The movie that changed Brad Pitt’s life: “I learnt a lot from this film”
One of the most rewarding things about being an actor is the chance to learn new things. After all, if you sign up to play a cop or government agent, chances are you’re going to learn how to handle guns. If you decide to play a driver, you’ll likely become almost as proficient in vehicles as the stunt drivers. Therefore, when Brad Pitt signed on the dotted line for David Ayer’s World War II tank drama Fury, he knew he’d become intimately familiar with the interior of that cramped tank. What he didn’t know, though, was how the experience would change his life in an unexpected way.
Fury told the story of a crew of five soldiers crammed into a Sherman tank in 1945 as the Allies advanced on Nazi Germany. Pitt portrayed Sergeant Don ‘Wardaddy’ Collier, and his team was rounded out by a group of young, hungry actors on the rise: Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena, and Jon Bernthal.
The Fight Club icon was known as “Top Dog” by his fellow actors, and he felt they all became emotionally attached to the tank over the course of the shoot. At the film’s European premiere in London, he revealed, “There’s nothing ergonomic about a tank. But we were forced to familiarise ourselves with the tank and find our comfort spots. I became quite proprietorial. It became our tank.”
Ayer backed up Pitt’s words by saying it became difficult to even get his star out of the tank between setups. He smiled, “Brad stayed in the tank on set. I would have to climb into the tank to talk to him. It was like his eagle’s nest, where he would look down on us.”
To this, Pitt quipped, “It was the best view.”
While Pitt and his director could joke about the experience once it was finished, the star revealed that the bonds he formed with his co-stars profoundly affected him. He explained, “I learnt a lot from this film. We all walked away absolutely enriched.”
Pitt also felt he gained more of an understanding of what it must have been like to be a tankman in WWII – and he hoped their cinematic interpretation did justice to the real-life veterans. He said, “This film is about the soldiers’ exhaustion from the cold, hunger, and the accumulative effect on a daily basis. We took that to heart. I hope the soldiers will walk away from this and feel they are recognised.”
Overall, though, Fury’s lasting impression on Pitt was something he mightn’t have expected. He mused, “This role is a real study in leadership and learning to command respect, and because of this, I am now a better father.”
Obviously, this is a nice sentiment for Pitt to express, but in the years following Fury’s release, it’s been clouded by some unsavoury accusations. In 2016, it emerged that Pitt was being investigated by the FBI and the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services after his children accused him of being verbally and physically abusive toward them on a flight. He was never criminally charged, but his wife Angelina Jolie soon filed for divorce, and they have been embroiled in a bitter custody battle ever since.
