 The Law City of Z is packed with adventure and a stellar cast, but can it also deliver a powerful social message? Here's the director, James Gray, with more. Welcome to HitFix on Uprocks. I'm here with James Gray, the director of The Law City of Z. This is the story of Percy Fawcett. So tell us who he was and why he's important. He went down to the Amazon in 1906, and that's sort of like saying, let's go to Mars. Terrible disease, murderous savages. The journey may well mean your life. You know, he was sent down there originally just to make a map. Lost all interest in that, and started hearing about major archaeological finds. It basically took over his life. You must turn back. There is no turning back. There was a progressive side to him, and he believed that the indigenous peoples of Amazonia were capable of great things, and he was ridiculed for that. Are you insisting that these savages, they are equals? Their civilization may well predate our own. There have been a couple of guys attached to play Percy over the years. I know Brad Pitt originally wanted to play Percy, and then that went to Benedict Cumberbatch. And then it fell to Charlie Hunnam to take on the role. Did you get attached to each one and have to kind of rethink your approach as new actors came to the table? It's a great question. The answer is absolutely. There is no right person to cast. You know, they say that all the time. So-and-so is perfectly cast. Each actor has strengths and weaknesses. It doesn't matter who it is, you know, Marlon Brando. You know, Marlon Brando did comedies with Charlie Chaplin that weren't very good. You know, in the case of Brad Pitt, very magnetic person obviously, but he's also very American. We both started to feel it was a very British story. You know, Benedict is a very magnetic person also. You know, he's got that deep sound in his voice. Very flattered. What happened with him was that his wife got pregnant, and she didn't want to give birth in the middle of the shoot, which would have been in the Amazon jungle. And Charlie, these things often happen for a reason. So I tailored the movie to him. Very swashbuckling, handsome person, but also a real need to prove himself. I know this is a sacrifice for all of us, but it won't be worth it. I only care about your lost city. I feel like there aren't a lot of these sort of epic sweeping adventure films anymore. You're right, they don't exist anymore. It's impossible for me to match what Francis Ford Coppola did with Apocalypse Now. And I can't match David Lean for his scope when he was in the desert for a year on Lawrence Arabia. The only thing that I can do is to try and bring something unique of me and hope that the audience comes. All right, so James, where and when can people see this film? April 14th, New York in Los Angeles, and then it goes nationwide, April 21st, the week after that. When James Gray isn't fighting rodent-sized mosquitoes in the Amazonian jungle, he told me he can usually be found at home in his living room, watching old movies, and avoiding social media. For more news and reviews on the Lost City of Z, keep coming back to Hit Fix on Uprocks.