The “extraordinary” actor Brad Pitt calls “so underrated”
There are few actors on the planet quite like Brad Pitt. With masculine beauty straight out of 1930s classic Hollywood and the actual acting skills to boot, Pitt is with great ease one of the singular biggest names in the film industry and has treated us to countless memorable performances over the years.
Pitt has delivered in a wide range of genres, but it’s clear that he’s undoubtedly more than adept in the art of the action film, having offered his services to the likes of Troy, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, World War Z, Bullet Train, Fight Club and Inglorious Basterds. So it’s fair to say that Pitt’s contributed to his fair share of action scenes.
When the actor visited the JM Video store in Paris to pick out some of his favourite movies, directors, and actors with stunt coordinator David Leitch – with whom he had worked on Bullet Train – he paid particular attention to a seriously significant action movie name.
“We had a lot of conversations about Jackie Chan,” Pitt said, “We’re both big fans of Jackie Chan”. The actor then said that he thinks Chan is “so underrated” before adding: “When you look at some of the past works and the makings of and some of the documentaries – it’s just extraordinary.”
Leitch then paid notice to 1985’s Police Story, in which Chan starred alongside Brigitte Lin and Maggie Cheung. “Come on, let’s be honest,” Leitch said, “It’s the classic; it’s the quintessential.”
He added: “At the beginning of my stunt career, we would cut his action scenes from each movie on a loop on VHS, and we would just play them over and over.”
Pitt admitted that he would sure love to see Leitch’s special cut of Chan’s action scenes before referring to the physical brutality Chan put himself through in his movies. “The injuries, he would still get up and go again,” he stated.
Leitch had a few final words to say about Chan before the pair moved on to other films and other directors. He said: “He imprinted that type of actions storytelling in me. As an action storyteller, he’s second to none, hands down. And as a comedian and a filmmaker.”
Leitch and Pitt are right to give so much respect to Chan. Having performed since the 1960s as an actor, martial artist and stuntman, he has featured in more than 150 movies, always putting his physical well-being at risk for the sake of quality cinema. Perhaps Pitt is correct in saying that Chan is somewhat underrated.
