Pitt's direct involvement with the movie earned him primary producer credits, which means his name was listed with the Oscar nomination for Best Picture here. Pitt's taste in pursuing such a project and his ability to raise the standards of the production resulted in success for those involved with the movie and those who spent time viewing it. The movie performed well in every regard thanks to a well-rounded team making and backing it. As a producer, Pitt backed a movie that wowed with its adapted screenplay, nippy editing, and entertaining delivery of a serious and complex topic dealing with the 2007 housing market crash and the economic recession that followed. From the same team that would go on to make Vice, and with a couple recurring actors like Christian Bale and Steve Carell, Pitt was not going to just take a minor role in this Oscar-winning movie without having a larger role behind the scenes. The Big Short(2015) is a prime example of this. The early 2010s definitely saw Pitt in his incognito phase, producing a lot and taking small acting roles with differing appearances. While this is the movie that finally put his name as a producer in the record books, it more so serves as an example of his ability to uncover and empower voices and stories that could otherwise be left on the shelf or release to smaller audiences.
Though it has nothing to do with his acting, and everything to do with screen time, it is also easy to forget about his cameo in one of the final scenes of the movies.Īt this point in the list, it's clear Pitt has a wide variety of interest when it comes to genre and content, and objectively great taste in regard to which projects he pursues. Still, it can be easy to forget he served as a producer on this brutally visceral but honest and effective historical depiction of American slavery.
The reason 12 Years a Slave (2013) is #7 on this list and not higher is because those who pay attention to the Oscars will know that Pitt's involvement with this movie credited him an Oscar win for Best Picture, his first Oscar win in any category. Just like he aided Matthew Vaughn's elevation to a national stage, Pitt helped bring Bong Joon-Ho's work to American audiences who were willing to take a chance on a movie like this, prior to his big Oscar night in 2020. Despite the lack of buzz with so much talent involved, Pitt's production tag on this movie is more proof of his talent-catching eye and belief in backing said talent trying to tell a worthwhile, heartfelt story. Sadly, It was easy at the time for a lot of American audiences to ignore an obscure title with a leading actress and director of Asian descent, when a movie like Parasite had not come out yet. So how come this movie flew so far under the radar?Ģ017 was still a time when Netflix originals did not flood the space, and streaming still had not hit the ridiculous peaks it has in the last handful of years. Now Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-Ho helmed the feature, piror to Parasite (2019), Brad Pitt served as executive producer, and the movie was well-received by audiences and critics alike. Okja (2017) is a Netflix original movie that features a cast of: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal and Giancarlo Esposito.