Why Brad Pitt Almost Quit One Of His Most Iconic '90s Movies After A Table Read
Brad Pitt's performance in the 1994 epic Western movie "Legends of the Fall" might have earned him a Golden Globe nomination for best actor, but he seemingly wanted to leave the project from the get-go. In the new book by director Ed Zwick, "Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood," Zwick says the actor wasn't too enthralled with the script during a table read because it was too focused on the film's narrative and visual elements — and that was just the start of the trouble.
"I could see Brad's growing discomfort as [the table read] went on," Zwick writes, per Vanity Fair. "Hours afterward, his agent called the studio to say Brad wanted to quit. It fell to Marshall [Herskovitz, the film's producer] to talk Brad off the ledge. It was never mentioned again, but it was the first augury of the deeper springs of emotion roiling inside Brad. He seems easygoing at first, but he can be volatile when riled, as I was to be reminded more than once as shooting began and we took each other's measure."
What came after caused more stress to Zwick than making his lead star feel uneasy during a table read. In fact, the making of "Legends of the Fall" was sometimes a turbulent experience for both Pitt and the director.
Brad Pitt and Ed Zwick argued on the set of Legends of the Fall
Where "Legends of the Fall" ranks among the best Brad Pitt movies is up for debate. However, the Western was well-received by audiences and can be credited as one of the A-list star's most notable early performances. That said, getting that standout turn out of Pitt was difficult for Edward Zwick, as he believes the actor was reluctant to show emotion due to his masculine upbringing and desire to emphasize his cowboy character's madness. This caused the director to push his star to open up, leading to intimidating outbursts on set.
"Brad wasn't about to give in without a fight," Zwick describes. "In his defense, I was pushing him to do something he felt was either wrong for the character, or more 'emo' than he wanted to appear on-screen. I don't know who yelled first, who swore, or who threw the first chair. Me, maybe? But when we looked up, the crew had disappeared. And this wasn't the last time it happened."
While it seems that Zwick and Pitt had a hostile relationship on set, they didn't stay mad at each other for too long. The director claims they always made up after their disputes, and they even got high when they sat down together to record a commentary track for the film's home media release.