James Gray and Brad Pitt take off for the ‘Lost City’

James Gray might have won over the French, but he has yet to win me over unless you are discussing his sense of style and not his story-telling capabilities. I wonder how Gray who works so well (at least in terms of aesthetics) in contemporary, concentrate jungles will adjust to working in the real deal “jungles” of the Amazon? The filmmaker is set to direct the Paramount Pictures mystery/adventure film which has officially confirmed that Brad Pitt will not only produce the Lost City of Z but in fact, take the lead.

Based David Grann’s nonfiction book (which comes out next April) concerns British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett, who left Victorian society to explore in the Amazon, and he became obsessed by the idea of an advanced civilization he called Z, which he believed existed in the depths of the jungle. Along with his son, Fawcett headed into the jungle in 1925 in search of Z and was never seen again. Over the next 70 years, scores of explorers tried and failed to retrace Fawcett’s path, including a 1996 expedition of Brazilian adventurers.

This is a huge departure for Gray, who is used to urban tales that deal with gangsters (Little Odessa), the Irish (The Yards, We Own the Night) and poor suckers who prefer blonds to brunettes (next February’s Two Lovers).