Last month, we learned that Cate Blanchett would be starring in James Gray's latest film, Armageddon Time. He's boosted the cast with even more big names, as Robert De Niro, Oscar Isaac, Anne Hathaway and Donald Sutherland are all aboard.
The film will recount his 1980s upbringing in the Queens borough of New York. He spent time at Kew-Forest School, a private educational institution that numbers Donald Trump and The Simpsons' Hank Azaria among former students. The story will apparently revolve around the headmaster of the school.
"Every film you make is different, but I’m trying to do something that is the opposite of the vast, lonely and dark void of the movie I just directed [Ad Astra]," Gray tells Deadline. "I’m anxious to make something that is very much about people, about human emotions and interactions between people, and I want it to be filled with warmth and tenderness. In some sense, yes it’s about my childhood, but an illustration of familial love really on every level. I’m of the belief that most people do their best and that they try their best under difficult circumstances and in some sense that’s a beautiful thing and very moving to me." For more from the director, head to Deadline's site.
Gray is aiming to shoot in New York as soon as conditions allow, and assuming the scheduling works out for his busy cast picks.