Brad Pitt thought Netflix’s new actioner, The Killer, was so violent and mean-spirited that he turned down the lead role. Despite David Fincher, Pitt’s frequent collaborator, developing and directing the project, the Bullet Train star couldn’t be convinced. Fincher recently revealed the info in an interview with Rolling Stone.
The Killer stars Michael Fassbender as a nameless assassin on a job in Paris. After the hit goes wrong, and his loved ones are targeted by a shadowy enforcer (Tilda Swinton), the killer sets about executing his bloody revenge.
Fincher began developing the comedic thriller back in 2007 when he first became aware of the source graphic novel. At the time, he was finishing off The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which marked the director’s third collaboration with Pitt after Se7en and Fight Club. Fincher was hoping for a fourth team-up on The Killer with the Troy stunner. But Pitt wasn’t feeling it.
“I’d originally been thinking of Brad back in 2008,” Fincher said. “But his response had been, ‘Eh, a little too nihilistic for me.’”
David Fincher Says Canceled ‘World War Z’ Sequel Would Have Been a “Little Like ‘The Last of Us’”
David Fincher, who was set to direct a World War Z sequel before it was canceled by Paramount, is revealing some of the plans he had for the follow-up film.
In an interview with GQ UK, published online Wednesday, the Fight Club filmmaker said the zombie movie would have been a “little like The Last of Us,” the hit HBO series starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey that premiered earlier this year
“I’m glad that we didn’t do what we were doing, because The Last of Us has a lot more real estate to explore the same stuff,” he explained. “In our title sequence, we were going to use the little parasite … they used it in their title sequence, and in that wonderful opening with the Dick Cavett, David Frost-style talk show.”
The 2013 hit film starring Brad Pitt and directed by Marc Forster was an adaptation of the Max Brooks novel of the same name. It followed former United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt) as he traveled across the world to try and stop a zombie epidemic that is threatening to destroy humanity.
Terry Gilliam Talks Brad Pitt’s Performance in ’12 Monkeys’
U.S. writer-director Terry Gilliam had the crowd in stitches throughout his masterclass at the Lumière Film Festival, where he presented the restored version of his 1995 cult movie “12 Monkeys.”
On the making of “12 Monkeys” and its lead actors’ remarkable performances, Gilliam explained that part of the film’s success was down to the fact that he gave Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt roles that were totally different to what they were used to playing, casting Willis as the introvert prisoner James Cole, and Pitt as psychotic mental patient Jeffrey Goines.
“Brad worked incredibly hard to prepare for the role – he went to psychiatric wards, visited mental hospitals… and the first day of the shoot, he exploded on the set! It was breathtaking how funny he was, how strange, how psychotic, it was incredible! So, in the end, Bruce did one of the best performances of his life, and so did Brad,” said Gilliam.
“12 Monkeys” was restored in 4K by Arrow Films and NBC Universal under the supervision of Gilliam and is scheduled for DVD and theatrical release by Paris-based distributor L’Atelier d’images on Nov. 8.
The Lumière Film Festival runs in Lyon through Oct. 22.
BP Gallery Update
• x004 Advertisement Gardener’s Gin, God’s True Cashmere, Le Domaine.
• x014 Tokyo, Japan (08/22/22)
• x010 Tokyo, Japan – Bullet Train (Photocall) (08/23/22)
• x007 Pressjunket, Photocalls & Portraits (1992, 1997 & 2004)
• x001 Showest – Las Vegas, NV (03/08/93)
Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap and Brad Pitt’s Plan B in Talks to Remake ‘The Thin Man’
Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment and Brad Pitt’s Plan B shingle are in talks to obtain the remake rights of the comedy-crime movie “The Thin Man,” TheWrap has learned.
According to insiders with knowledge of the project, the rights to “The Thin Man” only recently became available. LuckyChap and Plan B had been eyeing this for some time prior to the strikes. No discussions of who will star are happening in respect to the SAG-AFTRA strike; however both companies would produce together.
“The Thin Man” is a 1934 hardboiled detective novel by author Dashiell Hammett, featuring the characters of Nick and Nora Charles. It was adapted into a successful film series starring William Powell and Myrna Loy that ran from the 1930s to the 1940s.
