{"id":17942,"date":"2019-09-16T23:58:41","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T15:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/brad-pitt-coaxes-a-thumbs-up-for-his-ad-astra-movie-in-hookup-with-space-station\/"},"modified":"2019-09-16T23:58:41","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T15:58:41","slug":"brad-pitt-coaxes-a-thumbs-up-for-his-ad-astra-movie-in-hookup-with-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/brad-pitt-coaxes-a-thumbs-up-for-his-ad-astra-movie-in-hookup-with-space-station\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Pitt coaxes a thumbs-up for his \u2018Ad Astra\u2019 movie in hookup with space station"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_521219\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-521219\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-521219\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/190916-pitt1-630x375.jpg\" alt=\"Brad Pitt\" width=\"630\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/190916-pitt1-630x375.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/190916-pitt1-768x457.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/190916-pitt1.jpg 1121w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-521219\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brad Pitt, the star of the space movie \u201cAd Astra,\u201d chats with NASA astronaut Nick Hague over a video hookup to the International Space Station. (NASA via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Imagine the taglines in the movie ads: \u201cReally good\u201d portrayal of zero-gravity! \u201cAbsolutely\u201d better than George Clooney!<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019d be some justification for Brad Pitt\u2019s space movie, \u201cAd Astra,\u201d to use those lines after today\u2019s Earth-to-space video call between the A-list Hollywood star and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, who\u2019s finishing up a six-month tour of duty on the International Space Station.<\/p>\n<p>Pitt said the linkup, arranged through NASA, was a \u201creal treat.\u201d And he didn\u2019t waste any time getting a film review from Hague, who watched an advance screening of \u201cAd Astra\u201d with his crewmates on the station.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow that I have you all the way up at the space station, let\u2019s talk about me,\u201d Pitt said. \u201cHow\u2019d we do? How was our zero-G?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI gotta tell you, it was really good,\u201d Hague said as he floated amid the trappings of the station\u2019s Destiny laboratory module. \u201cThe depictions, the settings, as you can tell, look very similar to the type of setting I\u2019ve got around me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Toward the end of the talk, Pitt pushed his luck even further when he referred to George Clooney, who starred with Sandra Bullock in the 2013 space thriller \u201cGravity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need to call on your expertise: Who was more believable? Clooney or Pitt?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were, absolutely,\u201d Hague said with a smile.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Space-to-Earth call with NASA astronaut Nick Hague &amp; Actor Brad Pitt\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q8LYn1KtfOA?start=219&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The reality checks from space enthusiasts flew fast and furiously when \u201cGravity\u201d came out, and \u201cAd Astra\u201d is sure to bring a similar response. Without giving too much away, let\u2019s just say that the film plays fast and loose with realities including the time required for a rocket ship to get to Neptune and back, the effects of a nuclear blast, communication delays due to light-speed limitations \u2026 and the fact that in space, no one can hear you scream (or hear even the muffled blast of a gun).<\/p>\n<p>On a cinematic level, you\u2019ll love \u201cAd Astra\u201d if you love watching a brooding Brad Pitt go about his angst-filled business. But if you\u2019re expecting star turns from the likes of Liv Tyler or Natasha Lyonne (the Emmy-nominated actress from \u201cRussian Doll\u201d), you may be disappointed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAd Astra\u201d is all about Brad. Most of the other actors, including Donald Sutherland, are like characters in a video game who help the hero make his way to the final showdown with the Big Boss (played here by Tommy Lee Jones).<\/p>\n<p>The movie\u2019s vibe certainly resonates with some reviewers: Forbes\u2019 Scott Mendelson calls it \u201can interstellar version of \u2018Apocalypse Now,\u2019 with the scope of \u20182001: A Space Odyssey\u2019 along with the tone and inner monologue of a stereotypical Terrence Malick drama.\u201d Insider\u2019s Kirsten Acuna hails Pitt\u2019s character as \u201ca mix between Joe Cool and James Bond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Ad Astra | IMAX Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BsCNKuB93BA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re not a fan of Brad Pitt, the biggest reason to see \u201cAd Astra\u201d in the theater is to feast your eyes on the space scenery, ranging from Earth imagery to views of the moon, Mars, Saturn and other celestial locales.<\/p>\n<p>NASA talked up the imagery angle in advance of today\u2019s close encounter with Pitt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe reviewed a script of \u2018Ad Astra\u2019 early in production,\u201d Bert Ulrich, the agency\u2019s liaison for film and TV collaborations at NASA Headquarters, said in a news release. \u201cAlthough there was no NASA storyline, we provided some of the exciting images and footage for the film, especially of the moon and Mars. Sci-fi films like \u2018Ad Astra,\u2019 \u2018The Martian,\u2019 \u2018Interstellar\u2019 and \u2018Gravity\u2019 take movie audiences out of this world incorporating some of NASA\u2019s most inspirational photography and footage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Inspiration was a big theme in Hague\u2019s comments to Pitt as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat you\u2019re able to do through storytelling to inspire the next generation is so critical to the success of our programs in the future,\u201d the 43-year-old astronaut said. \u201cI am not going to be the person that steps foot on Mars, but the children that are watching your movies, those young adults that are watching your movies, are the ones that are going to be inspired to achieve great things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here are some tidbits about life in space that Hague shared with Pitt:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The space station\u2019s six crew members work a 12-hour daily shift, from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the GMT time standard. There\u2019s no \u201cnight shift\u201d for the crew in space, but there\u2019s a \u201cmassive team on the ground that is controlling about 95% of what happens on the space station, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Pitt wondered how the astronauts kept their mental state at peace during long-term spaceflight. \u201cOne of the luxuries I think we have, working in low Earth orbit, close to the Earth, is the amount of connectivity that we have \u2014 the ability to make phone calls and check in on a routine basis,\u201d Hague replied.<\/li>\n<li>Hague demonstrated that he really was in zero-G by flipping upside-down during the Q&amp;A. He noted that the usual calluses on the bottom of his feet have gone, but now he has \u201ccalluses across the top of my foot, around my big toe,\u201d because that\u2019s where he hooks his toes onto the footholds mounted on the station\u2019s walls.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cMost important question: Who controls the jam box?\u201d Pitt asked. Hague said the station\u2019s crew members take turns choosing the playlist for on-orbit tunes. Pitt joked that some of Hague\u2019s crewmates probably want him to ease off on the country and western music. \u201cThere\u2019s that,\u201d the Kansas-born astronaut replied, \u201cand to have me stop telling my bad \u2018dad jokes.\u2019 \u201c<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brad Pitt, the star of the space movie \u201cAd Astra,\u201d chats with NASA astronaut Nick Hague over a video hookup to the International Space Station. (NASA via YouTube) Imagine the taglines in the movie ads: \u201cReally good\u201d portrayal of zero-gravity! \u201cAbsolutely\u201d better than George Clooney! There\u2019d be some justification for Brad Pitt\u2019s space movie, \u201cAd [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4954,4955,4903,717,4550],"class_list":["post-17942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ad-astra","tag-brad-pitt","tag-geekwire-at-the-movies","tag-international-space-station","tag-movies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}