INTERVIEW WITH THE REBEL - by Elizabeth Leslie

He’s just been voted America’s sexiest man, but Brad Pitt insists he’s really just a “legendary” rebel at heart!

Brad Pitt comes from the small town of Springfield, Missouri, and is proud of his home-roots and country boy ways. That’s probably why Brad doesn’t really have much time for the glitter and glamour that goes with showbiz-he’s much too busy making movies.

When I meet Brad I tell him that he’s been very prolific.

“Prolific?” he splutters. “I don’t even know what prolific means!”

When I explain it just means he makes a lot of movies, he flashes me that award-winning grin of his and chuckles, “I’m glad it didn’t mean intelligent or something!”

What a kidder! Brad’s now looking hunkier-than-ever since he cut his hair for his role in the new film Seven (it’s back to much the same length it was in A River Runs Through It). He also accidentally put his hand through a car windshield during filming and had to receive several stitches. But this didn’t stop Brad who went straight back to work on the film-a crime thriller which he says he wanted to try “because it’s a new genre for me”.

Before Seven, though, there’s his new film Legends of the Fall, a period piece that has already topped the box office in the States and is due to open here in Oz any second now. It’s Brad’s second big hit film in a row after Interview With the Vampire which grossed over $100 million in the US alone. No wonder he’s Hollywood’s hottest property right now!

SH: A lot of people say you look like a younger version of aged hunk Robert Redford who directed you in A River Runs Through It. What do you think about that?

B: (Grins) I’ve been called a lot of things. You could say it’s a great compliment but, of course, you want to have your own identity, because whenever someone tries to copy someone else, they fail, that never works. You’ve got to find out what you have.

SH: Your new film Legends Of The Fall has a very strong anti-war message. Ar you yourself a pacifist then?

B: (Looks serious) No…I kill people regularly, hahaha.

SH: What made you decide to do Legends Of The Fall?

B: This book was a favourite of mine and I’d read it several years before. It’s along the same lines as A River Runs Through It. At that point it was more campaigning for the role or why I felt like I could do it, but it was not a “go” by any means. It just happened to work out two years later, when the studio finally said it would be okay to do it, that I was a nig enough star!

SH: What about the rumours that you were romantically involved with your Legends Of The Fall co-star Julia Ormond?

B: (Avoiding the question altogether) She’s fantastic, very classy. The director and I had talked it over and over and we were convinced. We had seen Julia in the TV movie Stalin with Robert Duvall and we were convinced that she had this timeless, classic mannerism and beauty about her ways. This was the first movie where I got to have any say, or at least I got to give an opinion and I really wanted Julia.

SH: What about the press linking you with Julia?

B: I think she’s lived a lot of live already and she’s intelligent enough to rise above it. So, yes, she’s great in this thing and I don’t doubt that she’ll be a big star.

SH: Both A River Runs Through It and Legends Of The Fall are about men who have a love for the great outdoors. Is that something you share?

B: Having grown up in the Ozark Mountains respect for nature is important to me. It’s always respect for the land, everything concerned with nature is about respect.

SH: Was it a demanding role to play?

B: It was the physical aspect more than anything. There were a lot of horses, of falling off horses, of jumping in creeks and things like that. As far as being emotionally demanding, it was not too bad. With this one I felt like I knew the journey this guy takes.

SH: How so?

B: A big part of Tristan (i.e. his character in Legends) is the unrest, making his peace with things. Tristan is haunted from the “get go”, and he finds his peace outdoors, but when it comes to confrontation with his family, and some of the things that happen in the movie, there is no rest and he can’t face it.

SH: Does that relate to your own life? Are you a rebel too?

B: I don’t know if my family would call me a rebel. They just don’t get surprised anymore, whatever I do! I’ve got a younger brother and a younger sister and they’re both married. I feel very fortunate because, yes, I am very tight with them. I beat them up a lot, but I still love them, yeah, hahaha.

SH: Do you want a family of your own one day?

B: The older I get, the more I see and the more I travel I see how fair my family is. I think that’s what’s missing today—it’s the family. Everything starts with the family and you just don’t see much of it.

SH: How do you spend your spare time when you’re well away from movie sets?

B: I’d never had a problem like that until Interview With The Vampire came along. It was never a problem before, hahaha. I’ve got other things I like to do—there are books and here’s music, there’s design and architecture and things like that that I play around with. I go ride a bike. I’ve travelled around a lot.

SH: You’ve just moved to a new house in Hollywood too.

B: Yeah. I’ve been trying to get my dogs not to pee in the new home.

SH: Finally, Brad, what would you say your worst fault is?

B: I’m a bit of a perfectionist and sometimes that gets in the way.