Brad Pitt to Star in Apple Film Connector With Sound of Metal Director
Brad Pitt will star in and produce Connector, a 1970s New York film for Apple from Sound of Metal director Darius Marder. The project is in development.
The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.
Brad Pitt will star in Connector, a new film for Apple Original Films directed by Darius Marder, Deadline and TheWrap reported Thursday. Pitt will also produce the film through his Plan B company, both outlets reported. TheWrap said Apple announced the project Thursday. Deadline, which first reported the news, said the film is in development.
The film is set in 1970s New York and centers on a working-class legend, a skywalking ironworker who takes on forces larger than himself, Deadline reported. TheWrap described it as a 1970s New York epic about a working-class legend, "a sky-walking ironworker who takes on forces larger than himself." The screenplay was written by Marder and Nina Marder, Deadline said his sister; TheWrap also said Marder co-wrote the script with Nina Marder.
Apple Studios will serve as the studio, and Pitt, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner will produce for Plan B. Marder will also serve as a producer, both Deadline and TheWrap reported. Deadline said Pitt, Plan B, and Marder had been discussing the project for some time, and that after the latest draft came in, Pitt was interested in making it the next film he would shoot in 2027. Deadline also said Apple made the most sense as a home for the project given the companies' relationship from F1 and Wolfs.
Marder's first feature as a director was Sound of Metal. That film received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, and won Oscars for Best Sound and Best Film Editing, both outlets reported. TheWrap also said Marder previously co-wrote The Place Beyond the Pines.
The project is another collaboration between Apple Original Films and Plan B after F1, which both outlets said became the highest-grossing sports feature of all time after its 2025 release and received a Best Picture nomination. Deadline said Apple also made Wolfs with Plan B, and that the companies recently announced The Waffle House Index, which Plan B is producing. TheWrap reported the same Waffle House Index project and said Apple will also soon release a Mark Wahlberg film produced by Plan B and written and directed by Stephen Chbosky.
Deadline reported that Pitt's Paramount film Heart of the Beast has grossed nearly $200 million worldwide, and that The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth is due over Thanksgiving. TheWrap also noted the upcoming Cliff Booth film. No release date for Connector was given in either report. Dock Line recently reported another studio film deal: Lionsgate Acquires Film Wet Starring Connor Storrie and Rebecca Ferguson.
Opinion:
A movie about a working-class ironworker in 1970s New York is a more serious idea than another celebrity announcement. It is still only an idea. The film is in development. There is no release date. A logline is not a finished picture, and no one should review a movie that has not been shot.
Hollywood will keep pairing stars, studios, and slogans. Some of those pairings will be worth the time; many will not. The honest stance is patience. If Connector is made, it should be judged by whether it tells the truth about work, courage, and the people who do hard jobs, not by the heat of a Thursday press release.
A story about men who walk steel in the sky could honor work, or it could flatten work into scenery. The difference will be in the finished film, if it is finished. Pitt and Apple have a commercial reason to work together again after F1. That is business, not a verdict on this script. Audiences do not owe a studio their attention in advance.
