Brad Pitt on How He Relates to His Character in “Ad Astra”

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: How did it sort of reflect your own life, your own relationship? You have sons and daughters and you are a son. How did it sort of bond with the real Brad Pitt?

BRAD PITT, ACTOR, “AD ASTRA”: My individual experience is somewhat universal in the fact that our, you know, our parents are our universe, our God, our first imprint on how to behave, react, feel in the world. And with that to different degrees, some of us more than others carry pain and confusion from that. I think it almost takes a lifetime to understand what was yours and what was theirs. As a child, I think most kids usually take fault or something of that nature on ourselves. So, I think it was just a real investigation of parsing through that and to really be able to understand yourself. As a dad — I mean, my dad always said he wanted to give me a better life than he had coming from extreme poverty. And he did it. And it makes me think, as a dad, what do I have to offer that’s better than I had to my kids?

AMANPOUR: What about women? It’s interesting that the two female characters are pretty minor characters, pretty minimal appearances on, you know, onscreen. And some people have remarked on that. Tell me the reason for that and the thinking behind that.

PITT: I’m not sure what the remarks are. I mean, this is — you know, it is an investigation of masculinity in our definitions of a more of romance type never show weakness versus, I guess, vulnerability. And so, you know, like Liv Tyler’s character represents his regrets, whether you got wrong. What do you feel she mishandled or missed? And that she is an example of — in the feminine, an example that maybe in the masculine we need to take better note of, we could take better note off. And then Ruth Negga’s character is more this voice of wisdom that sent us off in the direction, the fated direction that will be the ultimate, I guess, death, rebirth, if I can speak poetically.