Brad Pitt isn’t just diving deep into space in his new space odyssey “Ad Astra,” the actor is also delving deep into the evolution of masculinity.

The Hollywood veteran appeared at the Venice Film Festival to promote the new film that sees him as an astronaut on a space journey to find his estranged father played by Tommy Lee Jones.

In a conference where the actor discussed the film, Pitt shares his own sentiments about the idea of manhood and conventional gender norms that restricted men from showing weakness.

“In retrospect, I look back on our early conversations — James [Gray, the film’s director] and I — and what we were really digging at, without labeling it so much, was this definition of masculinity,” The Daily Beast quotes Pitt as saying.

The 55-year-old actor shared how growing up at a time when men are expected “to be strong, not show weakness, don’t be disrespected,” affected how a man embraced himself. “because you’re denying, to a sense, those pains or the things [that make] you feel shame, whether real or imagined, the regrets in one’s life.”

Pitt says that the film explores how being open to showing emotion as a man can improve your “relationship with your loved ones, with your parents, with your kids, and with yourself.”

The actor says that he was also able to share his experiences in the film with his long-time friend and former co-star, George Clooney. Clooney starred in the 2013 space flick Gravity alongside Sandra Bullock.

“George and I shared some discomfort stories,” he said about filming a story set in space. He later reflected, “I find space …an unbearably inhospitable, lonely type of existence …I’m much more comfortable in nature.”