“The most irresponsible bit of filmmaking.” Harrison Ford really likes the movie Brad Pitt starred in just to avoid being sued
While Harrison Ford likes the film he starred in alongside Brad Pitt, the other actor isn't particularly fond of the production he wanted to drop.
The Devil's Own is a film that Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt look at very differently. The actors starred in the production, which touches on the IRA theme, although while it was a positive experience for Harrison Ford, and he likes the film, Brad Pitt can't say the same.
The production, which Pitt describes in talk with Newsweek as “the most irresponsible bit of filmmaking,” fell victim to budget cuts and constant script changes, which significantly affected its shape, and the star himself lost his desire to star as a member of the Irish Republican Army.
We had no script. Well, we had a great script but it got tossed for various reasons. To have to make something up as you go along – Jesus, what pressure! It was ridiculous. It was the most irresponsible bit of filmmaking – if you can even call it that – that I've ever seen. I couldn't believe it. I don't know why anyone would want to continue making that movie. We had nothing. The movie was the complete victim of this drowning studio head [Mark Canton] who said, “I don't care. We're making it. I don't care what you have. Shoot something.”
Brad Pitt stopped believing in the project enough that he wanted to abandon it. The revised script did not appeal to him, and neither did the workflow itself. Unfortunately, when the actor tried to quit a week before shooting began, he was told that if he did, he would have to pay for the losses he would incur because of it. The film had already been sold overseas based on the stars' names, and as a result, Pitt's departure would have caused too much damage for the studio to let him just walk away.
I tried to when there was a week before shooting and we had 20 pages of dogs**t. And this script that I had loved was gone. I guess people just had different visions and you can't argue with that. But then I wanted out and the studio head said, “All right, we'll let you out. But it'll be $63 million for starters.'” They sell movies to foreign territories on box-office names and they can sue on what they could have made if you'd stayed in the movie.
So Pitt had no choice but to appear in The Devil's Own.
The other star of the movie, on the other hand, had a completely different approach to the situation. Harrison Ford, who supported some changes in the script, himself sought to give more depth to his character, did not fight the production. And he admitted that he likes The Devil's Own (via Deadline).
Brad had this complicated character, and I wanted a complication on my side so that it wasn’t just a good-and-evil battle. [...] I worked with a writer — but then all the sudden we’re shooting and we didn’t have a script that Brad and I agreed on. Each of us had different ideas about it. […] I understand why he wanted to stay with his point of view, and I wanted to stay with my point of view — or I was imposing my point of view, and it’s fair to say that that’s what Brad felt,” he said. “It was complicated. I like the movie very much. Very much.
As you can see, the two stars of The Devil's Own had very different approaches to the production in which they starred. One doesn’t like it much, while the other appreciates the film.
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