Brad Pitt is in two movies this year. Both roles seem to speak to the contrasting paths of his career. In one story, he’s the hottest guy you’ve ever seen. A washboard-abbed cowboy giving Thelma a night of sex she’ll never forget. He is not the paper set aflame, but just the beginnings of fire tickling its edges. In another story, he’s just shot a serial killer who cut off his wife’s head, put it in a box, and sent it to him as a special delivery. He’s the guy put into the back of a police car, whose eyes tell a tale of someone who has lost all hope.
Brad Pitt’s vulnerability on screen is the thing that links the two stories of his long and versatile acting career. Both are on display this year with Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and James Grey’s Ad Astra. In one, Pitt plays Cliff Booth, an aged stunt man who outshines the actor he covers for in every way. Yet, he doesn’t really exist to Hollywood except as a shadowy legend – a guy who might have killed his wife once, and a guy who can win just about any fight. The secret he keeps with the audience, though, is that he’s a guy who loves his dog. And he’s a guy who loves his friend.
This is the Brad Pitt Robert Redford used as a stand-in for himself – the tragic golden boy in A River Runs Through It. Be still all the beating hearts with one look at Pitt in that movie. Flinging his fucking fly fishing pole into a river in Montana bathed in glittery sunlight. Alas, that Pitt wasn’t meant to last, because beautiful things like that never do.
That Brad Pitt is also the way David Fincher uses him in Fight Club: as an imaginary, testosterone-infused apparition for the weaker half of men. Pitt the icon, Pitt the living dream, Pitt the something to eat with a knife and fork but also something dangerous, with an evacuated soul. That movie, Fight Club, shows you what Pitt can really do.
But Fincher uses Pitt again to subvert that image in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We do get another look at Pitt the Adonis on a motorcycle – that hair, that jawline, that slouch, that straddle. But again, this beauty is not permanent. It’s an ephemeral drive-by, like all people hitting their prime. Fincher plays with it because he knows it’s something none of us can hold onto. How we wish we could stay forever in that magic hour.
In Ad Astra, where an astronaut seeks out what’s left of his father (Tommy Lee Jones), who has gone all out Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now and bailed on the world of the civilized, Pitt continues on the trajectory of the more vulnerable, wounded, even obtuse characters he’s played. A far cry from the fading golden boy on display in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Pitt in Ad Astra is a continuation of the detective who got in the back of the police car, the one whose world view has just been completely shattered. In Se7en, Pitt is in peak form navigating a character who stumbles accidentally into a job he is unprepared for. As Morgan Freeman says, “He’s not ready.” Freeman’s Somerset tries hard to shield Pitt’s Mills from the inevitable truth that this is not a world to believe in, but a world to be afraid of. In the masterpiece that is Se7en, within a few minutes of tense filmmaking, Pitt goes from full-blown cocky confidence to Kevin Spacey (“You’re no messiah. You’re a movie of the week. You’re a fucking T-shirt”) to a man who breaks in an instant (“All because I envied your simple life. And so, it seems envy is my sin.”).
Pitt’s face now in both of these films shows wear and tear of a life lived, but he’s never really lost the thing about his face that the camera loves. It isn’t just how he looks but the way he looks, what he reveals about himself in closeup. In Ad Astra, Pitt is confronting a father who abandoned him. A cruel and probably abusive man who has either gone insane or just had enough with the planet Earth and all of the people on it. Pitt might be Mills again from Se7en after a lifetime of asking the same existential questions about this life we all ask: is it even worth it? Are humans worth saving?
These questions are asked to Pitt as Mills in the middle of Se7en. His initial, defiant answer: “The point is that I don’t think you’re quitting because you believe these things you say. I don’t. I think you wanna believe them because you’re quitting. You want me to agree with you, and you want me to say, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re right. It’s all fucked up. It’s a fucking mess. We should all go live in a fucking log cabin.” But I won’t. I won’t say that. I don’t agree with you. I do not. I can’t.”
By the end of Se7en, though, his face (and because Fincher is such a good director and Pitt is such a good actor) tells us everything we need to know about that. So much of what Pitt does as an actor asks and answers those questions in Ad Astra and, to an extent, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Both characters have crested the peaks of their lives and are now on the way down the other side.
Pitt is an actor who might have a lot of reasons to give up on everything by now. But all he’s really done is shed one layer of skin to reveal something raw enough to look almost new. Pitt’s performances in both of these films are among the best of the year.
It amazes me now little his role in Kalifornia is talked about. I love that movie
It’s crazy that there legit might be more than one multi-nominated actor this year… Has that ever happened?
1993 – Holly Hunter (The Piano and The Firm) and Emma Thompson (Remains of the Day and In the Name of the Father)
“Jojo Rabbit” is the surprisingly TIFF Winner. “Marriage Story” the runner up. “Parasite” the second runner up.
Jojo Rabbit wins TIFF…
Deserves two Academy Award nominations this year no question about it.
I like and respect Pitt, but honestly, I feel so sad and sick that many sites and blogs are openly rooting for him to win the Supporting Actor Oscar, while I don’t see (or see just a few) piece of news about Dafoe, who gives an extraordinary performance in “The Lighthouse”, is positioned to get his 3rd nomination in a row, is the best actor of his generation and one of the best actors alive. It seems explicit that many are rooting for Pitt in detriment of the greatness of Dafoe. And what is sad is that Dafoe is no less deserving than Pitt. It will be another Oscar shame if Pitt wins for basically playing himself. Dafoe reinvents himself in each role, and what he did for example in “Antichrist” is something that feel would be able to do. The Oscar game needs to be fair people. And I urge this site, which I have been admiring for 20 years to do it. Again, we can see the hype winning over the real deserving performance. I don’t see lines or highlights for Alfre Woodard either. This extraordinary actress give the Best Leading Female Performance of the Year! Woodard is an american treasure, but sadly, always underrated. And finally, after 30 years of enduring work – she is an actor’s actor – she gets a fine role in a respectable film, and could make history being only the second afro american actress to win Best Actress, but no one (or almost) seems to care.
I hope the moderation doesn’t erase my comment. I was very honest with my heart, telling it.
Few things :
– People should be allowed to root for Pitt without facing the accusation they are against Dafoe
– Dafoe being “the best actor of his generation” is arguable, he is great though
– Saying Pitt plays himself in OUATIH is inaccurate and unnecessarily condescending
I am not saying people are not allowed to root for Pitt. I am just saying that I don’t think it is good – mainly considering that they are critics and reviewers – while I am also saying that I feel sad for it. What is wrong with that? I didn’t offend anyone. I think that my arguments are very valid – even if you don’t agree with it.
And I am allowed to think and say, according to my point of view, that Pitt plays himself in OUATIH – a hyped actor with a dog –
And I reinforce that Dafoe’s turn in “The Lighthouse” is no less deserving than Pitt in OUATIH.
Nobody said that Dafoe is less deserving. This is just simply an article about Brad Pitt’s career so if you don’t find praise for Dafoe in here that’s not because he and his performance aren’t valued, it’s because he and his performance are not relevant for an article about someone else’s career milestones.
That’s just it.
1. Your argument is that people rooting for Pitt are in the wrong because they should be rooting for Dafoe. So here’s the thing : that is very problematic. People can root for either one of them without ever being in the wrong. It IS subjective after all.
2. Brad Pitt doesn’t play a hyped actor with a dog. He plays a downtrodden stunt man with a dog. And I don’t recall Brad Pitt, the actor, being famous for being either downtrodden, a stuntman or a person with a dog. Or did I miss something?
♪ Okay, so you’re Brad Pitt ♫
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I love his performance in “The Tree of Life” – may likely be my absolute favorite of his – he is so good, subtle and shaded, as the difficult, complicated, angry and loving father. If the film had had a conventional movie narrative he might surely have been nominated for best supporting actor. As it is, I still feel he deserved to have won that award that year (But Plummer did too, admittedly).
Your writing is brilliant, Sasha.
He is great actor!!!
I’ll extend some Brad Pitt love to 12 Monkeys, Meet Joe Black, Snatch, Oceans, Mr. And Mrs. Smith (lol I know), Babe, Jesse James, Burn After Reading, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Big Short to name all of them. He also happens to be in one of my favorite films of all time, Tree of Life. Yeah, probably overdue for an acting win.
Pitt is one of the very best actors in Hollywood today, he rarely gets credit for it because a lot of people tend to have hangups about his, by now, legendary good looks but that doesn’t change the fact that bish has a criminally underrated range. Other than his three Oscar nominated roles, he was also iconic in Thelma and Louise, Legends of the Fall, Interview with the Vampire, Se7en, Fight Club, Babel, The Assassination of Jesse James, Burn After Reading, Inglourious Basterds and The Tree of Life. The fact that he wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for any of these, is low-key ridiculous to be honest.
His longevity is also due to what seems like a surprising lack of vanity, surprising only because actors of his stature tend to be considerably more obvious with their career choices and most often opt for lead roles in studio films. Not Pitt, he does indies and supporting roles just as often as studio star vehicles.
Long story short : he is a great actor who tends to make great career choices. And after almost three decades since his big break, an Oscar for acting is most definitely overdue.
I don’t think Brad was ever verbally dexterous enough to be a great actor.. But he’s pretty good. I would have thought he’d have a Redford-like career when it came to awards. But his ‘Cliff’ overwhelms the BSA category and how does he not win?
Why do i get the feeling that there is no movie that can beat once upon a time in hollywood ?
I would both fuck and marry Cliff Booth… and even get on a boat with him, no questions asked. And I can welcome Brandy on the bed as well… So, Brad is winning best supporting actor. https://media2.giphy.com/media/JgRVYI0GXIgI8/giphy.gif
Great and underrated actor, finally justice for Brad. for me he should have won already for Moneyball.
He’s my win for Moneyball that year.
Moneyball is so fucking GOOD! It’s one of those movies that crept up on me. I get into it every time and I can’t even pinpoint why, besides just saying because it’s great overall.
I’m cool with Pitt winning Supporting Actor just as long as Jonathan Majors (The Last Black Man in San Francisco) gets nominated too.
Pitt seems like the overwhelming favourite to win Supporting Actor right now, and I’m not sure what else on the horizon can reasonably beat him.
The only one who could come close is Hopkins if The Two Popes wins Tiff.
I think there are many interesting options for the final Oscar lineup (Shia Labeouf, John Lithgow, Timothee Chalamet, Sterling K. Brown, Christian Bale, Tom Hanks, Chris Evans, Taika Waititi, Bill Hader, Joe Pesci, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Anthony Hopkins), however I do agree, Pitt seems to be way ahead of the pack at the moment.
While anyone from the above list could sneak into the top5, when it comes to the actual win, other than Pitt, I could only see a legit case for
– Shia Labeouf (big creative comeback story plus winning Oscar narrative)
– Alan Alda (Oscar-less legend)
– Timothee Chalamet (if Little Women hits big AND he also gets a lead nod for The King)
– Sterling K. Brown (especially if the Academy embraces Waves as much as it should).
Then again, this early in the race, while I do firmly believe Pitt will get the nod, the other four slots are still wide open so the four I consider legit challengers may not even make the top5 in the end, after all it would be just as easy to see the Bale-Hanks-Pesci-Hopkins quartet join Pitt as seeing the above quartet do it.
Wouldn’t Bale be lead, not supporting?
Who knows at this point, all I know is that no same sex co-leads from the same film will be all campaigned in lead, so at least one person from these teams will be placed in supporting in the end : Bale / Damon, Hopkins / Pryce, Pitt / DiCaprio, Lopez / Wu, Theron / Kidman / Robbie, MacKay / Chapman, Jupe / Hedges, Rhys / Hanks, Evans / Downey Jr., Thompson / Kaling.
I really liked his performance and am rooting for him, but I don’t think his position is even close to being rock solid.
I have two reasons:
1. It’s not a performance the Academy loves to award. It’s relatively understated and relies a lot on personal charisma, rather than flashy “acting” acting.
2. The fact that he is unanimously considered the “runaway frontrunner” makes me think that people are not really thinking about why he would be such a frontrunner. I feel that the arguments people are going by are either “there’s nobody better” or “it’s his year”, neither of which are particularly meaningful at this point in the race. We have seen contenders in similar positions crash and burn later on.
Pitt is a phenomenal actor… however, I am not convinced his OUaTiH performance is actually, really, Oscar worthy. It really seems he is having the same kind of “it is time” buzz than Clooney had when he won for Syriana. I rather had seen him win for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button… and still, he already won an Oscar (Producer of 12 Years a Slave)
it’s Oscar worthy precisely because he makes it seem effortless. It’s tough thing to do, actually.
Yes, I agree he should’ve already won by now but I don’t think how great he was in Benjamin Button discounts how great he is in OUATIH, it’s the sort of role that is impressive precisely because of how simple and effortless it seems. You do have a point with the producer thing – I do wonder whether he will seem due because he hasn’t won an acting award before or whether he won’t feel due because he has won an Oscar before. Regardless i feel like this is a deserving win for him – I am not that bothered by who feels due as long as the winner is someone who puts in a really impressive performance.
He has been around a long time I saw him in a guest starting role on the show Dallas in the late 80s.
I have to say, that I may find difficult to see a more controlled, in service of the film and story performance this year than Banderas… he got to places and range I was not aware he could get. The main problem, is that is a performance so great, it does not have any Oscar clip… and still Oscar talk is unavoidable.
I havent seen Pain and Glory so i cant comment there… But yeah Oscar and quality don’t always go together (obviously) and not having an obvious Oscar clip seems like an issue. I still think the bigger issue is that it’s the less buzzed about foreign film though. Plus male actors from foreign films don’t win – especially in competitive years.
Roberto Benigni
In the history of the award is happened once more than 20 years ago by a film that was top 5 films in it’s year (I mean Oscar wise not quality wise) – which pain and glory is not.
It’s weird how ’05 Clooney looked like like the presumed favorite in hindsight due to the “consolation Oscar for Good Night, & Good Luck” factor (“I guess I’m not winning Best Director.”), even though Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man) won SAG and BFCA (likely as makeup for not getting Oscar-nominated for last year’s Sideways).
Pitt is one of my favorite actors, but both his roles this year (leading and supporting) are, I believe, too understated to get a nomination. If he was going to win, he should’ve for 12 Monkeys or similar broad supporting turns like Snatch or Inglorious Basterds. Now he did manage a nom for Moneyball which wasn’t flashy, but in a tougher year like this one, I don’t think it will happen.
This is HIS year. One of the BEST actors ever. He should WIN an Oscar and I hope he WILL.
yeah, he’s a lock to win Supporting like Zellwegger to win Actress. two down, many other categories to go.
don’t go too far, Zellwegger is not Blanchett or Streep, she needs a BP contender for a second win.
Noted. I forgot about that detail but if Judy makes it? Year is weak af.
There was a time when she was the most popular Academy darling around (three consecutive nominations culminating in a win, rarely happen) and seeing how the role is just as grand and critically acclaimed as the ones Blanchett and Streep won most recently for, don’t bet the farm on her not having enough industry and Academy support to pull this win off without a corresponding BP nod. After all, everyone loves a big comeback story.