Brad Pitt Reveals The Career Regrets That Still Haunt Him

Brad Pitt is one of the most well-known American actors of the current time, having starred in many big name films throughout the years. In a candid interview with The New York Times, the actor — who will turn 56 next week — reflected on some of his previous work and discussed what he wishes he would have done differently, as reported by Collider.

Pitt said he is particularly haunted by his performance in one of his earlier movies, 12 Monkeys. Even though he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work in that movie, Pitt says he can’t even watch the film’s second half because he wishes he would have done it differently.

There are also the movies that didn’t end up working out the way he’d hoped. For example, he said he often wonders about the film, To the White Sea, which tragically got shut down.

Perhaps surprising to some of his fans, Pitt told The New York Times that it was actually Troy that really impacted the way his career shifted. He said Troy wasn’t his first choice of project at the time, but, as he had turned down another opportunity recently, he wanted to get to work on something. He continued, saying that — while he gave it his best shot — he quickly realized that he didn’t like the way the story was being portrayed. Because of that, he wasn’t really connected to the film, he explained.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie give brilliant performances in Quentin Tarantino’s acclaimed 9th film. #OnceUponATimeInHollywood now available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & DVD! https://t.co/qZXjB4zD12 pic.twitter.com/NutkioFveV

— Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (@OnceInHollywood) December 10, 2019

“It wasn’t painful, but I realized that the way that movie was being told was not how I wanted it to be. I made my own mistakes in it. What am I trying to say about Troy? I could not get out of the middle of the frame. It was driving me crazy. I’d become spoiled working with David Fincher. It’s no slight on Wolfgang Petersen. Das Boot is one of the all-time great films. But somewhere in it, Troy became a commercial kind of thing. Every shot was like, Here’s the hero! There was no mystery.”

After the project was finally completed, Pitt said he knew he was going to do things differently. He decided he would only work on projects that he felt had a high quality story.

That decision seemed to work in his favor, as Pitt’s career really took off in the years following Troy. His work became more diverse as he has explored a variety of genres. He notably appeared in 2013 drama 12 Years a Slave which went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and Pitt himself has received numerous accolades throughout the years. As The Inquisitr previously reported, just this year he was nominated for a SAG and Golden Globe award for his work in Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood.