Pitt’s fresh start
War Machine star opens up about personal situation and new projects
NEW YORK Brad Pitt and Gen. Stanley McChrystal — the inspiration for Pitt’s four-star Afghanistan commander in the upcoming Netflix war satire War Machine — would seem to be worlds apart. One, an affable member of Hollywood’s elite; the other a hardcharging lifetime military man. But Pitt found one connection with his character: a swollen ego, and the damage done.
“Hubris is a trap and it’s the trap of every great nation that has been No. 1 for too long. You start believing your own stink,” Pitt says. “Anytime I’ve got in trouble, it’s because of my own hubris.”
Pitt, at the moment, may be particularly empathetic to such a drastic swing as the one that sank McChrystal via an infamous Rolling Stone profile. Pitt is now, for the first time since Angelina Jolie Pitt filed for divorce from him last September, stepping back into the limelight. He hasn’t been timid. In his first post-separation interview, to GQ, Pitt was unusually candid, speaking frankly about his struggles with alcohol and the pains of dividing their family.
Pitt was similarly forthright in a recent wide-ranging interview. Why the openness?
“I’ve got no secrets. I’ve got nothing to hide,” said Pitt. “We’re human and I find the human condition very interesting. If we’re not talking about it, then we’re not getting better.”
The 53-year-old actor said he’s spending his time “keeping the ship afloat” and “figuring out the new configuration of our family.
“Kids are everything,” he said, of their six children. “Kids are your life. They’re taking all the focus, as they should anyway.”
He’s getting through it, he assured. “I’m not suicidal or something,” Pitt said, laughing. “There’s still much beauty in the world and a lot of love. And a lot of love to be given. It’s all right. It’s just life.”
Pitt was most keen to discuss War Machine and the strong passions behind it. The film, written and directed by Australian filmmaker David Michod (Animal Kingdom), is based on Michael Hastings’ 2012 book The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan, which chronicled McChrystal’s tumultuous and short-lived stewardship of the war in Afghanistan.
War Machine, which debuts on Netflix on May 26, takes a slightly fictionalized approach. Pitt’s character is named Gen. Glen McMahon, but the events and personalities correspond accurately with McChrystal’s downfall.
“The impetus for me was a visit to Walter Reed,” added Pitt, who visited the military medical centre in 2014. “Those young men and women — who are absolutely heroic in a very harrowing situation — their lives are forever changed and so are their families. It just really made me question who is spending this currency of dedication? Who’s writing the cheque? Who’s making the order?’ ”