How the 1998 movie Brad Pitt couldn’t stand led him to his most underrated role: “Great! I’m in!”
By the end of the 1990s, Brad Pitt had carved out quite a lucrative niche for himself.
He was approaching that fork in the road, where his career could either go one of two ways: embrace his commercial heartthrob status and cash in on blockbusters forever more, or pivot and explore the world of character acting often disassociated with cinematic pretty boys like himself.
Intrigued by the artistry, he adopted the latter option and had to work pretty hard for it also. Sure, he had Fight Club and Se7en behind him, the two David Fincher-directed noir thrillers that hinted towards this more considered future, but he also had steady box-office hits that relied on his cereal-box persona: think Thelma and Louise and Meet Joe Black.
It was on set of the former where he really decided enough was enough, though. “At that time, I did something that I felt was very commercial, and I was really interested to see what new directors were doing and what was coming out,” Pitt explained.
So in a bid to combat that, he made an effort to discover new directors. But not through his agent or manager, who maybe would have subconsciously nudged him towards the director the industry was tipping as the next big thing. He explored the new worlds by going to the cinemas, rubbing shoulders with fellow cinema fans and watching debut films and deciding for himself, if they spoke to him
He continued, “So, I was viewing everything of first-time directors, and I saw this movie, ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’, by this cat named Guy Ritchie. And so, I called him up and said, ‘Hey, I really like what you’re doin’, and if there’s anything that I could fit in, then let’s talk.’”
Unsurprisingly, Ritchie was game to have what was potentially Hollywood’s biggest name put himself forward for a role in his film. Pitt continued, “And he said, ‘Well, there is.’ And I said, ‘Great! I’m in!’ And then, panicked until the moment we were shooting.”
The source of the panic was that Ritchie didn’t simply take the easy option when Pitt landed in his lap. Rather than write a lofty script that suited the American sensibilities of the actor, he forced Pitt to test himself and fit into his world, rather than the other way around. And as we all know, Ritchie’s world is that of east London gangsters, and this time around, it was through the lens of his film Snatch.
That would have been a hard enough pivot for Pitt. But Ritchie went one further, and cast him as the unpredictable bare-knuckle boxer Mickey, whose upbringing in the travelling community posed an entirely new subcultural test for Pitt.
Against all the odds, it ended up being one of his very best roles and cemented Pitt’s pathway into genuine artistic stardom. He somehow got the accent dialled in and delivered a performance that was both heartfelt and humorous, making him the perfect actor for Ritchie’s stunning sophomore effort.
