The movie Brad Pitt called “the most irresponsible bit of filmmaking that I’ve ever seen”
Having become a powerhouse producer in his own right, given that he won his first Academy Award for his behind-the-scenes contributions after his Plan B company’s 12 Years a Slave nabbed ‘Best Picture’, Brad Pitt knows what it takes to put together a movie from either side of the camera.
Earlier in his career, though, he didn’t quite have the same clout that he has now. As a result, certain projects he starred in left a lot to be desired for Pitt as an on-camera talent, with the 1997 thriller The Devil’s Own prime among them. Alan J. Paluka’s politically charged film was a success at the box office after earning $140million, but the critical response was for more muted.
That was nothing compared to Pitt’s assessment in an interview with Newsweek, where he blasted The Devil’s Own as “the most irresponsible bit of filmmaking – if you can even call it that – that I’ve ever seen”. A troubled production that found itself falling victim to budget overruns and constant rewrites, the story of Harrison Ford’s cop inadvertently allowing Pitt’s lodger to stay with him and his family – unaware of his plans to illicitly ship weapons from New York City to Dublin – was given the scorched earth treatment.
Continuing his takedown of the film, Pitt clearly wasn’t in the mood for holding back: “We had no script,” he said. “Well, we had a great script but it got tossed for various reasons. To have to make something up as you go along… what pressure. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know why anyone would want to continue making that movie. We had nothing. The movie was the complete victim of this drowning studio head … who said, ‘I don’t care. We’re making it. I don’t care what you have. Shoot something.'”
Pitt even tried to quit, admitting he “wanted out and the studio head said, ‘All right, we’ll let you out, but it’ll be $63 million for starters,” with the thinly-veiled threat based on the fear “they can sue on what they could have made if you’d stayed in the movie”.
His unfiltered opinion created such a stir that Rolling Stone reported that Pitt was forced to write a letter to Newsweek to clarify that his issues weren’t with The Devil’s Own as a feature but with the pre-production and shooting process. In fact, he was even under pressure to atone for his remarks: “I didn’t even think about it,” he said. “This was old news. Then I get home … Boom! The calls start at seven in the morning. ‘Go on Entertainment Tonight,’ they begged. ‘Say you didn’t mean it.’ I was like, ‘I can’t do that. I said it. I said it.’”
The Devil’s Own isn’t regarded as being anywhere near one of the best movies Pitt has ever lent its name to, but his highly-publicised criticism has at least made it one of the most notorious.
