‘Interview with The Vampire’: The movie that broke Brad Pitt
Being an actor brings a lot of pressure, but equally, it brings a ridiculous amount of reward, especially for Hollywood megastars like Brad Pitt. It’s a delicate balance that has left a lot of performers running home crying over those famous hills as they high-tail it back it anonymity. Other stars simply don’t succeed the way they had dreamed, and follow suit. But those who have had careers which have endured all have one thing in common: resilience.
Brad Pitt is certainly one such star. Having now reached an unattainable height, the star’s rise hasn’t been all plain sailing. Naturally, Pitt has had to go through his fair share of torturous productions, training routines and schedules, but more often than not, the hard work has always paid off in fame and acclaim. The dedication put into a role usually pays off by the time the credits roll and the applause lands.
After all, Pitt has established himself as one of the most prominent actors of all time, and several of his films, including Fight Club, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Inglorious Basterds, have required serious dedication to the craft, held up by quality production teams. Those performances have then become stand-out moments in his career and, consequently, helped to furnish the necessity for yet more dedication to yet more roles.
But still, Pitt, like any actor worth their salt, is privy to a difficult production or two, and his early career saw one in particular that he truly “hated” and perhaps made him doubt whether he really wanted to continue working in the industry. Pitt’s not known for moaning about making a film, but he did not enjoy working on Interview with the Vampire.
Back in 1995, Pitt said that the film itself is a good watch, but he had less than a good time making it. Via Simply Brad, he noted in an interview, “I hated doing this movie. Hated it. Loved watching it. Completely. Hated doing it. [My character] is depressed from the beginning to the end. Five-and-a-half months of that is too much.”
Interview with the Vampire is Neil Jordan’s 1994 gothic horror movie based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Anne Rice. Pitt and Tom Cruise play two vampires, Louis and Lestat, and chronicle their time spent together, including the turning of a ten-year-old girl played by a young Kirsten Dunst.
In another interview with Entertainment Weekly, Pitt further elaborated on his time spent making the movie, noting, “I am miserable. Six months in the fucking dark… We get to London, and London was fucking dark. London was dead of winter. We’re shooting in Pinewood, which is an old institution…”
The actor continued, “There’s no windows in there. It hasn’t been refabbed in decades. You leave for work in the dark — you go into this cauldron, this mausoleum — and then you come out, and it’s dark. I’m telling you, one day it broke me.” Evidently, Pitt was missing the warmer climes of California and the endless heat and sun and couldn’t hack a miserable winter in London.
For those of us who have endured such seasons, it is easy to sympathise. The capital in the dead of winter is a genuinely dark place, with sunrises only happening around 8am while the sun sets around 4pm, making any time spent without natural light a much more miserable experience. Now, if you’re thinking that he likely was paid handsomely for the performance, think again, with reports suggesting he was given as little as $6,000 for the time spent on set.
Of course, this role would further establish his career and help him to land even bigger projects. Perhaps the most sincere thing to arise from Pitt’s terrible time on set is a reminder that, despite being mega stars or actors with a dream, nobody likes to be sad at work, and most importantly, everybody is miserable in London in the winter.
