'Ad Astra' Filmmaker James Gray Talks "Utterly Perilous State" Of Mainstream Cinema & Risk-Averse Studios

When film fans and pundits talk about the difference between indie films, mid-budget adult dramas, and blockbuster tentpole spectacle films, the discussion normally comes from a point of view of people that haven’t really experienced the nuances of each. However, when you talk about the issues with modern filmmaking in an era of streaming and Marvel/Disney dominance, there are, perhaps, very few that can speak from experience quite like James Gray.

And while speaking to Deadline about his upcoming Venice film “Ad Astra,” a big-budget sci-fi epic starring Brad Pitt, Gray talks about the future of cinema and what scares him most. And no, it’s not the abundance of superhero films. Instead, he’s more worried about studios becoming less risky.

The risk doesn’t necessarily stem from a lack of creativity from filmmakers. What Gray is concerned about is how the big money it takes to market films for wide theatrical release prevents studios from showing some mid-budget drama or foreign film, instead relying on proven IPs and superheroes.

“Well, I’m alarmed about what I see. Because for me, the cinema—at least the mainstream commercial cinema—is in an utterly perilous state,” said Gray. “It’s very frightening. Now, you’ll talk to somebody who writes stuff for cinema with probably great eloquence, and they’ll mention Lav Diaz, or somebody like that, and that’s great. And I would encourage anyone to see those films. I would encourage everyone to see every movie that they could by Elia Suleiman, who’s a great director.”

He continued, “But that’s a somewhat unfair thing to talk about, because if I’m living in Tucson, Arizona, there’s no chance I can see a movie directed by Elia Suleiman. I mean, maybe I can go five years after it comes out to some museum, you know, in Phoenix, or something, but that’s not really an option…So, you read, sometimes, very eloquent people saying, with great authority, that cinema’s not dead, that it’s as alive as ever, because you have all these new voices, and all of that is true. That’s not to deny though, the fact that most people can’t get that.”

Some might say that Gray is missing one of the major rebuttals to his argument — Steven Spielberg. There are still quite a few big-budget films that are released over the years that find an audience and do so without the help of proven IPs or some franchise backing. People like Spielberg, and others that came before him like George Lucas, have proven that original ideas can both be profitable and creative. But for Gray, he said that today’s crop of high-profile directors tackling these massive films are missing the charm and innocence that Spielberg enjoyed because everything is viewed as a business.

“And what I worry with the current generation—frankly my generation, and there are some fantastic directors working today—is that if we look at it as a business, we lose what I’m talking about, what Spielberg had,” explained the filmmaker. “That thing you’re talking about, where it’s just a business decision, versus a movie that’s successful, but that also endeavors to be a work of art, that’s really what we’re talking about. There’s a big difference.”

With Gray’s problems with the current state of filmmaking laid out, how does the director think we can recover? Or is it all without hope and we should just be happy and content with the 45th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

“I think the audience needs something where there’s an attempt,” he explained. “Whether [‘Ad Astra’] is successful or not is for you to decide, artistically, I mean. But, certainly, something that delivers thrills in an interesting way, and we were certainly making it our business to do that. You know, zero-gravity fights, and climbing up rockets, and flying through the rings of a planet. All that’s there, and that’s great. But it’s just not immediate IP, you know? And that’s a huge risk now. That’s unfortunate.”

As mentioned, “Ad Astra” is debuting at this year’s Venice Film Festival and will arrive in theaters on September 20.