Brad Pitt Admits Turning Down THE MATRIX, But Maltin Master’s Life Has Been Surreal

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent

SANTA BARBARA, CA (1/23/2020): Brad Pitt continued his victory lap around the Awards Circuit with the Maltin Modern Master Award from the 35th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) presented by UGG last night.

The festival pulled out the big guns with Leonard Maltin conducting the sold-out tribute to Brad Pitt like the maestro of media that he is with this eponymous award. The Hollywood Leading Man admitted up front, “I did pass on The Matrix. I took the red pill. That’s the only one I’m naming.”

“I wasn’t offered two or three. Only the first [Matrix]. Just to clarify that. I come from a place, maybe it’s my upbringing, if I didn’t get it, then it wasn’t mine. I really believe [the role] was never mine. It’s not mine. It was someone else’s and they go and make it. I really do believe in that. If we were doing a show on the great movies I’ve passed on, we would need two nights.”

While Pitt most recently appears in Quentin Tarantino’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD from Columbia Pictures, he also took a turn in space in 2019 with AD ASTRA for New Regency. But, true to his multi-hyphenate Nice Guy demeanor, the A-Lister reflected on his first years in the business. “I thought, I’m going to try it, and so I went, ‘Would you like anything else?’ And I heard the first assistant director go ‘Cut! Cut! Cut!’  And he said, ‘If you pull that again, you’re out of here.’ So I didn’t get [the SAG card] then.”

Director David Fincher, who helmed critically acclaimed films starring Brad Pitt, including Seven and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, handed out the actual Maltin hardware. His speech encapsulated the good will in Hollywood toward the once walk-on hunk in THELMA & LOUISE.

Fincher spoke in glowing terms, revealing that “the task of acting is multi-faceted. There’s the grand overriding two-hour arch that one might call the performance. There are the subtle behavioral hints at a lifetime of backstory, often referred to as the characterization. And then, there is the moment. And that is the character at rest. A person, idling. And for me, this is the test. The ultimate challenge. No intention. No witty banter. No dramatic change of trajectory. You just roll the camera and be. And this is the gift to your film that Brad Pitt brings.”

“Like a supple suede jacket, [Brad] form-fits his characters to the overall narrative and he shows up for more than the big beats. He idles smoothly at 3,000 RPMs in the most fractal of moments. Between speeches. Between stunts. Between moments that most actors actually choose a role for…so few people in the history of movies have been good at this, that we annex them to a special tier. People like Bogart, or Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart or Paul Newman. They exist on celluloid in a way that mere mortals can’t. They have a comfort and ease that cannot be faked, or sadly, duplicated. And they are as rare as albino pandas. They are movie stars. And this is one of them,” Fincher said to rousing applause.

Pitt, whose star turns have included a range from Vampires to Benjamin Button to a Coen Bros foil in BURN AFTER READING, was humbled by Fincher’s intro. He said, “Wow, it’s things like this and nights like these that tell me I’m old. I’ve been around a while and I’ve been doing this for a bit.” He continued breaking up the crowd at the Arlington Theater with this wry delivery. “I can’t do night shoots anymore, and I’ll gladly hand a stunt over to a stunt man. I no longer remember the first rule of Fight Club.”

“But it’s also nights like this where I get to look back and feel really, really blessed. I feel so fortunate to all the amazing people I’ve been able to work with who have taught me so much and who’ve touched my life. From editors and composers and amazing directors who have sent me on a trajectory that has meant so much to me… I feel really blessed to be here and I feel grateful for this.” The FIGHT CLUB star also gave a huge nod to the neighborhood. “You guys don’t know this, but I hang out here a lot. I have been in Goleta since 1999. This [area] is home.”

Leonard Maltin’s Masterful Legacy Award – The Modern Master Award was established in 1995 and is the highest accolade presented by SBIFF. Created to honor an individual who has enriched our culture through accomplishments in the motion picture industry, it was re-named the Maltin Modern Master Award in 2015 in honor of long-time SBIFF moderator and renowned film critic Leonard Maltin.  Past recipients include Glenn Close, Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton, Bruce Dern, Ben Affleck, Christopher Plummer, Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, Clint Eastwood, Cate Blanchett, Will Smith, George Clooney and Peter Jackson.

Visit the Santa Barbara International Film Festival – The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and educational organization. Over the past 34 years, SBIFF has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States – attracting 95,000 attendees and offering 11 days of 200+ films, tributes and panels, fulfilling their mission to engage, enrich, and inspire people through the power of film. We celebrate the art of cinema and provide impactful educational experiences for our local, national and global communities. SBIFF continues its commitment to education and the community throughout many free educational programs and events. In June 2016, SBIFF entered a new era with the acquisition of the historic and beloved Riviera Theatre. After a capital campaign and renovation, the theatre is now SBIFF’s new state-of-the-art, year-round home, showing new international and independent films every day. In May 2019, SBIFF opened its own Education Center in downtown Santa Barbara on State Street to serve as a home for its many educational programs and a place for creativity and learning.

The 35th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival ends Jan. 25. For more information, and to purchase tickets, festival passes and packages, please visit www.sbiff.org.

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