Pitt Stop

It's been six years since Brad Pitt first played Rusty Ryan in Ocean's 11. He was in his late 30s then and he'd been a star for a decade - ever since giving Geena Davis the ride of her life in Thelma And Louise. (How different things might have been if William Baldwin hadn't turned down that role - it's still one of the indelible moments in Pitt's career.)

The movies had been hit and miss - they usually are - but he had made the transition from hot young thing to bone fide leading man with relative ease, with help from such mentors as Robert Redford (A River Runs Through It) and Tom Cruise (Interview With The Vampire). He could be satisfied he had proved he was more than just a pretty face (Twelve Monkeys) and in two films with director David Fincher (Seven and Fight Club) he looked like he could become one of the most important actors of his generation. If not for Pitt's support, neither of those movies would have emerged in such provocative form.

An incomprehensible but very funny cameo in Snatch won over some new fans, and if neither The Mexican nor Spy Game exactly set the world alight, these were solid bread-and-butter entertainments, the kind of filler that builds up a body of work for any actor.

I don't think anyone seriously thought it strange that Pitt should play second fiddle to George Clooney then, although there were jokes about seniority - as well as about age - in the too-clever-by-half-a-dozen Ocean's Twelve (2004).

He's more famous now then ever - but for his love life, not his acting. Except for the Ocean's films and a couple of very minor cameos, Pitt has only made three films since 2001: Troy, Mr & Mrs Smith, and Babel. Slim pickings, considering his role in Babel boils down to little more than thirty minutes' screen time. 'The way he's fading away at the age of 43, he could be an actress,' bemoaned David Thomson in The Guardian earlier this year.

That's harsh - and implies that Pitt's appeal is based first and foremost on his good looks (which aren't exactly fading, if Ocean's 13 is anything to go by). Of course he was and remains a sex symbol, and I would wager that women make up a sizable portion of his fan base, but I doubt they're preparing to abandon Brad just yet, even if they do think twice about queuing for his upcoming Western, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Even if some male stars have a longevity women can only envy, there is a turning point in middle age… Some men assume a gravity and conviction that enhances their authority.

Harrison Ford had been kicking around Hollywood forever, but it was only as he approached 40 that his career took off. Many others go to seed. You want examples: just turn on your TV set. Wearing his producer hat, Pitt passed on the roles in The Departed he developed for himself and Tom Cruise when he realised they were now too old to play them.

It seems safe to assume these thoughts have knotted that famous brow of late, not least because of the ructions in his not-so-private life (he now finds himself a divorcé, and a father four times over), but also because he's spending most of this year aging 80 years - in reverse - for David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button…

Recently Pitt has dedicated as much time and energy to Ms Angelina Jolie, her causes, and his passion for architecture (including a stint as an apprentice in Frank Gehry's studio) as to his day job. But unless you're a die hard Jennifer Aniston fan it would be hard to suggest he has priorities wrong.

Granted, Babel is the only project since Fight Club that might be construed a challenge or a stretch, either for the role itself or in broader commercial terms.

Then again, take a look at the projects he has in pre-production through his Plan B company. They include Shantaram, with Johnny Depp set to star as the Aussie heroin dealer/arms dealer/good Samaritan; State of Play, from the British TV series, which Pitt will star in; the Coen brothers's Burn After Reading (with pal George Clooney); and Chad Schmid, written and directed by Steve Conrad (The Weather Man), in which Pitt will play an aspiring actor who comes to LA in the late 80s, only to find his career sidetracked by his uncanny resemblance to a hot up and coming actor by the name of… Brad Pitt. Who on earth could relate to that?

Tom Charity
tom.charity@lovefilm.com