The Lost City directors explain how they got Brad Pitt on board

The Lost City is a comedy adventure that harkens back to the glory days of fun blockbusters like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Romancing the Stone.

Centering on a sheltered author of romance novels (Sandra Bullock) who finds herself lost in the jungle with her hot Fabio-style book cover star (Channing Tatum) while outrunning baddies and trying to find treasure, The Lost City is directed by Aaron and Adam Nee. The brothers tell Total Film in the new issue of the magazine, featuring The Northman on the cover, that – while the project was an exciting prospect – they never expected to land a certain A-lister to play the supporting role of a mysterious gung-ho adventurer.

“Brad Pitt’s name came up early for this. But the role isn’t a cameo, he’s in a good chunk of the movie. We were like, ‘We’re never going to get Brad Pitt to do this,'” chuckles Adam. “And then Sandy did Bullet Train [with Pitt], she was pitching him the role and she and Brad share a hairdresser, Janine [Thompson]. Janine was saying to Brad, ‘How would you do your hair if you played this part? What would you do about this?’ It felt like she just started getting him excited about it. And it then suddenly became real – and we were sitting on a Zoom, and talking to him about the movie. Before we knew it, he was in the jungle.”

Read more. The latest Total Film magazine featuring this interview is now available in stores.