Movies

Brad Pitt ‘wasn’t pleased’ with Legends of the Fall, says director Ed Zwick

"He seems easygoing at first, but he can be volatile when riled," says Zwick in an upcoming memoir.

Published on February 6, 2024 10:29PM EST

Brad Pitt didn’t love one of the biggest movies of his early career.

In an excerpt from filmmaker Ed Zwick’s forthcoming memoir Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood published by Vanity Fair, the director broke down the filmmaking process behind the 1994 epic western Legends of the Fall — and revealed that its star wasn’t too keen on the finished product.

Zwick, who also directed films like Glory and The Last Samurai, said that Pitt’s first signs of discontent appeared during a table read. “Given the script’s dependence on narration and visuals, it didn’t play very well in the sterile conference room,” he wrote. “I could see Brad’s growing discomfort as it went on. Hours afterward, his agent called the studio to say Brad wanted to quit. It fell to Marshall [Herskovitz, the film’s producer] to talk Brad off the ledge. It was never mentioned again, but it was the first augury of the deeper springs of emotion roiling inside Brad. He seems easygoing at first, but he can be volatile when riled, as I was to be reminded more than once as shooting began and we took each other’s measure.”

Zwick went on to explain how his creative vision conflicted with Pitt’s. “Brad would get edgy whenever he was about to shoot a scene that required him to display deep emotion,” he said. “Brad had grown up with men who held their emotions in check; I believed the point of the novel was that a man’s life was the sum of his griefs. Steve Rosenblum had been complaining in dailies that he was having trouble cutting scenes where Brad’s stoicism appeared more blank than internal. I agreed.”

brad pitt, ed zwick — Brad Pitt in 'Legends of the Fall,' Ed Zwick.
Liaison/Getty; Slaven Vlasic/Getty

The filmmaker then described a seemingly physical altercation with Pitt. “One afternoon I started giving him direction out loud in front of the crew—a stupid, shaming provocation—and Brad came back at me, also out loud, telling me to back off,” he said. “Brad wasn’t about to give in without a fight. In his defense, I was pushing him to do something he felt was either wrong for the character, or more “emo” than he wanted to appear on-screen. I don’t know who yelled first, who swore, or who threw the first chair. Me, maybe? But when we looked up, the crew had disappeared. And this wasn’t the last time it happened.”

Zwick doesn’t hold any ill will toward the actor, though. “After each blowup, we’d make up, and mean it,” he wrote. “It was never personal. Brad is a forthright, straightforward person, fun to be with and capable of great joy. He was never anything less than fully committed to doing his best When all was said and done, the movie Brad and I made reflected the depth of our passion. Was it worth it? I’d have to say yes.”

The filmmaker thinks that Pitt didn’t like the final movie because Zwick removed one of the actor’s favorite shots. “When I showed Brad the final film, he wasn’t pleased,” he said. “He felt I’d underplayed his character’s madness. I had in fact cut only a single shot from the scene where Tristan is raging with fever, screaming as the waves wash over him on the schooner. But it was a shot he dearly loved, and it would have been little enough to leave it in, and I should have. Apologies, Brad. He was also unhappy when PEOPLE named him ‘Sexiest Man of the Year’—something for which I take neither credit nor blame.”

The studio later asked Pitt and Zwick to record a commentary for the film together, and they did — high. “We smoked a joint and talked for hours. We were so high we barely got to the recording session; if you listen closely, you can hear us giggling,” Zwick revealed. Later, walking to our cars, Brad sighed. ‘Man, I didn’t know what I was doing half the time on set.’ ‘Brad,’ I said, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time on set.’

Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood releases Feb. 13.

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