Brad Pitt Claims His New Space Movie Is About 'Toxic Masculinity'

Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt is now claiming that his newest film ‘Ad Astra’ is largely about ‘toxic masculinity.” As Fox News reports:

Brad Pitt says his latest movie, a space drama, deals heavily with the concept of toxic masculinity.

The 55-year-old actor is following up his attention-grabbing role alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” with the space epic “Ad Astra.” Premiering at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, Pitt plays Roy McBride, an astronaut who has to travel to the edge of space to uncover the truth about his father, played by Tommy Lee Jones, who people believe may have triggered some kind of catastrophic event that threatens the solar system.

Speaking to The Daily Beast, Pitt explained that toxic masculinity was a topic that kept coming up as he was discussing the film with director James Gray.

“In retrospect, I look back on our early conversations—James and I—and what we were really digging at, without labeling it so much, was this definition of masculinity,” Pitt explained. “Having grown up in an era where we were taught to be strong, not show weakness, don’t be disrespected, and so on and so forth, there’s certain value in that as far as entering into the world and holding your own, but there’s also a barrier that’s created with this kind of embracing of the self, because you’re denying, to a sense, those pains or the things [that make] you feel shame, whether real or imagined, the regrets in one’s life.”

It remains to be seen how the preachy new film will do with moviegoers.