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Brad Pitt: Celebrity Done Right
By : Bret Love
Emily Dickinson once said, "Fame is a fickle food upon a shifting plate," and this has only grown more true in the years since the notable poet's death.
In an era in which thousands of reality show contestants line up for their shot at 15 minutes of fame, the notion of the classic movie star (see: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn) seems downright antiquated. But Brad Pitt has proven that it's still possible to live under the increasingly harsh glare of fame's spotlight with both dignity and humor, using one's celebrity for something more than shameless self-promotion.
A tabloid staple since the beginning of his mid-'90s relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt is more experienced in dealing with media attention than most. But in recent years, the 44-year-old actor has used his platform wisely, drawing attention to the plight of Katrina-ravaged New Orleans (a cause to which he personally donated $5 million), co-founding the Darfur charity Not On Our Watch with buddies Don Cheadle and George Clooney, and accompanying partner Angelina Jolie on her missions as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations.
Born in Oklahoma and raised in Springfield, Mo., where his father worked as manager at a trucking firm, Pitt attributes his relatively grounded nature to his Midwestern upbringing. "A lot of my family is still in Missouri," he says, "so when I do get back home—and I do, because I have to take the grandkids to visit or my parents would kill me—it's mainly about spending time with the family. But it was a really gentle, sweet place to grow up."
That pastoral region was a far cry from Hollywood, where he headed immediately upon leaving the University of Missouri, just two credits shy of graduation. It took nearly five years of small supporting roles before he garnered attention for his breakout turn in Thelma & Louise. By 1995, he'd been named People's "Sexiest Man Alive" and earned $4 million for the leading role in Se7en. He admits now that he was not remotely prepared for the hailstorm of attention that followed.
"In some ways, you say you made this deal and the attention is part of it," he reasons. "But, on the other hand, you really do not know what you're getting into. The focus [when you're starting out] is on your love for movies, wanting to tell stories and be really good at it. When this other thing comes along, it can be really discombobulating, but eventually you start to acclimate."
But Brad Pitt is no pampered celeb moaning about the high price of fame. He's quick to point out the upside of being a world-renowned movie star. "I know the deal and understand the trade-off you have to make. There are great perks to what we do," he admits. "We get to travel and see the world, and we manage it. The only time it becomes unmanageable to me is when it's a full-frontal assault on the kids."
Instead of worrying about the paparazzi that seem to shadow his every move, Pitt seems content to focus on his work, which in recent years has veered from popcorn crowd-pleasers such as Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Ocean's Thirteen to award-worthy dramatic fare like Babel. In the Coen brothers-directed Burn After Reading, he's at the center of a comedic farce as one of two unscrupulous gym employees who find a CD-ROM containing the top secret memoirs of a high-ranking CIA agent, played by John Malkovich.
Asked about making the transition from the brooding outlaw to the downright idiotic Chad Feldheimer (the character he portrays in Burn After Reading), he insists, "The preparation is really all the same, whether it be for a comedy like Burn After Reading or for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. You begin with research and studying, and you start to narrow in on the idea you're gonna try out. I hear stories of actors not being able to shake a role at the end of the day, but that's never really my affliction. I usually have more trouble getting into the part," he admits with a laugh, "and am very happy to put it down when it's done."
Although he has plenty of projects in the works as an actor, including the title role in director David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and a buzzed-about turn as Jewish resistance leader Lt. Aldo Raine in Quentin Tarantino's eagerly anticipated WWII epic Inglorious Bastards, these days Pitt seems equally devoted to his role as a producer. Having previously helped to usher films like The Departed and Jolie's A Mighty Heart into theaters, he currently has nearly a half-dozen projects in production, including high-profile adaptations of The Time Traveler's Wife and Shantaram.
"I got into producing for the same reason I originally got into being an actor," he insists, "[which was] a love for film and the belief that stories can educate and/or entertain. Producing is really about getting out of the way and
making sure the director has room to go where he needs to go, and being a buffer between the artistic and financial side to help make sure they get along. But the producer's most important role is quality control, because there are a hundred different ways a story can be told badly."
More important than his career as an actor and producer, or even his sociopolitical passions, is Pitt's role as partner to Angelina Jolie (whom he calls "the best sounding board I have") and as father to their multiethnic brood of kids, which expanded in July with the birth of twins Knox and Vivienne.
"[Becoming a father] changes your perspective on the world," he says passionately. "I've had a very fortunate life, and it's time for me to share that. Having children takes the focus off yourself, which I'm grateful for. I'm so tired of thinking about myself…. You can write a book, you can make a movie, you can paint a painting, but having kids is the most extraordinary thing I've ever taken on."
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