The only movie to feature Brad Pitt as a true villain
It’s fair to say that, for the most part, Brad Pitt has more often than not played the good guy in his many movies, or at the very least played those with a seeming neutral morality. In the likes of Seven, Troy, World War Z and Bullet Train, Pitt has been cast as the hero rather than the villain.
Of course, there are several movies in Pitt’s filmography that see the acting icon portray those with questionable motives and characteristics, say his effort as Tyler Durden in David Fincher’s Fight Club or as Cliff Booth in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, or even those movies that don’t really call for good or bad guy archetypes like Guy Ritchie’s Snatch.
But there is one particular movie in which Pitt was indeed cast as the direct villain, and it’s a true rarity when we consider the other roles he’d been in. That very special moment of cinema history arrived in 1993, early into Pitt’s career, and is the sometimes overlooked film Kalifornia.
Kalifornia is a road thriller film directed by Dominic Sena as his feature film directorial debut. Pitt stars alongside the likes of Juliette Lewis, David Duchovny and Michelle Forbes. Duchovny plays a journalist, Brian Kessler, whose recent article about serial killers has afforded him to be offered a book deal.
He plans to travel from Louisville, Kentucky, to Los Angeles with his photographer girlfriend while visiting famous murder sites along the way for further research for the book. Pitt, meanwhile, plays a recently paroled psychopath, Early Grayce, who also just lost his job. Early spots a ride-share advert on a university campus board left by Brian, and the four (including Early’s girlfriend) set off on their journey together despite their reservations.
Kalifornia, then, is the only real time that we’ve been able to see Pitt in a proper villain role, and he murders several people throughout the film. The film is something of a relic. While not Pitt’s most acclaimed role, it was praised by Roger Ebert and was nominated for ‘Best Horror Film’ at the 1994 Saturn Awards.
A producer of the film, Steve Colin, had been impressed with the entire cast, including Pitt, especially considering the tough conditions the shoot took place in. “All four have been so pro, I’ve been impressed,” he once said. “They have been working ridiculous hours under conditions that are not star-like. The hotels in the desert are not luxurious; they get a room with a swamp cooler, and they don’t even have air conditioning. It’s a rough show.”
But perhaps it was those very conditions that brought out the bad guy in Brad Pitt even more, away from the luxury that a Hollywood actor is used to. We’re not used to seeing Pitt play the villain and have to go back too early in his career to find him at his most evil, but it’s well worth the effort.
Check out the trailer for Kalifornia below.
