‘Legends of the Fall’: The role Brad Pitt hated so much he tried to quit
Brad Pitt has garnered quite the reputation over the years, with performances that span across all areas of cinema with gritty thrillers such as Fight Club and Se7en, films with a more comedic undertone such as Burn After Reading and Oceans Eleven and the vivacious energy of Babylon and Inglorious Basterds. In addition, he has had supporting roles in beloved classics such as Thelma and Louise, Being John Malkovich and The Tree of Life, working with some of the greatest modern directors.
However, despite having an expansive career, it seems as though he isn’t always the easiest to work with, with one director describing the difficulties he experienced while on set with him.
Legends of the Fall, released in 1994, was one of Pitt’s earlier roles, coming after the success of Interview with the Vampire and True Romance. The film is set in early 20th-century Montana, following Colonel William Ludlow who lives on a ranch with his sons. However, the family find themselves tested by war, conflict and love in an epic tale set over many decades.
For such an early role in his career, Pitt starred alongside the great Anthony Hopkins, something that many Hollywood newcomers would be intimidated by. However, despite being given such a great opportunity, the director, Edward Zwick, was not enamoured by his attitude on set.
After the table read, Zwick explained that Pitt became uncomfortable, saying, “I could see Brad’s growing discomfort as it went on. Hours afterwards, his agent called the studio to say Brad wanted to quit. It fell to [producer] Marshall [Herskovitz] to talk Brad off the ledge. It was never mentioned again, but it was the first augury of the deeper springs of emotion roiling inside Brad. He seems easygoing at first, but he can be volatile when riled, as I was to be reminded more than once as shooting began and we took each other’s measure.”
The reasoning behind Pitt’s attempt to leave the project is not known, but there have been many speculated disputes between the director and the actor. Allegedly, Pitt became unhappy with the project after one of his favourite scenes was cut. In addition to this, Zwick described how Pitt was unhappy from the start, becoming ‘edgy’ when asked to perform scenes that required deep emotions. The director expanded on this by saying, “I was pushing him to do something he felt was either wrong for the character, or more ’emo’ than he wanted to appear on-screen”.
Zwick later claimed that Pitt felt the madness of his character had been underplayed through the removal of this scene, which led him to dislike the final result. However, while this may have irritated the actor, his career was not thwarted in any way at all, and the following year, he played Detective Mills in David Fincher’s Se7en.
Pitt has continued to work on a number of varied roles over his decades in the industry, with the actor recently starring alongside George Clooney in Wolfs, which was produced for Apple TV.
