There’s no breaking news here, or any news at all per se, but we kinda love Brad Pitt for pointing out that “The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward John Ford,” is one of his own favorite movies because it’s one of ours. Directed by Andrew Dominik (“Chopper”), the film is gorgeous, lyrical, poetic and Pitt’s acting is some of his best (he was awarded the Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival that year, but was unfortunately very overlooked by Oscar; the picture also features a haunting score by Warren Ellis and Nick Cave).
Pitt still gets a lot of shit thrown at him and doesn’t really get the credit he deserves, perhaps because of his celebrity, but if you look at the roles he’s taken in the last few years (including ‘James’), the list is pretty damn impressive and the work, that we’ve seen, itself is solid: Terrence Malick in “The Tree of Life,” Fincher’s many projects, Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” Soderbergh’s entertaining, but smart “Oceans” series, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Babel,” the Coens with “Burn After Reading,” etc.
Not only that, it seems he only wants to continue working with singular modern auteurs in great projects. “I have nothing to prove anymore,” he said in a recent press interview. “The only thing that’s worth anything is when you explore something that’s interesting. I did a film a couple years ago, ‘The Assassination Of Jesse James,’ and it’s on the books as a failure. I loved that movie, I had such a great experience.”
The fantastic thing about his interest in odder fare, is that it gives muscle, clout and money to smaller projects that otherwise might not get off the ground. “My point is, I am absolutely free to follow the things that interest me. I believe if it interests me, there will be a few other people interested as well. To me it comes down to discovery.”
We love this line of thinking and think its great when a powerhouse star uses his celebrity to get smaller projects off the ground. Really, would Terrence Malick’s upcoming “Tree of Life” really happened without Pitt? Maybe, but he surely doesn’t hurt. Anyhow, kudos to him. We didn’t love ‘Ben Button,’ but we thought his restrained performance was one of the picture’s better elements.