tried for any crime? — but a flashback reveals that Cliff and his wife, Billie, played by Rebecca Gayheart, were both drinking heavily and arguing while alone on a boat out at sea. Cliff, in a wetsuit and scuba mask, absently points a harpoon gun toward his wife. There’s the crash of a wave and the scene ends.
If the rumor that swirls around Cliff colors the response of others to him — “I don’t dig the vibe he brings on a set,” says a stunt coordinator played by Kurt Russell — it also partly explains the air of sad resignation that surrounds him, as Cliff lives somewhat in exile in a trailer behind a drive-in movie theater in the Valley.
In a recent interview with The Times, Pitt was asked the question directly: Did Cliff kill his wife?
“That, I will never tell,” Pitt said with a laugh.
Pitt confirmed that he had to answer that central question of Cliff’s guilt in constructing his performance, but he’s not interested in sharing.
The movie does offer a few possible clues: At one point, Cliff says he spent time on a chain gang in Texas for hitting a police officer. He declines the advances of a young hitchhiker played by Margaret Qualley, noting that he has long avoided jail and that he isn’t going to be finally sent away over a potentially underage girl (using tangier language than that).
Brad Pitt has named the film he’d most like to have starred in and his decision has raised a few eyebrows.
The actor was being interviewed alongside Margot Robbie ahead of new Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a film which sees Leonardo DiCaprio’s fading actor Rick Dalton spliced into several classic films and television shows.
Heatworld’s Lucy Ford asked Pitt and Robbie which film they’d most like to be spliced into and, after a moment’s hesitation, Pitt opted for infamous 1972 drama Last Tango In Paris.
“I immediately went to Last Tango – what does that say about me?” he said.
When Robbie revealed she’s never seen or even heard of the film, he added: “Oh, my friend, we’ve got to catch you up on that. Brando. It’s gonna hurt. That one hurts.”
When JOE sat down to chat to Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie about their roles in Quentin Tarantino’s epic Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, we had to bring up two things.
One: When we previously chatted to Margot Robbie (for Suicide Squad, watch it here), and she revealed her love for the Irish accent.
Two: We had to mention the fact that Brad Pitt previously played a character called Rory (which this writer had to bring up, obviously) and rocked an Irish accent in The Devil’s Own.
Given the fact that Irish accents are well known for being the most difficult to get right for performers, we asked Pitt if he found it tough to nail?
“That was probably more extreme,” Pitt told us, “but there is a real music to Northern Ireland that I click into, that I kind of adored.”
Robbie agreed, saying:
“I think for me the most difficult ones, because I haven’t done either of them yet, would be Irish and South African, but I love both of them, I love accents, I love all of them.
“But those two sound very difficult to me. But [Brad] nailed that.”
Pitt then followed on, telling us, “And I’m told my ‘Pikey’ – do we still use that word? – accent was pretty good. Which is amazing, because I was going off a performance of a guest star on a Father Ted episode.”
Both JOE and Robbie were shocked by this revelation, at once asking, “Really?”
Pitt doubled down:
“Yes. And then a friend of mine, who said ‘I never can understand what they’re saying’. So somehow I ended up in the right spot on a Hail Mary.”
• x007 July 22 – Once Upon a Time – Hollywood, CA
• x030 July 30 – Once Upon a Time – London, England
• x008 August 01 – Once Upon a Time – Berlin, Germany
• x011 July 30 – Once Upon a Time (Photocall) – London, England
• x005 August 01 – Once Upon a Time – (Photocall) Berlin, Germany
• x001 The Sunday Times (UK)
• x002 Photoshoots – Set 247
Thanks also to Shann.
Be sure to check out the latest interview updates to BP Press: The Irish Times & The Sunday Times.
We don’t usually care or cover celebrity gossip, but that all changes when someone as prominent as Leonardo DiCaprio voices his opinion that he prefers pupusas over tacos.
“I’m a pupusa man myself,” he proclaimed during an interview on Univision in anticipation of his upcoming summer blockbuster directed by Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Then, to add salt to the wound, he adds, “[They’re] better than tacos.” He was next to Brad Pitt, who added, “I mean, there are competitions here about who has the best taco [in L.A.]” Tarantino responds to Brad’s comment and recommends, “Yuca’s,” an old L.A. Taco favorite and the first Mexican restaurant in L.A. to win a James Beard Award in the “America’s Classics” category in 1998.
We will take that as a compliment, Brad, for our tenth year doing that exact taco competition that you are referring to: Taco Madness. Thank you.