Within the last two months, Brad Pitt has turned in some of his best work in years between the movies AD ASTRA and ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD. Both performances have received some serious Oscar buzz, and he has a great chance of earning his fourth (and fifth?) acting nomination. But as Pitt reminded us in HOLLYWOOD he's just too cool for all that golden statue jazz, and in a new interview, said he won’t be chasing any trophies this year, saying he’s “gonna abstain” from the awards campaigning.
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Pitt sat down to talk with EW about his one-two punch work in these films – AD ASTRA hitting theaters this Friday. He’s been receiving acclaim for his work, and while he’s honored for any nominations and wins that may come his way, he says the idea of chasing the accolades is detrimental to the process of storytelling.
“I mean, you never know, and it’s really nice when your number comes up. But the goal is for the film to land, to speak to someone whether it’s now or a decade from now. I find chasing it actually a disservice to the purity of your telling a story, and a shackling thing to focus on.”
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On top of acting nominations, Pitt is credited as a producer on a few films in the awards discussion this year, including the acclaimed indie movie THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO and the period drama for Netflix, THE KING, with Timothee Chalamet and Joel Edgerton. But current Oscar pundits are viewing his work in Quentin Tarantino's HOLLYWOOD as his most likely nomination, his performance as stuntman Cliff Booth being one of the standouts of the year so far.
But as he’s getting more raves for his acting than he has in a few years, Pitt recently sent waves through the industry when he hinted to the New York Times that he would be stepping back from acting, saying, “I have other things I want to do now.” Words like “retirement” were thrown around, but Pitt said to EW he’s nowhere close to retiring from acting.
“I was just saying that it’s really a younger man’s game. Not that there aren’t still parts and interesting things to do. As I get older and transition does its thing, the great thing about producing is you still get to be part of what I love most, which is storytelling. Or maybe it’s just me, maybe I’ve just seen my interests broadening or shifting into other things. But no. No! It’s not a claim of retirement.”
When it comes to the awards business I couldn't imagine Pitt saying anything else, especially not when picturing him in those sunglasses he's wearing in that top image. The man is too chill for all that running around and understands that, at the end of the day, as big a fuss that gets made over gold, none of it matters. The only thing that matters is making work that resonates with people, and between these two new movies of his I'd say he certainly did that.
AD ASTRA is in theaters September 20, and ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD is in theaters now.