Brad Pitt on Why He Loves Making Sports Movies Like ‘F1’ and ‘Moneyball’
F1: The Movie may have just released, but it seems like it won’t be the last time Brad Pitt stars in a sports movie.
Pitt was a guest on a Wednesday episode of the New Heights podcast, hosted by Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce and former Philadelphia Eagles’ center Jason Kelce. During their conversation, Jason asked the Oscar winner if he wants to do another sports film after watching his “very cinematic” film, F1.
The actor responded, “I love a sports movie when they work … It’s the greatest. I look back at Gene Hackman and Hoosiers and [Robert] Redford and The Natural, there’s even something more. Sports for me, even one game is an entire lifetime.”
While speaking to the Kelce brothers, who have both won Super Bowl championships, he continued, “We watch you guys, we watch your fate. We watch how you deal with adversity, how you fight through it and it’s really an amazing metaphor for a lifetime.”
You Might Also Like
Before F1, one of Pitt’s most loved projects was in 2011’s Moneyball, which The Hollywood Reporter included in its list of the best baseball movies of all time. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including a nom for Pitt in the best actor category.
“When we get it right in these sports movies and I felt like we really got it right in Moneyball in a lovely, beautiful way to add to that lexicon,” he said. “I think this one does too on a really big level because the racing is probably the most visceral racing experience you’ll ever have. But like all great sports movies, when they’re great, there’s also a story there. You’re moved by it. And were funny as fuck. So, we got that to deliver it, but this kind of spiritual ending to it all, I’m really proud about.”
Elsewhere in the podcast, Pitt explained that he enjoys watching what the new generation of actors is doing. “I like to see what they are up against and the way they negotiate and work their way through it. They enjoy it more. We were more uptight and it had to be about acting and ‘You didn’t sell out, you didn’t sell out.’ But now it’s like, ‘We can be artists in many different arenas, so let’s do it and let’s enjoy it.’”
However, he concluded by sharing some advice. “But they also get caught up in you ‘have to have a franchise’ or ‘have to have a superhero.’ But I keep saying, ‘Don’t! Don’t! One day they’ll die.’”
