We are still a little over two months away from the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. And while we’re starting to get an idea of what films we can expect to make their debuts at the prestigious film event, there’s still a lot of mystery around what fans can expect. One of the expected debuts is the major sci-fi epic from filmmaker James Gray, starring Brad Pitt, titled “Ad Astra.” With only two months before the festival, it appears that Gray is concerned they may not make the deadline.
Speaking to THR, the filmmaker was asked flat-out what he thinks the odds are that “Ad Astra” debuts at Cannes, as expected. And judging by his response, it looks like film fans shouldn’t bet their life savings on a May debut.
“We’re trying, we’re certainly hopeful,” revealed the filmmaker. “The issue is a little bit out of our hands cause the shots come in from the VFX houses and right now our delivery date is late April early May, which is really, really cutting it close. You want your visual effects to be so good that nobody thinks about them, that people don’t think of them as visual effects.”
One thing that is clear from this answer is that Gray isn’t interested in rushing things, or turning in an unfinished product, at Cannes. Obviously, the filmmaker would love to showcase his work in France, but it’s not the end of the world, so to speak, if there’s a bit of a delay.
Originally, the film was announced as debuting in theaters in May, as well. Now, the film still could show at Cannes in a couple of months, but judging by his comments, the odds of the film getting a theatrical release in Spring are slim to none. Let’s be honest, if Fox anticipated this film sticking to its May release, we’d be inundated with marketing at this point, with a full trailer, at the very least.
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What’s more likely, at this point, is that the film’s theatrical release gets pushed, perhaps all the way to the Fall. That would buy the studio plenty of time to get it just right and plan a true marketing strategy without rushing things. Plus, if Pitt and Gray have something truly special on their hands, we could be looking at an awards contender, and we all know that fall releases are beneficial for awards consideration.
Now, another factor in all of this could be the upcoming finalization of the Disney-Fox deal. However, the director isn’t quite sure it will have any effect on “Ad Astra.”
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But I only met [Fox executives] a handful of times on the film,” said Gray. “So, my exposure to the Disney-Fox thing has been very, very minimal. In fact, I’m sure it’s affecting things and maybe they’ll wind up moving the release date as a consequence — by the way, I don’t know anything about that, I’m just positing a guess. Who knows what will happen?”
Well, we’ll know what’s going to happen in the coming weeks, as Cannes’ lineup is announced and we know for sure if Gray and Co. will have a film to debut.