The 1982 movie that might well be one of Brad Pitt’s favourite ever made: “One of my all-time”
For over three decades now, Brad Pitt has been delivering some of the most memorable acting performances of the late 20th Century and the beginning of the new millennium. He came through the ranks in Ridley Scott’s road movie Thelma and Louise but really broke into his stride with David Fincher’s crime film Seven.
From there, Pitt established himself as one of the biggest movie stars Hollywood would ever know, staking his claim as a blockbuster actor with a number of significant features under his belt. He’s played for Quentin Tarantino in Inglorious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and for the Coen brothers in Burn After Reading.
Just as many of Pitt’s movies comprise my cinematic favourites, so too does the actor himself cherish several films amongst his most cherished. When visiting the JM Video store in Paris, which houses thousands of DVDs, Pitt named one of his favourite movies of all time, a Werner Herzog classic.
“Fitzcarraldo, one of my all-time favourites,” Pitt explained. “Have you seen the making of? [Burden of Dreams]. It has the prior cast; I think it was Jason Robards, and you see his take, he’s up on the tower, and you see him saying, Opera, we’re gonna bring opera’.”
Pitt has long gravitated towards filmmakers who refuse to take the easy route. Throughout his own career, he’s repeatedly sought out directors with uncompromising creative visions, from David Fincher to Quentin Tarantino, making Herzog’s obsessive commitment to authenticity an understandable source of admiration rather than intimidation.
That commitment is arguably what has kept Fitzcarraldo so revered decades after its release. It’s one thing to tell audiences that a man dragged a steamship over a mountain, but Herzog insisted on doing exactly that for real. The production became almost as legendary as the finished film itself, blurring the line between cinematic ambition and outright madness.
The film is Herzog’s 1982 epic adventure movie, starring Klaus Kinski as a rubber baron by the name of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman tasked with transporting a massive steamship over a steep hill in Peru. Fitzgerald, known as the titular name in the South American country, wants to access an area of rubber deposit in the Amazon basin.
Herzog’s film had a complex production and initially began with Jason Robards in the lead role, as Pitt mentions. Herzog’s crew had to actually try and get the ship over the hill, as in the film, leading to several injuries. Robards also got sick during this time, leading to a second wave of development with Klaus Kinski.
“There was a kind of a joy to what he was doing,” Pitt said of Robard’s attempt, “Then they got shut down with our man Klaus here. And you see him [Kinski], and he’s in a rage. ‘We’re bringing the opera,’ and he’s like manic. It was such an interesting colour I would have never thought about.”
Herzog famously had a troubled working relationship with Kinski. The pair had previously worked together on Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Nosferatu the Vampyre and Woyzeck. Kinski was known for his intensity on screen as his violent nature in real life, but for Pitt, “That’s why he’s one of my all-time favourites.”
