Ad Astra‘s Second Trailer Reveals Brad Pitt’s Epic Sci-Fi Drama

Writer/director James Gray is a man who makes very good films, and he takes his time on each one. Two Lovers (2008), The Immigrant (2013) and The Lost City of Z (2016) couldn’t have been more different from one another, yet each bore the mark of Gray’s meticulous craft. With Ad Astra, which he co-wrote with Ethan Gross, Gray has turned his attention to the great beyond, and he’s enlisted a slew of great actors, led by Brad Pitt, and an incredible crew, including cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema and composer Max Richter, to take us there.

Pitt plays Major Roy McBride, an astronaut tasked with voyaging to the outer edges of the solar system to track down his missing father, who may or may not have uncovered a mystery that threatens life in the universe. So yeah, there’s a lot riding on McBride’s mission. From the jump of this new trailer, you can see how beautifully framed Gray and Hoytema have constructed this film. Look at the room in which Pitt’s astronaut reads from a mission report—a relatively simple scene rendered eerie, and beautiful, by the set, the lighting, and the way they place Pitt in the frame. This is how all Gray’s movies are; superbly shot and featuring characters plunging into the unknown, whether it’s relationships (Two Lovers), America (The Immigrant), or the Amazon (The Lost City of Z). It makes sense that Gray’s next film would venture into space.

The new trailer features a closer look at the relationship between Pitt’s Roy and his missing father, Dr. Clifford McBride, played by Tommy Lee Jones. It also boasts some of Richter’s score, which sounds both gorgeous and haunting. The new trailer also gives us glimpses of the film’s sci-fi bonafides, including a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of a shirtless cowboy hologram, shots of disaster in space, and more hints about the missing Dr. McBride. “Exploration is not always a noble venture,” says Donald Sutherland’s character, referring to Dr. McBride. It’s up to Roy to find his father and figure out what the hell is going on. In the hands of this extremely talented cast and crew, we’re eager to join him on his journey.

Check out the new trailer here. Ad Astra opens on September 20, 2019.

Featured image: Brad Pitt in ‘Ad Astra.’ Courtesy 20th Century Fox/Walt Disney Studios