Brad Pitt’s name can instantly greenlight a movie, and that’s been the case for a few decades, although unlike his closest contemporaries (George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio), he’s never won an Oscar for his acting. He did produce 2014’s Best Picture winner, 12 Years A Slave, though, and in another year, he’d have a real shot at Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. This year, he’ll likely be up against Tom Hanks, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, which is how this week’s Golden Globes nominations shook out. Pitt delivered an eternally cool and pleasantly meandering performance as Cliff Booth, but yes, it’s a very difficult year to carry a nomination, all while knowing there’s not much shot at a win.
The Thelma and Louise star is still out there, though, supporting his role in Quentin Tarantino’s movie, which scored a total of five Globe nominations. In an interview with the New York Times, Pitt revealed which movie caused him to reevaluate his career and make a move toward doing fewer hunk-type roles and more “quality stories.” What was the film, you ask? Not 1998’s Meet Joe Black, unfortunately, but the 2004 Wolfgang Petersen-directed Troy, in which he portrayed Achilles. After doing Seven, that one simply didn’t satisfy Pitt’s artistic sensibilities:
“I’d become spoiled working with David Fincher. It’s no slight on Wolfgang Petersen. Das Boot is one of the all-time great films. But somewhere in it, Troy became a commercial kind of thing. Every shot was like, Here’s the hero! There was no mystery. So about that timeI made a decision that I was only going to invest in quality stories, for lack of a better term. It was a distinct shift that led to the next decade of films.”
Pitt continued to explain that while Troy wasn’t “painful,” it was the case that “I had to do Troy.” That happened after he pulled out of another project, so he was required to appease the studio by taking on the historical war drama. Pitt then clarified that he didn’t enjoy how the movie was told, and he didn’t relish always being in “the middle of the frame.” And that’s probably why we’ve seen Pitt portray multiple captivating ensemble players, including Aldo Raine in Inglorious Basterds and Chad Feldheimer in Burn After Reading, since he made that decision. Speaking of the latter movie, it couldn’t hurt Pitt’s Oscar chances to do another Coen Brothers film, right? Before nominations began rolling out this season, Pitt claimed that he would not campaign for an Oscar, but I’m sure his feelings wouldn’t be hurt to win one. Your move, Ethan and Joel.
(Via New York Times)
