In a recent interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times as part of film promotions, the actor also noted that the idea of masculinity in the business has changed.
Promoting his latest release, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood that has hit theaters, Brad Pitt recently sat down for an interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times. The actor compared Manson Family murders that rocked Hollywood about 50 years ago to the 2017 Harvey Weinstein scandal.
Pitt recalled a story his parent told him about slaying of actress Sharon Tate and others.
“When my parents described it, it was as the end of this idealised revolution,” he told The Times. “My parents are still hippies, but it was the loss of this dream. As (Hollywood director) Quentin [Tarantino] describes, you sort of portray this utopia, but there is a mildew around the canvas that brought the darkness of humanity into play and ended a lot of my parents’ hopes for how they could infuse that ‘love and peace’ ideology into the rest of the world. It all sort of crashed and ended so much that some talk of it as a conspiracy. It was the total end of an era — immediately.”
When asked what according to him has rocked the town in such a fashion since that time, Pitt, who plays Cliff Booth in the Tarantino film and whose character interacts with some members of Manson’s “family,” pointed to the sexual harassment scandal, which gave way to the #MeToo movement.
“Harvey Weinstein. Can I say that?” Pitt asked in the interview. “It’s more that I think we’re getting recalibrated, but in a good way.”
During the interview, the actor, who plays a rough and tough Hollywood stuntman in the film, also discussed how the idea of masculinity in the business had changed.
“When I started, I loved Mickey Rourke and Sean Penn,” he said. “I loved them because there was a toughness to them, which was how the male I’d grown up being taught about was meant to be. But they were also vulnerable, raw and open, and I always appreciated that.”
“What I see now is a new masculinity, especially with people who have gone through Hollywood and its recalibration, a new male who is more vulnerable,” Pitt continued.” I’m not talking mushiness — I mean a man who owns his own flaws and is aware of them and open about it. And vulnerable, with real feelings, rather than being this macho, trying to be tough guy. But that might just be me in my old age, on my own trip, projecting onto everyone else.”
Pitt’s newest release Once Upon a Time in Hollywood also features Leonardo DiCaprio, returning to the big screen for the first time since winning an Oscar and the amazing Margot Robbie.
-With information from Hollywood Reporter
