Director James Gray says the version of Ad Astra that audiences saw in 2019 was not his. Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival, where his new film Paper Tiger is premiering, Gray said the studio took control of the sci-fi film and released a longer cut than he wanted.
"I control everything completely on this and, actually, I didn't on 'Ad Astra.' That film was taken away from me. That's not my cut of the movie," Gray told Brut at Cannes. "You get into discussions and debates, there's a studio, then the studio [20th Century Fox] got sold to Disney. You get caught in that stuff. The movie was $80 million, 'Paper Tiger' was $15 million."
According to Variety, Ad Astra went through extensive reshoots after poor test screenings. The film starred Brad Pitt and was released through 20th Century Fox before that studio was acquired by Disney.
Gray said the budget difference between the two films is part of why he values working at a smaller scale. "I like to work on that scale because I don't think it's productive for people to just change your movie around and you get the blame anyway," he said.
When asked how his version would have differed from what was released, Gray was specific. "It would have been a very different movie," he said, adding: "It would be 12 minutes shorter. I'm the only director who makes a shorter director's cut. I hope someday I'll do it. I mean, it's obviously not up to me, but I would love to do it — it would be thrilling for me."
Paper Tiger, his current project, is a 1980s crime drama starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller. The film premiered in competition at Cannes and received solid reviews, though it did not win any awards at the festival.
