AD ASTRA was arguably one of the most underrated movies released last year. The sci-fi drama starring Brad Pitt was a bit of a slow burn and certainly not for everyone but there is no denying that this is one beautiful film that sweeps you up in its dream-like depiction of space. Even though the film received decent reviews, it did face criticism for its many scientific inaccuracies, which is usually the case with any sci-fi film that attempts to be grounded in reality. That being said, director James Gray recently did an Instagram live interview with his AD ASTRA producer Rodrigo Teixeira and he explains that realism wasn't what he was going for.
"We were trying to do a kind of fable or a myth in space…one of the things that troubled me about Ad Astra was when people said, 'Well, in the actual science his hair would be floating in zero G or he wouldn't be able to sail through the rings of a planet.' To me, it's a very fatuous level of critique. You don't read the myth of lcarus and say, 'Wax on feathers wouldn't allow you to fly.' Of course, that's true, but it's all about metaphor essentially. I felt that we were to get at, and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema understood, something mythic, almost like a fable."
Gray's description is pretty spot-on in regards to what he was trying to accomplish. In the film, Pitt plays an astronaut searching the edge of the galaxy for his missing father. Even though there are scenes of extreme space peril and action, the film is mostly an internal and cosmic exercise rather than a traditional sci-fi thriller like GRAVITY. Even watching the film you almost feel like you're in a dream, watching something that isn't quite real. From AD ASTRA to THE MARTIAN, to GRAVITY, sci-fi films are frequently dissected by fans so the criticism isn't really a surprise but it would've been nice if moviegoers just got caught up in the beauty of the film and appreciated it for what it was. You can check out the Instagram live exchange below:
Do YOU think AD ASTRA is worthy of its scientific complaints?