20 Best Brad Pitt Movies, Ranked
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Brad Pitt is as pure a movie star as they come, but if anything a large swath of his work is often overlooked. To celebrate the Missourian’s 60th birthday, Variety chief film critic Owen Gleiberman and Senior Awards Editor Clayton Davis look at the 20 best roles of Pitt’s career.
From “Interview With The Vampire” to “Fight Club” Pitt has morphed into hero, villain and even the (beloved) simpleminded trainer Chad Feldheimer for the Coen Brothers film “Burn After Reading.”
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Just a few years shy of his best actor win for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” his portrayal of Cliff Booth in Quentin Tarantino’s film is widely considered the high-water mark of his career. But it’s certainly not the first film to grant him award’s buzz. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Burn After Reading,” “Moneyball” all landed him past nods for his acting as did his 1996 role for the science fiction thriller “12 Monkeys.”
In conversation with Adam Sandler in 2019 for Variety’s Actors on Actors, Pitt shared his thoughts on filmmaking and acting. His first piece of advice? Keep it real, “ff it’s real for you, it’s going to be real, because the camera reads that.”
While accepting the award for best supporting actor at the Oscars he thanked the Academy and director Tarantino, “Tarantino, you are original, you are one of a kind. The film industry would be a much drier place without you,” the actors then turned to his co-star Leonardo DiCaprio and said, “Leo, I’ll ride on your coattails any day.”
Here is our list of Pitt’s best roles.
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20. Snatch (2000)
0)You can’t find a more enjoyable Brad Pitt than his Mickey O’Neil, the captivating Irish traveler from Guy Ritchie’s cult-classic “Snatch” (2000).Pitt’s performance in this crime comedy was a whirlwind of energy, humor, and charisma. He fully immersed himself with a thick (and often difficult-to-understand) accent, bringing a delightful unpredictability to the character. A scene-stealer in every way, Pitt’s infectious enthusiasm solidifies his place among one of the most versatile stars who can deliver in multiple genres. – Clayton Davis
19. Babel (2006)
In the multi-narrative drama “Babel” by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Pitt delivered a compelling and charged performance as a Richard, a husband grappling with a crisis while traveling through a remote part of Morocco.Capturing the desperation and helplessness of a man caught in a whirlwind of circumstances beyond his control, in addition to navigating language barriers and cultural divides, Pitt conveys Richard’s mounting frustration and vulnerability in the face of adversity, played expertly opposite Cate Blanchett. While he was only recognized at the Golden Globes for his work, he remains a highlight of the ambitious picture. – CD
18. World War Z (2013)
A global zombie apocalypse that looks even more timely now than it did three years ago (it’s all about a society in which rage has taken over and the bottom has fallen out), Marc Forster’s teeming mass-panic horror film is not the sort of movie that tends to come up when you’re talking about inspired acting. Yet just watch the way Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a former U.N investigator who’s jetting around the world, searching for the origins of — and possible cure for — the zombie virus. Pitt energizes the movie. He’s a live wire of grace under pressure, whether he’s fighting to save his family or casually chopping off the hand of a soldier to keep her from going zombie. The last act, set inside a World Health Organization facility, was famously tacked on to save a troubled production, yet it’s the best thing in the movie — a nearly Hitchcockian sequence in which Pitt, a presence of pure alertness, dodges the death around him. – Owen Gleiberman
17. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
In David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Pitt’s performance as the titular character was regarded as one of the actor’s most giant swings. Navigating the complexities of a fantastical role about a man aging backward, his poignant exploration of love, joys, and the bittersweet moments of a life lived in reverse went beyond the visual effects on display.
Bringing him an Oscar nomination for best actor, his nuanced portrayal of Benjamin’s unique journey through life and a tender vulnerability alongside Cate Blanchett’s Daisy allowed audiences to access the universal themes, with a few tears shed along the way. – CD
16. Ad Astra (2019)
Playing astronaut Roy McBride in James Gray’s emotionally resonant “Ad Astra,” the star showcased his talent for capturing a man’s inner turmoil and uninhibited depth within the vast expanse of space.
Pitt conveyed McBride’s internal conflicts and suppressed emotions with a poignant subtlety. His work served as the emotional nucleus of the film, anchoring the narrative with a quiet yet powerful presence. Only able to muster a single nom for sound, in addition to being released the same year as Pitt’s Oscar-winning work in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” it remains a clear standout on his resume. – CD
15. Babylon (2022)
Audiences had mixed feelings about Damien Chazelle’s over-zealous and ambitious 188-minute look at Hollywood’s transition following the silent era. One aspect that was accessible for the viewer was Pitt’s work as Jack Conrad, a thrice-divorced star being left in the dust of a changing world around him. Breaking your heart as he grapples with the fading memory of his glory days, his melancholic tapestry of emotions stands out in a narrative sea of elephant feces and orgies. The Golden Globes were impressed enough to take notice, but there were no kudos beyond that. – CD
14. Twelve Monkeys (1996)
In the middle of Terry Gilliam’s squalid dystopian time-travel head-spinner, Pitt shows up as a motormouth psychotic whose itchy reaction time and convulsive, too-much-electroshock personality may be a sign of how far gone he is, or possibly an elaborate put-on (or both). The manic pleasure of Pitt’s performance is that he keeps you guessing. Pitt had tried to play a feral scuzzbucket once before, in the serial-killer drama “Kalifornia,” but he couldn’t keep his glamour from shining through. Here, for the first time, he shaves away his golden-boy persona right along with his hair, proving that a fugly Brad can be as magnetic as a studly one. – OG
13. Thelma & Louise (1991)
Standing apart from all the rapists, harassers, abusers, and other louts who surround Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon), those righteous feministas on the road to nowhere, there is one man chivalrous and innocent — and sexy — enough to get on their good side, and that’s J.D., a rawhide slab of good-ol’-boy beefcake played by Pitt, in the movie that made him a movie star. Twenty-five years later, you can still see why: Showing off his dimples, miming a bank robbery with a hair dryer, he’s a dreamboat hunk, but instead of coming on like the usual Beautiful Dim Working-Class Sex Object, he acts like a guy who knows from the inside out why he’s the center of attention. Pitt’s J.D. is so convinced he’s a charmer that he makes that very conviction charming — turning this, in effect, into the audition for fame that Pitt aced in front of the whole world. – OG
12. Legends of the Fall (1994)
There are good-looking Hollywood leading men sprinkled throughout history, and then there’s Brad Pitt in the sweeping epic “Legends of the Fall” (1994). Playing Tristan in director Edward Zwick’s gorgeous family drama, Pitt brought a potent mix of rebelliousness, vulnerability, and intense passion to the screen. Against the tumultuous backdrop of World War I, Pitt showed Tristan’s inner demons, becoming a cornerstone of the film that encompasses a stellar cast including Anthony Hopkins, Julia Ormond, Henry Thomas, and Aidan Quinn.
Tristan was the essence of a tormented soul, grappling with the intricacies of love and duty, making this a defining performance in Pitt’s illustrious career. – CD
11. Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Pitts portrayal of Louis de Pointe du Lac in Neil Jordan’s “Interview with the Vampire” showcased his remarkable ability to delve deeply and confidently into dark, tortured characters. As the brooding vampire struggling with the moral complexities of immortality, Pitt brought a haunting vulnerability to the role opposite Tom Cruise and breakout newcomer Kirsten Dunst.
His ability to convey a sense of torment through haunting gazes added a palpable sense of tragedy to Louis’ journey, cementing Pitt’s status as an actor capable of infusing supernatural roles with an undeniable human essence. – CD
10. Se7en (1995)
After his breakthrough in “Thelma & Louise,” Pitt made a handful of movies — “A River Runs Through It,” “Legends of the Fall,” even the smash hit “Interview with the Vampire” — in which he hadn’t completely figured out how to let his charisma jell into a character. He finally did it here, commanding the screen in the sort of no-frills utilitarian-cop role that other actors disappear in. David Fincher’s baroquely atmospheric but somewhat overly diagrammed psycho-killer mystery has much to recommend it, but most of that comes from the dark side: the lavishly staged crime scenes (each teaches a tidy lesson), Kevin Spacey’s calculatedly unhinged performance, the gee-what’s-in-the-box climax. Pitt and Morgan Freeman, as the cops investigating the madness, are minimalist noir gumshoes, but this is the most forceful and stylish of Pitt’s lawman-knight performances. – OG
9. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Beneath its entertainingly dizzy convolutions, Steven Soderbergh’s so-clever-it’s-delectable heist caper is really a love story — and not just because George Clooney’s Danny Ocean lines up 11 accomplices to rob three Vegas casinos all as an elaborate ruse to woo his ex-wife (Julia Roberts) back from the casino owner. This may also be the slyest comedy of male bonding ever made: The whole joke is that Danny and his key partner-in-crime, played by Pitt, just want to hang, but they need to come up with an excuse THIS elaborate to maintain their too-cool-for-school unflappability. And no one onscreen has a shaggier nonchalance than Pitt, whose throwaway ‘tude — never more knowing than when it seems oblivious — makes him the quintessential operator in this new millennium Rat Pack. – OG
8. Burn After Reading (2008)
Joel and Ethan Coen’s underappreciated gem is a bumptious comedy about CIA secrets and the invasion of privacy, with Pitt cast as the most stupido character of his career: a thick-witted personal trainer named Chad, who stumbles onto a CD of what he thinks is highly classified information. At the time, people made cheap jokes about how Pitt played a nitwit stud with striking conviction, but really, he does it with hilarious and knowing style, standing in for a nation of get-rich-quick scroungers. – OG
7. Killing Them Softly (2012)
The most unjustly overlooked film of Pitt’s career. Based on the George V. Higgins novel “Cogan’s Trade,” it was director Andrew Dominik’s sizzling noir follow-up to “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” and it’s a highly suspenseful underworld saga full of hairpin turns and vivid sleaze, but Dominik gave it an added thematic layer — about America in the Age of Obama reduced to a trough of greed — that many found preachy and obvious (though its canny upshot it to link the criminal desperation onscreen with our own). Pitt plays Jackie Cogan, a Mob hitman of awesome efficiency who prefers to kill his victims “softly” (i.e., from a distance, so they won’t know what hit them). Hunting down a pair of reckless idiots who were clueless enough to rip off a gangsters’ gambling den, he lords it over an underworld maze that’s like “The Sopranos” redrawn by Dashiell Hammett (the late James Gandolfini is even on hand, in his greatest non-Tony role). “Killing Them Softly” is a fable of sociopathic sympathy: You wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of Pitt’s gun, but in his ice-cold impulse to sweep the streets, he’s so stylishly compelling he’s like an angel of death. – OG
6. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Pitt has always had moments of being a great comedian (“Burn After Reading,” “True Romance”), and his performance as Lt. Aldo Raine, the s—-kicking redneck squad leader of Quentin Tarantino’s WWII epic, is a lowdown high-style comic turn. Aldo talks like a sawed-off shotgun, blasting off lines like “I sure as hell didn’t come down from the goddamn Smoky Mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half of Sicily, and jump out of a f—in’ air-o-plane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity.” The joke is that Pitt, with his mule-skinner drawl, makes you believe that Aldo is basically a transplanted woodland hillbilly who sees Nazi-killing as a form of hunting. At the same time, one reason he’s so good at slaughtering animals is that he knows how to think like one. He’s a savage in a uniform, but he’s on the right side of things, never more so than when he’s carving swastikas into foreheads and letting his decency loom as large as his brutality. – OG
5. The Tree of Life (2011)
In recent years, the actors who have worked with director Terrence Malick — Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, Colin Farrell — have tended to come off as little more than swarthy artifacts of visual décor. But “The Tree of Life” is the rare contempo Malick film that’s more than just lyrical floating camera, breathless bursts of classical music, and amber waves of grain. It’s the director’s greatest film since “Badlands,” a poetically authentic dream of American life in the sleepy pre-media ’50s, so steeped in memory that it’s like a Proustian scrapbook, and the most haunting thing about it is Pitt’s performance as the hero’s father, whom he portrays as a fusion of reverence and stern, at times monstrous discipline. He’s a man who acts out at home the frustration he feels at being a cog in the machine that he can’t reveal anywhere else. The result is Pitt’s most complicated character, because he doesn’t just show you the deep love and the dictatorial scariness. He shows you how they can’t be separated. – OG
4. Moneyball (2011)
It would be hard to name an actor outside the B-movie action realm (Jason Statham, etc.) who radiates the sheer confidence of Pitt, and that’s why he hasn’t often played characters who possess an undercurrent of insecurity. But the beauty of his performance as Billy Beane, the real-life Oakland A’s general manager who devised a revolutionary new way to put together a champion baseball team, is that it’s fueled by that effortless and strutting Pittian bravura, but it’s also layered with convincing, grown-up glimmers of self-doubt. Billy, a former pro player whose career didn’t work out, is trying to prove himself by boldly going where no baseball club has gone before — into the realm of computer analysis, which results in assembling a team of quirky flawed misfits who excel at one thing (getting on base). His whole mission in sports is riding on that decision, and Pitt, chewing on the most stylish baseball dialogue since “Bull Durham,” creates a character of scruffy moxie and soul who would have been right at home in a downbeat classic of the ’70s. – OG
3. Fight Club (1999)
Tyler Durden, the scuffed and imperious ringleader of a violent club for overgrown delinquents, is a dropout, a criminal, a truth-teller, an existential rebel, the ultimate badass, and the quintessential Brad Pitt character, because he wears his attitude of who-gives-a-f— bravado like the tasty but unattainable fantasy it is. Tyler Durden is also, of course, a pure figment, and that’s the mystery at the heart of Pitt’s mesmerizing performance. It’s Tyler, in this movie, who first uttered the phrase “How’s that workin’ out for ya?,” and Pitt’s priceless reading of that line is defining, because it throws down a generational gauntlet. It really means: How’s it workin’ out for you not being as killer as Brad Pitt? We’ve been trying to answer that question ever since. – OG
2. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Pitt had never played a villain before, and though that’s a simplistic word to use for the Jesse James of Andrew Dominik’s serpentine Western psychodrama — you could argue that Robert Ford, played as a weasel of weakness by Casey Affleck, is the film’s real villain — Pitt seizes upon the chance to play a legendary outlaw by making the screen vibrate with coiled menace. You can see him gaining in confidence — and skill — as an actor, because in more scenes than not, he appears to be doing almost nothing, yet you can’t take your eyes off him. What’s operating almost invisibly inside Pitt’s electric presence is Jesse’s promise of violence, a threat so pure that he never has to say it aloud. – OG
1. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)
As Cliff Booth, the lad-back and enigmatic stuntman in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood” (2019), the actor effortlessly brings quiet confidence and depth to the role. A testament to his mastery of nuanced characters, his portrayal is a captivating study in subtlety, where every expression and gesture speaks volumes, painting a vivid picture of a man who navigates the glitz and grit of 1970s Hollywood.
Winning the Oscar for best supporting actor, you can easily see why he ran away with the prize. His effortless charisma, paired with an understated complexity, elevates Booth beyond a mere supporting role, becoming an anchor that grounds the film in its nostalgic ambiance and exploration of Hollywood’s golden age. – CD
