The Venice Film Festival will begin in a matter of hours. As we discussed already (although no one read that post!!), Venice is going to be a garbage dump of toxic masculinity, with Roman Polanski and Nate Parker screening their new movies there, plus the festival is barely doing anything for female filmmakers or female-driven movies. So… it feels right that Brad Pitt would be one of the first stars to arrive in Venice. He touched down several hours ago and he was being escorted through the canals on a boat named Confusion. Sometimes, things are perfect. (And no, that’s not Jennifer Aniston beside him in the boat. I think that’s his producing partner Dede Gardner.)
Brad is in Venice to promote and premiere Ad Astra, the bizarre-looking space drama where he plays an astronaut and there’s, like, a galactic plot involving his long-lost father, played by Tommy Lee Jones. And Liv Tyler is Brad’s wife. Something like that. I still don’t know if this is supposed to be a “space thriller” or some kind of contemplative meditation on space and time and father-son drama. Cat’s in the cradle and your dad is ruining the solar system.
Director James Grey was asked about casting Brad in the lead role, and this is what he said:
“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.
I understand that and everything but… how many films are about “breaking down the myth of the traditionally masculine”? And why are those films still being made?
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
I wouldn’t put Brad Pitt in the same bracket as Parker and Polanski. The movie sounds boring, basically.
I wouldn’t either.
It’s pretty gross that the festival is screening Polanski and Parker films.
And after the disaster that was Birth of a Nation’s release, who decided that financing Parker’s next film was a good idea???
I agree with both points.
but this:
“Cat’s in the cradle and your dad is ruining the solar system.”
comedy GOLD.
Yuck can we not cover the whole thing just do a “dude bro Black out “ until they do more for women? Cuz i don’t even care enough to even read what they want us to know about their BS vanity projects no offense to you
Couldn’t read that post you did about Venice being a garbage dump of toxic masculinity, cause everytime I clicked on it some add/hacking thing popped up and redirected me another place. Maybe that’s why no one read it? Idk
Really wanted to read it!
I clicked on it okay but really just wanted to take this opportunity to say: You might have a bug (and I’m not talking about Brett Stephens).
This article cracked me up so much! And that last pic of Confusion- well played.
Saw the trailer for this and thought it looked intriguing- and I’m a sucker for anything space based I can see at an imax- gravity was amazing there 😃
Traditional masculinity is becoming obsolete in many countries (thankfully) and is responsible for the deaths of many women and men. It is still how so many people view themselves and the world and its breakdown is causing an identity crisis because there’s no widely accepted alternative. The YouTuber Contrapoints just made an excellent video on this exact topic and how important it is to address. So I think it’s very valuable to make art about the subject matter.
I was confused when I saw the trailer. It looks like a mash up of several old space movies Space Cowboys, Armageddon, really weird.
He looks great