James Gray says studio took 'Ad Astra' away from him; his cut would have been 12 minutes shorter
Director James Gray said at the Cannes Film Festival that 20th Century Fox took the 2019 sci-fi film "Ad Astra" away from him and made it longer than he intended. He said his cut would have been about 12 minutes shorter. Gray is at Cannes promoting his new film "Paper Tiger."
CANNES, France — Director James Gray said the released version of his 2019 sci-fi feature "Ad Astra" was not his preferred cut and that 20th Century Fox made the film longer than he intended over his objections, according to an interview he gave during the Cannes Film Festival.
Gray made the comments to French outlet Brut while promoting "Paper Tiger," his latest film, which premiered in competition at this year's Cannes. He drew an explicit contrast between the creative control he exercised on the smaller-budget new project and what he described as the studio interference he encountered on "Ad Astra," the Brad Pitt-led space drama that went through extensive reshoots following poor test screenings.
"I control everything completely on this [Paper Tiger] and, actually, I didn't on Ad Astra," Gray said. "That film was taken away from me. That's not my cut of the movie. You get into discussions and debates, there's a studio, then the studio got sold to Disney. You get caught in that stuff."
Gray attributed the difference in part to budget scale. "Ad Astra" was an $80 million production, while "Paper Tiger" was made for roughly $15 million. The director said he now prefers operating at the lower budget tier specifically because it preserves final-cut authority. He said it was not productive to have his work re-edited and still absorb the public blame for the result.
Asked how his preferred cut of "Ad Astra" would have differed from the released version, Gray said the changes were substantial. His cut, he said, would have been about 12 minutes shorter than the theatrical release, a reversal of the usual director's-cut convention. He said he would welcome the chance to release his version someday but acknowledged the decision was not his to make.
"Paper Tiger," a 1980s-set crime drama starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller, drew solid critical reviews at Cannes but did not win any of the festival's competitive prizes. 20th Century Fox, which produced "Ad Astra," was acquired by Disney in 2019, shortly after the film's release.