BRAD PITT ON HIS LATEST ROLE IN QUENTIN TARANTINO’S Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

BRAD PITT TALKS ABOUT WORKING WITH LEONARDO DICAPRIO, THE PRESSURES OF FAME AND WHY HE ALWAYS ROOTS FOR THE UNDERDOG

Hollywood legend Brad Pitt needs no introduction. His illustrious career spans nearly three decades and he’s appeared in films including Seven and 12 Years A Slave. But in recent years, his relationships have seen 55-year-old Brad hit the headlines more than his acting. After a high-profile divorce from Friends actress Jennifer Aniston, Brad moved on with Angelina Jolie and the pair have six children, three of whom they adopted, before splitting in 2016. He subsequently revealed that an addiction to alcohol had contributed to issues in his marriage.

So it must be a relief for Brad, who is looking tanned, healthy and happy, to be back in the spotlight because of a movie. And not just any movie – Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood sees Brad star alongside Margot Robbie and Leonardo Dicaprio in a warmhearted tribute to Hollywood’s golden age. ‘It was really great to work with Leo,’ he says, adding of the whole cast: ‘It’s knowing you’ve got the best of the best on the opposite side of the table.’

Here, Brad opens up about feeling like an underdog, working with director Quentin Tarantino and being a ‘cars and girls’ obsessed 17 year old...

There was a great ease and it was really fun. I had a laugh with him. You’ve got the best of the best holding up the scene with you and there’s a great relief in that. We have the same reference points. We came into the industry at the same time, we have similar experiences and we know a lot of the same people. Leonardo is really giving and generous. I hope we get to work together again.

Leonardo plays an actor whose career is taking a nose dive, and you play his stuntman. How much do you identify with these characters?

I see Rick [Leo] and Cliff [me] as one individual. Rick is feeling put upon. Life’s against him – and there are some of the greatest breakdown scenes I’ve ever seen from my friend Leo. In the Cliff character, you see a guy who’s gone past that and is accepting of his lot in life. He’s at peace.

Leonardo’s character is becoming an underdog. Have you ever felt like that? Yes, I think it’s easy to forget that I came from Oklahoma and Missouri – places where the film industry is not on the vocational list, so I started as an extra and slowly learned about the industry. I still root for an underdog.

Do you think outside the box?

I try to live outside the box. It started with me at an early age in a religious environment. Leaving that behind was scary. I would think, what’s it all about? I had all these questions. Religion was a pacifier for those fears, but suddenly I had nothing to answer them with.

What was your dream when you first started out as an actor?

I didn’t think that far ahead. I just loved films, so I wanted to give it a shot. We put so much emphasis on success and failure but to me it’s an ongoing process. Man, I was just interested in cars and girls. I wasn’t thinking that far ahead; I’ve never been one to do so.

You travel all over the world. What’s your first memory of planes?

I had never been on a plane until I was 25, so everywhere I got to travel was really exciting for me. It didn’t matter whether it was the Netherlands or Belgium or Tokyo, I just remember soaking in everything.

Is fame liberating or suffocating?

It can be both; it’s a trade-off. It’s liberating in the opportunities it provides but, on the other hand, it can be very confining. I haven’t seen a hotel lobby in 15 years because I’ve got to go up the ass end of a hotel and out the same way. We get our moments, but it’s good and bad.

What did you think when you saw Once Upon A Time In Hollywood for the first time?

I was as pleased as punch. Tarantino always brings something fresh and new to the table. It’s a love letter to this community that I have loved – and hated – through the years. It’s a love letter to LA, which I also love. It’s a love letter to cinema and television, as well as the unsung people who came before me.

‘We put so much emphasis on success and failure’

What was it like working with Leonardo Dicaprio? Brad Pitt with his Once Upon A Time In Hollywood co-stars Margot Robbie and Leonardo Dicaprio, and director Quentin Tarantino What were you like when you were 17 years old?

‘I haven’t seen a hotel lobby in 15 years,’ says Brad, who always has to sneak in and out through a back entrance