The one film Brad Pitt called “a disaster”
As the recipient of various accolades and awards, Brad Pitt is one of Hollywood’s most powerful and influential people. The actor began his career in 1987 with a series of uncredited minor roles before moving on to more developed performances during the 1990s, famously starring in the likes of Thelma and Louise, Fight Club, and Se7en.
Pitt’s appearance in Ocean’s Eleven, directed by Steven Soderbergh, opened to great commercial success in 2001. He played the role of Rusty, George Clooney’s partner-in-crime in a heist. From this, Pitt became one of the industry’s most popular leading men and he quickly went on to appear in the historical epic Troy and the romantic crime film Mr & Mrs Smith.
In 2001, the star co-founded the production company Plan B Entertainment, where he produced The Departed, 12 Years a Slave, and Moonlight. Each of the aforementioned features won the Academy Award for Best Picture, whilst his other efforts, such as Selma, recieved nominations. Back in front of the camera, Pitt’s recent roles include Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, for which he won the Oscar, Golden Globe and British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also appeared in Ad Astra and Bullet Train, with the former being a critical success and the latter being a box-office triumph.
However, as with many actors who have been in the industry for a long time, Pitt’s career has seen its downsides and faults. One of which is a film the actor regrets starring in, citing it as a career catastrophe.
The Devil’s Own is a 1997 dramatic thriller directed by Alan Jay Pakula and written by Vincent Patrick, David Aaron Cohen, and Kevin Jarre. As a favour to a friend, Tom, an NYC policeman, lets Rory, an Irishman, stay at his house. When Tom learns that Rory is an IRA terrorist, the situation begins to deteriorate. The film also stars Harrison Ford, Rubén Blades and Julia Stiles.
In a past issue of Newsweek, Pitt revealed during an interview that he wanted to leave the production, no longer aligning with the project. However, a lawsuit forced him into staying on board the production, despite this artistic fracture. The actor then called the film a “disaster”, saying that it was “the most irresponsible bit of filmmaking – if you can even call it that – that I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t believe it”.
There were reports of conflicts on the set, with the cast competing to be the film’s focus. These ego-driven disputes plagued the production, causing the original script to be scrapped, followed by seven subsequent rewrites. Pitt reviewed the final version negatively, calling it “a mess”. Detailing further, the actor said: “The script that I had loved was gone,” he commented. “I guess people just had different visions and you can’t argue with that. But then I wanted out and the studio head said, ‘All right, we’ll let you out, but it’ll be $63 million for starters.”
The Devil’s Own interrupted a triumphant era of Pitt’s career, as the film followed the successful Interview with a Vampire and Se7en and predated the beloved Fight Club and Snatch. The next film in the actor’s career was Seven Years in Tibet, a war drama about an Austrian mountaineer’s experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951. The film was praised as a beautiful insight into history, putting The Devil’s Own firmly to the back of his mind in the process.
