Brad Pitt Desperately Tried To Quit One Of His Greatest Roles
At this point in Brad Pitt’s Hollywood career, it’s easy to list off some of his most famous roles, and surely many of those lists have to include one of his earliest greats: Interview with the Vampire. While we still cherish the actor’s performance as the brooding Louis de Pointe du Lac, the actor was miserable filming the movie and even tried to buy his way out of the role.
Anyone who has sat through Interview with the Vampire knows that the film has a way of taking you to a dark place – literally and figuratively. Brad Pitt’s Louis spends most of the movie brooding over his losses in life and death, but apparently, the actor didn’t have to do much acting to come off so unhappy. He spent the entirety of production in a dark place.
Six Months In The Dark
Brad Pitt revealed his difficulties filming Interview with the Vampire in a 2011 interview with Entertainment Weekly. When the reporter pointed out how miserable Pitt looked in the film, the actor responded, “I am miserable. Six months in the f—ing dark.” Since actors tend to dig deep and take on the persona of the character they are portraying (just look at Heath Ledger in Batman) it’s easy to see why playing such a depressing character would affect one’s mood.
Describing the sets, Brad Pitt pointed out that he spent his months living in the dark while filming Interview with the Vampire. Much was shot in London during the winter inside what the actor referred to as a mausoleum. Pitt arrived to work every morning in the dark, worked in the dark, and didn’t get off until the sun had already set.
It wasn’t just the mood and setting that made Brad Pitt hate his time working on Interview with the Vampire. The process of transforming into Louis—the long hours spent in makeup and the painful contacts—also took a toll on the rising star. Additionally, the actor wasn’t happy playing what he felt was a mundane part.
The Tom Cruise Show
Brad Pitt admitted that he never saw a script up until it was time to shoot. Referring to Louis as the “bi*** role,” he recalled how Tom Cruise was the “pulse of the film,” adding that there was nothing for Louis to do.
It’s worth noting, however, that Pitt mentioned he does not mean to diminish Tom Cruise’s brilliant performance. He noted that the actor had a lot to deal with, given the pushback against his casting as Lestat.
The Price To Walk Away
Brad Pitt hit a breaking point and met with the movie’s producer, David Geffen, to ask how much he would have to pay to back out. But when the World War Z star learned that it was going to cost him a cool $40 million, he knew he had to see it through.
Looking back on Brad Pitt’s career, it’s easy to see why he holds such sour memories of filming Interview with the Vampire. The actor was still in the beginning of his career, and likely would have been more used to the transformation process had he taken on the role even just a decade later. At the end of the day, we’re just happy Brad Pitt didn’t have $40 million lying around to quit the film, as his portrayal of Louis is one we can’t easily forget.
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