Brad Pitt was among the actors considered for the lead role in director Jean-Marc Vallée’s award-winning drama Dallas Buyers Club .
Although Mathew McConaughey ultimately portrayed AIDS activist Ron Woodroof in the flick, the actor said other folks were originally up for the part early on. In addition to Pitt, McConaughey said Only God Forgives star Ryan Gosling was in the running for the lead.
While promoting the release of Dallas Buyers Club in India — the film opens in the country on February 28 — McConaughey dropped some little-known knowledge about Brad Pitt’s involvement with the project. However, neither Gosling nor the World War Z star have confirmed these rumors as of this writing.
“At one time, Brad Pitt was attached to it and Ryan Gosling was attached to it. For whatever reasons, it didn’t get made,” McConaughey dished .
Brad Pitt may have missed out on that acclaimed drama, but he ultimately found his way into a completely different award-winning flick. The actor briefly appeared in director Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave , a movie that has earned its fair share of accolades over the past several months.
Not only does Pitt appear in the drama, he also served as producer on the project. According to the actor, the story’s desire to tackle a very dark and troubling subject is one of the reasons he originally decided to seek a career in the business.
“And it was not ’til I saw Solomon Northup’s story that I fully, fully grasped the utter horror of losing your freedom, or denying another one their freedom, taking their freedom, splitting their family apart. It’s abhorrent,” he told Ann Curry .
However, just because Brad Pitt gravitates towards movies like 12 Years a Slave doesn’t necessarily mean he isn’t above putting together a good popcorn flick. The actor starred in the zombie epic World War Z last summer, a film that many folks thought would crash and burn at the box office.
The movie’s unexpected success prompted the suits at Paramount Pictures to reconsider putting together a sequel. However, it’s currently unclear when the studio hopes to have the project in the can and on the big screen.
CNN reported late last year that The Impossible director Juan Antonio Bayona was eventually tapped to helm the World War Z sequel. Since Marc Foster and Pitt didn’t always get along while filming the first installment, Paramount decided to find someone else to tackle the follow-up.
Are you surprised that Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling were originally approached to star in Dallas Buyers Club ?