Ruth Negga is Going to Space
Friday, August 11, 2017 at 2:40PM by Murtada
Ruth Negga has finally booked a movie post Loving. We’ve been waiting for an announcement on a new project for her long before she was Oscar nominated. Basically since Loving premiered to raves for her performance at Cannes in May of last year. It’s a performance we are especially enamored with, hence the impatient anticipation for a new film with her.
Negga is joining Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland in James Gray’s Ad Astra. The long in development project is a sci-fi adventure about a man’s journey across the solar system to find his missing father, a renegade scientist who might be a threat in a futuristic lawless environment. Pitt is the lead and Jones plays his father. Negga’s part is being kept secret which is a good sign since if she was playing the wife/girlfriend they’d be no need for the secrecy. Gray recently was able to beautifully frame another actress known for having a very expressive face; Marion Cotillard in The Immigrant. So we are excited for this collaboration.
Gray was also praised for coaxing óut of Charlie Hunman a performance unlike any other he’s given, in The Lost City of Z. This writer was even more impressed with Sienna Miller in the same movie, who managed to elevate the smallish part of the wife into something truly memorable. What is your favorite performance in a Gray film?
Reader Comments (13)
James Gray seems to be a bit polarizing, but I've loved the two films of his that I've seen so far, Two Lovers & The Immigrant. Cotillard is amazing in the latter, but I love the work of all three of the actors at the center of Two Lovers (Paltrow, Phoenix, and Shaw). Fingers crossed that Ruth's role is a substantial one, though I'm sure she'll make an impression even if it isn't.
P.S. - As someone who's never really understood the Sienna Miller hate, its good to hear so many good notices for her work in The Lost City of Z. I should be catching up on that one soon.
Marion Cotillard in The Immigrant is one of my all time favourite performances. So expressive and poetic. Always an interesting actress but there's something so special and moving about her work there.
Also, I'm generally not a huge fan of Gwyneth Paltrow but I really liked her in Two Lovers.
I'm gonna say Paltrow in Two Lovers, but Tim Roth was pretty great in Little Odessa. Hard choice.
Cotillard The Immigrant,Negga was my one joy in BA this year.
So many reasons to love Negga, but Nat, did you know that she is a Pfan?
Marion Cotillard in The Immigrant.
Phoenix and Paltrow in Two Lovers.
They all deserved oscar nominations. Amazing performances
I don't always love Gray's films but they are always worth watching.
Negga + Sci-Fi + Gray = I'm in
Pitt and Jones are a maybe so for me based on recent work but we know that they too, can be gobsmakingly brilliant - and Gray's past success with actors gives me hope here.
Cotillard (probably the best female actor making movies today) in the immigrant is about as amazing a performance I can remember seeing; not one false note in the entire picture.
And like many of you, Phoenix and Shaw in two lovers are my favorite performances in any of Gray's films.
Eva Mendes in We Own The Night - I never imagined that she could be capable of such a complete and affecting performance. She definitely is.
Although not always a great director, Gray is always a superb actor`s director, Everyone in Little Odessa, Theron beautifully sadness in The Yards, In The Immigrant, the role was written by Gray specifically for Cotillard, and it’s an actor's dream, which isn't to say all dreams should be granted. Cotillard goes digging in the same place she found her Edith Piaf .Paltrow gives one of her best ever performances in Two Lovers, She has enormous charm, a winning smile, natural style. But she is haunted and I`ve never taken Sienna Miller for granted and I do think she managed something else in The Lost City of Z, haven`t loved her that much since Factory Girl.
I just saw We own the night last night and what a great director James Gray is.
I saw also Fight Club the same day and I have to say that Gray is a true director not a cartoon like Fincher.
I dont like Pitt but I hope this film gets and audience so that James Gray keeps working.
Two Lovers, The immigrant, we own the night... Intimate dramas that everyone should see it.
I think my favorite performance in a Gray film is Cotillard in The Immigrant (she's amazing), but as others have said, there are many great performances in his films. I'm pleased to see Eva Mendes in We Own the Night mentioned here too - she gave a remarkable and unexpected performance.
I need to see we own the night again. I saw it when I was in high school (when my tastes were still developing) and remember not being all too impressed with it. Other than that and memories of a very attractive Eva Mendes, I don't remember much of it.