'Ad Astra' Gets Haunting Score from Dev Hynes of Blood Orange (Exclusive Video)

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By Tariq Malik
published

This could be the cinematic sci-fi event of the year.

The space thriller "Ad Astra" starring Brad Pitt is almost here, and now you can see a haunting glimpse at the science fiction film courtesy of musician Dev Hynes of Blood Orange.

In the new clip, called "Ad Astra: Sounds of Space," Hynes turned to deep space and historic archives to find just the right soundtrack to scenes from the new space film. 

"Hynes utilized actual sounds of space such as planetary radio emissions and archival vocals from space missions to create this hypnotic and moody score to accompany the new film visual," 20th Century Fox said in a statement. 

Related: Biggest Space Movies to Watch in 2019

The space thriller "Ad Astra" starring Brad Pitt gets the haunting soundtrack from Dev Hynes of Blood Orange, who used real sounds from space and historic missions to score this video. (Image credit: 20th Century Fox)

Listen closely to the 1-minute, 45-second clip and you'll hear beeps and audio from past space launches. (I specifically caught a vintage "mission sequence start" bit before a countdown to a U.S. launch, but it's tough to tell which one.) 

In "Ad Astra," Pitt portrays Roy McBride, an astronaut who takes on a mission to the edge of the solar system to search for his missing father (also an astronaut) portrayed by actor Tommy Lee Jones. From past trailers, we know McBride goes to the moon, has a shootout in a moon buggy race, heads to Mars and possibly beyond.

"Ad Astra" lands in theaters on Sept. 20. 

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.