FRESH AIR
Brad Pitt is aware that his portrayal of a baseball-team manager in the new film Moneyball is somewhat different from his previous roles. After all, the actor has played a Nazi-hunter, a vampire, a cowboy hitchhiker, a detective on the trail of a serial killer, the Greek warrior Achilles, a terrorist, an assassin and the outlaw Jesse James. He has ridden on horseback and dodged both flying glass and flying fists for physical roles in movies like Troy, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Fight Club. Pitt began his own acting career in 1987, with roles on TV shows like Growing Pains and Dallas. His first film appearances, in 1991’s Thelma and Louise and 1992’s A River Runs Through It, helped pave the way for larger roles in films like Interview with the Vampire, Legends of the Fall, Seven, Sleepers and Fight Club. In 2009, Pitt starred in Quentin Tarantino’s film Inglourious Basterds as Nazi hunter Lt. Aldo Raine. Raine famously had a scar on his neck that looked like he had been slashed or strangled by a wire. But if you’re curious about its origins, Pitt says you might have to wait awhile. “[Tarantino] said it would never be explained in [Inglourious Basterds] and if he ever does what he called a prequel-slash-sequel, then we’ll reveal it then,” he says. “He talks about [a sequel], but he’s got several things percolating at once.” As for his own career? Pitt says he’s not sure yet what he’ll do next. “I want to keep mixing it up,” he says. “I find that the next film is always informed by the last film you finish.” MORE