The Film Experience

Brad Pitt recently opened up to GQ in a lengthy interview about divorce, drinking, therapy, and his new film War Machine. Interviews like this, which get so personal, are always a a bit of a strange experience if you love movie stars. Should you voraciously read everything about your favorite stars or let the work speak for itself and give their mystique some space to work?

I've never sold that question for myself so I read lengthy profiles/interviews quite erratically.

But one thing that offers pleasure without any such confusion is looking at photos of beautiful stars. So here are some gorgeous pictures of National Treasure Brad Pitt in three of our National Parks, along with a few key quotes from the interviews. Did you know what Brad's favorite among his own films is? It's not what I expected.

On staying with a sculptor friend...

So you're making stuff?
Yeah, I'm making stuff. It's something I've wanted to do for ten years.

Like what? What are you working with?
I'm making everything. I'm working with clay, plaster, rebar, wood. Just trying to learn the materials. You know, I surprise myself. But it's a very, very lonely occupation. There's a lot of manual labor, which is good for me right now. A lot of lugging clay around, chopping and moving and cleaning up after yourself. But I surprise myself. Yesterday I wasn't settled. I had a lotta chaotic thoughts—trying to make sense of where we are at this time—and the thing I was doing wasn't controlled and balanced and perfect. It came out chaotic. I find vernacular in what you can make, rather than giving a speech. I find voice there, that I need.

He's been feeling a little indifferent about his acting career lately, obviously...

When is the acting still exciting?
I would say more in comedic stuff, where you're taking gambles. I can turn out the hits over and over and I just—my favorite movie is the worst-performing film of anything I've done, The Assassination of Jesse James. If I believe something is worthy, then I know it will be worthy in time to come. And there are times I get really cynical, you know. I spend a lot of time on design and even this sculpture folly I'm on, I have days when—it all ends up in the dirt anyways: What's the point? So I go through that cycle, too, you know? What's the point?

On his split from Jolie...

If you ended up in court, it would be a spectacular nightmare.
Spectacular. I see it everywhere. Such animosity and bitterly dedicating years to destroying each other. You'll be in court and it'll be all about affairs and it'll be everything that doesn't matter. It's just awful, it looks awful. One of my favorite movies when it came out was There Will Be Blood, and I couldn't figure out why I loved this movie, I just loved this movie, besides the obvious talent of Paul T. and, you know, Daniel Day. But the next morning I woke up, and I went, Oh, my God, this whole movie is dedicated to this man and his hatred. It's so audacious to make a movie about it, and in life I find it just so sickening. I see it happen to friends—I see where the one spouse literally can't tell their own part in it, and is still competing with the other in some way and wants to destroy them and needs vindication by destruction, and just wasting years on that hatred. I don't want to live that way.

More photos and the full interview over at GQ Style