Now starring as Billy Beane: Brad Pitt

A pretty good book but I would like to see how it comes out on the big screen.

 

It should end with Nick Swisher getting his ring in The Bronx.

 

Nine moves that made over $100 mill and that doesn't include movies like 12 Monkeys, Fight Club and Snatch.

 

For a guy who gets as much pub as Brad Pitt, he's most successful movies usually star another A Lister (Seven, Oceans...) I think he's a good actor, but I'll go see pretty much any movie starring Denzel, Sean Penn, Clint Eastwood, Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, even Clooney....Pitt, not so much.

 

But Mizzou does make a good point, that Pitt could be the most bankable star in the business, but doesn't take the sure-fire bank movies. No superheroes, no Harry Potter roles, no summer tentpoles, no 3D kids blockbusters -- things where he could get huge money on the front and back ends.

I have a lot of respect for people who say, "You know what? I'm super rich and as famous as I could ever need to be. I'm only going to do projects I like." Pitt seems to be that kind of cat.

 

I was having this discussion with someone who said, "Most of his movies bomb."

It's true to an extent, but when I think of a "bomb" I think of a movie that sucked and didn't make any money. He makes a lot of good films that don't make any money. The Jesse James movie, Babel...

It says a lot when a Tarantino movie is the most mainstream starring role he's had in years. You could even argue he wasn't the star of that movie. I think Waltz had more screen time. Also, I don't think too many people give Pitt credit for Basterds being such a huge hit. He certainly didn't hurt, but it's a Tarantino movie, not a Brad Pitt movie.

I think it's interesting that his biggest commercial hit with him as the star was Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which is exactly the kind of film he goes out of his way to avoid these days.

Fight Club and Se7en remain two of my favorite films ever, so he'll always be one of my favorite actors.

Of course, I see he's doing a voice in Happy Feet 2 and is rumored to be starring in the movie version of The Odyssey.