The “atrocious” movie ending Brad Pitt needed to rework
Few Hollywood stars, past or present, can boast such a consistently impressive path as that of Brad Pitt. The celebrated actor and producer has deftly combined a handsome on-screen presence with versatile acting talent to bring life to such classics as Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ocean’s Eleven and Inglourious Basterds, to name just a few. While acting was always Pitt’s biggest passion, he aimed to work both sides of the camera from a young age.
In 1986, aged 22, Pitt was invited to speak to Tiger Beat for one of his first interviews. “In ten years, I’ll be 32,” Pitt calculated. “I hope I am married with some Brad Jrs. I would like to be in a position like Kevin Costner. He’s on top and respected as an actor. I just want to be a respected actor. I want to make people feel things like how I feel when I go to the movies. I would like to have my own production company.”
By 1996, Pitt had succeeded beyond his wildest conception with innumerable roles in highly acclaimed and commercially seismic movies. Remembering his youthful dreams, Pitt co-founded Plan B Entertainment with Brad Grey, Kristin Hahn and Jennifer Aniston in 2001 and has since become a prolific producer.
Although he’s best known as an actor, Pitt’s first Academy Award win was for his production work on 12 Years a Slave, which won the ‘Best Picture’ award in 2014. Pitt’s second Oscar win would follow eight years later when he collected the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ award for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s ninth movie, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.
Among Pitt’s widely acclaimed titles are, of course, a couple of duds. The actor famously had a hard time working on the 1994 movie Interview with the Vampire, but despite Pitt’s disillusionment, it prospered both financially and with the critics.
In more recent years, the actor became somewhat frustrated during the production of Marc Forster’s 2013 zombie movie World War Z. Initially, Pitt had been extremely enthusiastic about the project but felt the movie was let down by its ending.
“It was just atrocious,” Pitt said of the original cut in an interview with USA Today. “You see some first cuts, and you go, ‘Oh, it’s everything you want it to be and more.’ It’s working on certain levels that you didn’t even understand when you were shooting it. Like, I had this feeling seeing Moneyball. And here was the exact opposite.”
Detailing further, Pitt explained that Forster’s initial cut departed from the plot line of Max Brooks’ book of the same name. In response, Pitt, who also co-produced the movie, persevered by asking some of his friends, including writer Damon Lindelof, to help him get the screenplay back on track.
Ultimately, the production team cut several scenes and shot some more to adhere the movie more faithfully to Forster’s story. “So this is what happens: you go, ‘Ugh…’ And you’re debilitated for the rest of the day, [and] the next day. And then after that, you go: ‘OK, we’ve got to get back in there. We’ve got to tear this thing apart, and we’ve got to make this thing work,’” Pitt added.
The final cut of World War Z was widely applauded by moviegoers and critics alike and grossed over $540 million against a production budget of $190million, making it the highest-grossing zombie film of all time. Watch the trailer below.
