Brad Pitt Finds His Inner General While Filming ‘War Machine’
Brad Pitt has been doing a lot of soul-searching in recent months since his split with Angelina Jolie. Shouldering the responsibility for his own situation, Pitt found the plot of the dark comedy War Machine helpful to his own understanding of himself. Brad is opening up and sharing what he’s discovered with the press and fans.
Brad Pitt reportedly discussed how making the movie War Machine helped him connect with an aspect of himself he had never quite recognized before. Pitt discovered his own inner General as he found a bit of commonality with United States General Stanley McChrystal. Brad portrays a fictionalized version of McChrystal in War Machine, according to Rolling Stone, who quotes Pitt.
“I feel for him. He’s a product of us. He [is] us. We had no interest in impugning General McChrystal or any of his guys. For me, the problem is more systematic.”
Brad Pitt seems to be saying that General Stanley McChrystal was only a symbol in War Machine and representative of a larger issue. General Stanley McChrystal was the one-time supreme commander of the American forces in Afghanistan under the Bush and Obama Administrations.
Brad Pitt’s War Machine character was based on McChrystal, who was exposed for openly mocking government officials including those in the White House by Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings. McChrystal was forced to resign. Michael Hastings died in an automobile crash at the age of 33, according to Rolling Stone.
War Machine doesn’t refer to McChrystal by name. The character has been fictionalized, renamed General McMahon, and is in no way a recrimination of General McChrystal.
As Brad Pitt was talking about his War Machine portrayal of the fictionalized character General McMahon, based on United States General Stanley McChrystal, Brad expressed a bit of his own view of the situation.
Brad Pitt became reflective of his own character and of human nature. Pitt is quoted in Rolling Stone.
“Hubris is a trap and it’s the trap of every great nation that has been number one for too long. You start believing your own stink, Anytime I’ve gotten in trouble, it’s because of my own hubris.”
It seems Brad Pitt has been contemplating the ramifications of the sin of hubris. Hubris is pride or arrogance. Brad expresses that arrogance always leads to trouble for him. He seems to infer that is likely true of everyone. It was true in the plot of War Machine and for many involved in the General McChrystal scandal.
Brad Pitt has certainly been through some troubled times, but it seems that he’s back on his feet again, making movies, promoting War Machine and still working to build his own character. Brad Pitt seems to have noble goals and ambitions in the pursuit of self-understanding.
War Machine with Brad Pitt will be released on Netflix, not in theaters. At a cost of $60 million, War Machine is Netflix biggest budgeted picture in the history of the streaming service, according to The Guardian.
War Machine director David Michod, who is working with Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B to make this huge Netflix feature film a success, told The Guardian the success of War Machine might forever change the film industry.
“We knew early on that we were making the kind of movie that doesn’t really get made by the studios anymore. [working with Netflix gave us] the ability to make films that are unusual and risky with the resources to do it properly.”
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War Machine starring Brad Pitt was sold to Netflix because of their ability and willingness to pay for a large budget movie that might not have been a huge box-office success.
Brad Pitt’s War Machine will be released on Netflix on May 26.
[Featured Image by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images]
