When Brad Pitt’s method acting went too far: “I’m going to do this right”
Most actors have horror stories from their early careers, and these tales of inexperience and woe are often hilarious to listen to. Brad Pitt‘s nascent days as an aspiring star featured a number of these embarrassing incidents, but arguably the most mortifying came when the young star decided he would embrace method acting – to the detriment of his own stomach, and consequently, everyone else in his vicinity.
During a fun appearance on the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast, Pitt was asked by the NFL siblings about his propensity for eating on-screen. Indeed, it has long been a trademark of Pitt’s characters that they are hungry fellas, always munching on something in the middle of scenes, or thinking hard about where their next meal is going to come from. In Ocean’s Eleven, he chows down on a hamburger, a prawn cocktail, and a fruit salad; in Moneyball, he inhales a Twinkie; in Mr & Mrs Smith, he enjoys a pot roast and pancakes; and in Inglourious Basterds, he devours a baguette.
Amusingly, casting director Caroline Liem once dubbed Pitt “The Laurence Olivier of eating”. She told The Washington Post that the key to Pitt’s on-screen snacking is that, “He makes it look like an actual human being eating, and you don’t get that a lot. He’s just one with food.” So, there you have it: Pitt makes eating look real, yet still sexy and aspirational.
However, the F1 star must have perfected his on-screen eating techniques over time, because he wasn’t quite so suave about it when he shot an early role in an unnamed independent movie. “I haven’t thought about this for years,” the star grinned, while the Kelces listened expectantly. “We’re shooting in this little tiny cafe. It’s full of the crew. So, there’s about 60 people in there. It’s hot. You can’t breathe.”
In the scene, Pitt’s character is presented with a plate of beans and bacon after not eating for days on end. He’s ravenous, obviously, and Pitt wanted to accurately portray the gusto with which this hungry, hungry man attacked his plate. “I was all like, Method, you know?” he laughed. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to do this right.’ I just powered down this plate of beans.”
This may have been nothing to write home about if the scene had been accomplished in one take. However, it wound up taking four attempts, and each time, Pitt did exactly the same thing with a new plate of beans. “Then, ‘Oh no,'” he recalled with a wince. “Something hit me.”
As any child who has ever been on a playground knows, beans are a musical fruit. Ergo, the more you eat, the more you toot. So, to Pitt’s horror, his churning stomach soon turned into outright flatulence, with the star lamenting, “There was nothing I could do. I was stuck in this chair.”
Pitt may be one of the best-looking men in Hollywood history, but unfortunately for the cast and crew of this little film, his farts didn’t smell of roses. In fact, the stench he created was so “diabolical” that the cafe quickly emptied as everyone sought fresh air. “Nature took its course,” Pitt acknowledged with a rueful shake of the head. “Suddenly…something descended on the crew in the whole room, and they fled the cafe.”
If nothing else, the putrid debacle taught Pitt a very important lesson about the differences between real-life eating and screen eating. Namely, you may have to shoot endless takes, so it’s best not to gorge yourself on every one. “Ever since then, I’ve paced myself,” he acknowledged with a smile.
