Brad Pitt looked to erase a pretty boy image earlier in his career with a role in the gritty 1993 film Kalifornia.
In a clip from an upcoming E! True Hollywood Story about the Oscar-winner, Kalifornia director Dominic Sena and others explained the dynamics of Pitt’s early career after his breakout role as a handsome hustler in the 1991 hit Thelma & Louise.
Cult of Celebrity author Cooper Lawrence told the outlet about the newfound spotlight on his career and bachelorhood Pitt faced in the early 90s.
Career path: Brad Pitt looked to erase a pretty boy image earlier in his career with a role in the gritty 1993 film Kalifornia
‘Suddenly he became somebody who was constantly on the cover of magazines,’ Lawrence said, ‘and everybody wanted to know about his social life and who he was dating.’
Kalifornia director Dominic Sena explained the chain of events that led the actor, now 57, to take on a rougher role in the film as Early Grayce to change his career arc.
‘He had just finished A River Runs Through It and he felt between that and Thelma & Louise, he was concerned about being typecast as a pretty boy,’ the filmmaker said. ‘He just said he was looking for something completely different and I thought, “Boy have I got a role for you.”‘
Sena said he ‘met with Brad’ and ‘just loved his take on the character,’ adding, ‘I knew he was the guy’ for the role.
Details: In an upcoming E! True Hollywood Story about the Oscar-winner, Kalifornia director Dominic Sena and others explained the dynamics of Pitt’s early career after his breakout role as a handsome hustler in the 1991 hit Thelma & Louise
Pitt appeared in the film with then-girlfriend Juliette Lewis, which Sena said also played into the dynamic of the movie
Pitt appeared in the film with David Duchovny and then-girlfriend Juliette Lewis, which Sena said also played into the dynamic of the movie.
‘Considering they were in the middle of a relationship, I thought it could either be wonderful or it could be terrible,’ said the filmmaker, who has also directed movies including 2001’s Swordfish and 2000’s Gone in 60 Seconds. ‘But I’ve got to tell you, it was a joy.
He continued: ‘All of this sort of interactive stuff between them felt real. They were just into one another and it was pretty all encompassing. Brad Pitt arrived in the morning, went into the trailer, and he came out as Early Grayce and that was that.’
Pitt would go on to play a number of unconventional roles in the 90s following his grisly turn in Kalifornia, including Jeffrey Goines in the 1995 thriller 12 Monkeys and Tyler Durden in the 1999 classic Fight Club.
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Pitt ran into the ‘Pretty Boy’ issue as recently as three years ago, in his Oscar-winning turn as Cliff Booth in the 2019 Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood. Booth was a sidekick/stunt double for fading actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) in the film, who was based on Burt Reynolds’ longtime stunt double Hal Needham.
The late Reynolds, who died at 82 in September of 2018, came up with a line referring to Pitt’s looks that made it into a key scene in the movie, Tarantino told Sight and Sound magazine in 2019.
In the film, amid a confrontation between Pitt’s Booth and Bruce Lee (plated by Mike Moh), Lee said, ‘You’re kinda pretty for a stunt guy.’
Tarantino told the magazine, ‘I did not come up with that Burt Reynolds read the script and he knows a lot of stunt guys. And Burt said, “So Brad Pitt is playing the stunt guy?” And I said, “Yeah.” And Burt says, “You gotta have somebody say, ‘You’re kinda pretty for a stunt guy.'”
Tarantino continued: ‘And the thing is, Brad doesn’t like making his looks a thing in a movie, but he couldn’t say no to that, because it was Burt Reynolds’ line! And watching Brad grin and bear it is really great. Because he doesn’t really dig it. But the fact that Burt Reynolds came up with it – he can’t say s***!’