I never really keep up with actors’ ages or anything, but jeez, Brad Pitt is five years away from the half century mark? Amazing.
Anyway, Reed Johnson recently profiled the actor for the Los Angles Times regarding his role in David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Here’s a bit from the actor on growing older:
“Once you hit 40, you start reexamining the math of it all,” says the actor, who turned 45 on Dec. 18. So far, he indicates, the pluses and minuses are adding up just fine. “I’ll trade wisdom for youth any day,” Pitt says.
And digging at the heart of the film’s thesis:
“[The film is] a tragedy in the sense that any love involves loss, and that’s the risk you take,” Pitt responds. “And the greater the love, the greater the loss. I certainly feel that now with the woman I’m with, and the children that I have. But whatever the course may be, this time together is extraordinary.”
A nice piece. Check out the rest here.
Comments
15 responses to “45? Holy…”
Sorry to be the douchebag, but… “quarter century”? 25?
He looks more and more like Robert Redford as he gets older. It’s kind of scary.
How did they make him so damn young in Benjamin Button. I mean damn
Haha…half century. Duh.
“I’ll trade wisdom for youth any day.”
I’ll flatter myself into believing that I don’t have to make any such unprofitable bargain.
just saw benjamin button. i need to see it one more time to decide whether it or the dark knight was the movie of the year but i have to say i don’t understand the criticism here. cold? i don’t get that. i felt so much for all of the characters. just because its realistic look at the inevitable doesnt create a happy ending doesnt mean its cold. i think quite the opposite in fact. someone explain this train of thought to me
I don’t think the issue was ever the ending, Casey. Speaking for myself (and I think a lot of the “cold” criticisms are in line with this), it has to do with the arm’s-length approach Fincher uses to direct this, what should have been a much more emotionally impacting narrative. Now, it took a second viewing for those emotions to connect for me, but after the first look, I couldn’t shake the sense that there was a detachment there. And in many ways, that’s just how Fincher is; that’s his philosophy of the medium. He brings you right up to the point of sentiment and then pulls back, and like Eric Roth mentioned, there’s something to be said for that. However, I think it caught more than a few viewers off guard. Whether it was a questionable artistic decision is up for argument, but again, speaking for myself, I needed to take another look before it settled into my bones. I doubt a great number of the nation’s critics saw it more than once, however.
I didn’t find it cold either. First thing I did after viewing was to call my mother (who I haven’t had the best relationship with) to tell her that I love her. Sappy but true.
I just saw it myself, and while I liked it, I also saw an incredibly flawed movie. I can’t agree with Kris’ praises of the screenplay like I hoped I might — the dialogue is a struggle.
When I walked out, I said to a friend that I don’t think I’d know for a couple days whether I liked it or not … this is a movie that demands some introspection. But I think I did see the coldness that Kris brought up and others have picked up on. I don’t want to give anything away, and I won’t, but in a word, Queenie. I don’t think there’s a better example of the coldness.
I did, however, absolutely love Taraji P. Henson in the film, and I appreciated some of the subtleties that Blanchett (first) and Pitt (second) brought to their characters. The problem with Brad is it’s hard to see the character and not think of Joe Black. Blanchett gives a much more original portrayal, and I certainly understand Kris’ comments that her character is given a much better arc.
I’m sure I’ll have more on this everyday for the next month…
I might need you to elaborate on your Queenie comment. Send me an email, I’m curious.
i guess i can understand that. i suppose it just clicked for me immediately because i naturally connect emotionally with people(characters) quickly i think. i also don’t think i understand the whole “Benjamin is a passive viewer of a character” thing. i think he was definitely an internally charged, thoughtful character and Brad played him to perfection. I think the subtleties of Benjamin’s feelings really shine through because of Pitt’s portrayal, and maybe not enough people payed attention to him because Daisy was indeed, the light of his life, and the story
I certainly thought Pitt was fantastic in the role, I just think it was written passively. And that’s not meant as a pejorative, mind you. He did everything he was called upon to do, but he is more of an anchor for us as an audience, I think, than any real source of dramatic spice and tension.
Kris: Sent.
point taken, but agree to disagree. i loved the way he dealt with the knowledge of his inevitable decline. i felt a lot of internal turmoil from him over how he was to deal with his decline, specifically when the baby came along. it was clear to me that he knew it was about to get really wierd as soon as Daisy told him she was pregnant. and my mother and i just debated over whether he made the right decision. I thought Brad perfectly sold how hard it was for him to leave the perfection that was his life. I argued to my mom that, in the end he knew his daughter’s perception of reality would be way off with him as a father figure.
My problem stemmed mostly in the pacing of the film. I think the coldness also stems from this. The whole movie is about life, as well as storytelling, but the whole movie just moves along at such a quick pace, never letting it just sit and breathe for just a second. The screenplay also felt a tad contrived at times, integrating Katrina into the fray being the prime example, along with some of the dialogue. However, I certainly admire the craftsmanship of it all. It’s an incredibly well-made film and certainly an interesting story. I just didn’t feel much until the very end, and even then, it was a sort of “meh” type of feeling.