Brad Pitt was at a low point in his life when he got sent the script for the 1995 thriller “Seven.”
By that time, Pitt had already racked up a few impressive screen credits in films like “Interview with the Vampire,” “Thelma & Louise,” “Legends of the Fall” and “True Romance.” However, during Monday’s episode of the “Armchair Expert” podcast, Pitt told host Dax Shepard that he was having the “weirdest summer” in 1994 before he finally read the script for “Seven.”
“I had had not-such-great experiences coming off a couple of jobs, and I just wasn’t really sure what I was doing,” Pitt recalled. “It was the most unhealthy time. I just needed to check out. I would wake up, I would get a bong load, I would have four Coca-Cola’s on ice, no food. This particular summer, I watched the O.J. trial and I [was] just trying to figure out, ‘What do I do next? What do I do next?’ And then I read this script. My dear friend and manager and, basically, my sister now, Cynthia, sends this over. She says, ‘You’ve got to read this.’”
Pitt admitted that he was not initially impressed by the script. “I read the first seven pages, I call her up, I go, ‘Are you kidding me? The cliché old cop wants out, the young cop comes in and he’s looking at his high school football trophies?’ She goes, ‘Just finish it,’” Pitt remembered. “Then I go meet with [director David Fincher], and he was just talking about films like I’d never heard anyone speak about film. I just got the jones back. Finding that thing kind of … it just reinvigorated what I wanted out of this thing.”
Those who have seen “Seven,” which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, will know that the film gradually becomes an entirely different, darker thriller than its opening minutes let on. In a 2024 interview with GQ, Pitt notably revealed that he had it written into his contract when he signed on to star in “Seven” that the film’s iconic, bleak ending would not be changed under any circumstances.
His role in “Seven,” of course, helped cement Pitt as one of the rising stars of the ’90s and kicked off his creative partnership with Fincher, which has continued to this day. 30 years later, Pitt is one of Hollywood’s biggest and most recognizable stars. Despite being this far into his career, though, Pitt, who is in the midst of promoting his forthcoming racing blockbuster “F1,” told Shepard that he still does not think he is very good at the promotion side of Hollywood.
“I don’t feel like I’m very good at it. I’ve always been a little embarrassed [by] this side of it, and I still have that feeling each time,” Pitt revealed. “I’ve never considered this my specialty. I’d rather make things, whether that’s a chair or a shirt or a movie, and let it speak for itself and move on.”
You can watch Pitt’s full “Armchair Expert” interview yourself in the video above. you can listen to the full podcast episode here.
