Brad Pitt was born as William Bradley Pitt on 18th December 1963, in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and raised in Springfield, Missouri. He is the son of Jane Etta, a school counselor, and William Alvin Pitt, a truck company manager. He has a younger brother, Douglas (Doug) Pitt, and a younger sister, Julie Neal Pitt. At Kickapoo High School, Brad Pitt was involved in sports, debating, student government & school musicals. He attended the University of Missouri, where he majored in journalism with a focus on advertising. He occasionally acted in fraternity shows. Before he became successful at acting, Brad Pitt had supported himself by driving strippers in limos, moving refrigerators & also dressing up as a giant chicken while working for “El Pollo Loco”. Brad Pitt talks about his divorce with his better half Angelina Jolie and quitting drinking.
How did acting come out of you?
Well, I think everyone acts out at some time or the other. In fact when I was a kid, I was drawn to stories, beyond the stories that we were living & knew stories with different points of view. I think that was one of the draws that propelled me into films. But of course I didn’t know how to articulate stories. I’m certainly not a good orator, sitting here telling a story, but I felt that I could foster them in films. Comedian Jerry Lee Lewis, was certainly my idol, my inspiration.
Have you ever felt the need to be more political?
I can help by getting movies out with certain messages. I’ve got to be moved by something, I can’t fake it. I grew up with that Ozarkian mistrust of politics to begin with, so I just do better building a house for someone in New Orleans or getting certain movies to the screen that might not get made otherwise.
You’ve played characters in pain. What is pain, emotional & physical?
I think it was more pain tourism. It was still avoidance in some way. I’ve never heard anyone laugh bigger than an African mother who’s lost 9 family members. What is that? I just got R & B for the 1st time. R & B comes from great pain, but it’s a celebration. To me, it’s embracing what’s left. It’s that African woman being able to laugh much more boisterously than I’ve ever been able to.
Do you think if the past 6 months hadn’t happened you’d be in this place eventually?
I think it would have come knocking, no matter what. People call it a midlife crisis, but this isn’t the same! No, this isn’t that. I interpret a midlife crisis as a fear of growing old & fear of dying, you know, going out & buying a Lamborghini. Actually, they’ve been looking pretty good to me lately!
There might be a few Lamborghinis in your future too!
I do have a Ford GT. I do remember a few spots along the road where I’ve become absolutely tired of myself. And this is a big one. These moments have always been a huge generator for change. And I’m quite grateful for it. I can’t remember a day since I got out of college when I wasn’t boozing or something. And you realize that a lot of it is, umm, cigarettes, you know, pacifiers. And I’m running from feelings. I’m really, really happy to be done with all of that. I mean I stopped everything except boozing when I started my family. But even this last year, you know, things I wasn’t dealing with. I was boozing too much. It’s just become a problem. And I’m really happy it’s been half a year now, which is bittersweet, but I’ve got my feelings in my fingertips again. I think that’s part of the human challenge: You either deny them all of your life or you answer them & evolve.
Was it hard to stop smoking pot or guzzling down alcohol?
No. Back in my stoner days, I wanted to smoke a joint with Jack & Snoop & Willie. When you’re a stoner, you get these really stupid ideas. Well, I don’t want to indict the others, but I haven’t made it to Willie yet. I mean, we have a winery. I enjoy wine very, very much, but I just ran it to the ground. I had to step away for a minute. As far as alcohol is concerned, I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. Now I have replaced it with cranberry juice & fizzy water! I’ve got the cleanest urinary tract in all of LA, I guarantee you! But the terrible thing is I tend to run things into the ground. That’s why I’ve got to make something so calamitous. I’ve got to run it off a cliff.
Do you use it to tell your story?
It just keeps knocking. I’m 53 and I’m just getting into it. These are things I thought I was managing very well. I remember literally having this thought a year, a year & a half ago; someone was going through some scandal. Something crossed my path that was a big scandal, and I went, “Thank God I’m never going to have to be a part of one of those again.” I live my life, I have my family, I do my thing, I don’t do anything illegal.
Do you know logistically when you have the kids?
We’re working at that now. It must be much harder when visitation is uncertain. It was all that for a while. I was really on my back and chained to a system when Child Services was called. After that, we’ve been able to work together to sort this out. We’re both, me & Angelina doing our best.” You spend a year just focused on building a case to prove your point and why you’re right and why they’re wrong, and it’s just an investment in vitriolic hatred. I just refuse. And fortunately my partner in this agrees. It’s just very, very jarring for the kids, to suddenly have their family ripped apart.Well, there’s a lot to tell them because there’s understanding the future, the immediate moment and why we’re at this point, and then it brings up a lot of issues from the past that we haven’t talked about.
Do you feel constrained as an actor in some ways?
No, I don’t really think of myself much as an actor anymore. It takes up so little of my year & my focus. Film feels like a cheap pass for me, as a way to get at those hard feelings. It doesn’t work anymore being a dad.
Do you see yourself as having been successful?
I wish I could just change my name. Come out as a new person,like P. Diddy. I can be Puffy now or Snoop or Lion. I just felt like Brad was a misnomer, and now I just feel like fucking Brad.
What’s next?
I’m anxious to get to the studio. For me I’m having a moment of getting to feel emotion at my fingertips. But to get that emotion to clay, I just haven’t cracked the surface. Right now I know the manual labor is good for me, getting to know the expansiveness & limitations of the materials. I’ve got to start from the bottom, I’ve got to sweep my floor, I’ve got to wrap up my shit at night.
