Why does Brad Pitt always eat in movies?
Audiences around the world love Brad Pitt for a plethora of reasons. Many factors have contributed to his standing as a Hollywood titan, including his prowess as a character actor and even his hunky stature. While these are obvious explanations why the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star is so revered, there is also a subtle oddity that underpins his status – and it is one that only true cinema nerds will be aware of.
As is known by diehard fans of Brad Pitt, in almost all of his films, his characters are seen eating. For instance, in Ocean’s Eleven, Rusty eats a cheeseburger, nachos, shrimp cocktail and an ice cream all at different points. In The Assassination of Jessie James, he scoffs beef stew; in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, he shovels pot roast in his mouth; and in Money Ball, he tucks into a portion of french fries.
There’s also that famous scene in Meet Joe Black, where his character – death in the guise of a human – eats peanut butter for the first time. The list goes on. More recently, in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 outing Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Pitt’s character, Cliff Booth, cooks a box of mac and cheese before demolishing it. This was a somewhat meta nod to the actor’s penchant for “eating-acting”.
Strangely, in a 2019 discussion with The Washington Post, Caroline Liem, a casting director and professor at Pace Performing Arts, posited that a reason for Pitt always eating on screen might be that he’s just exceptional at it. “He’s the Laurence Olivier of eating,” she said.
She maintained that even the most talented actors mess up simple tasks when it comes to eating, including taking bites that are too big or small. Not Pitt, though. “He makes it look like an actual human being eating, and you don’t get that a lot,” Liem comically continued. “He’s just one with food.”
What does the man himself say about it? In an interview with Joe, Pitt explained that he likes to eat regularly. “I like to busy myself, I’m a grazer by nature,” he admitted. And finally, as for Rusty constantly eating in Ocean’s Elven, Pitt revealed that there was thought behind it. He said: “Well, there was actually method to that, because he was always on the run, always on the move, I figured he could never sit down and have a proper meal. So he always had to grab something on the run.”
Sometimes a guy’s just got to eat.
