The actor Brad Pitt spoke about the high price he paid for the lead role in the film “Troy”, stating: “I completely changed my life.” Although he called the film “The Devil’s Own” “the most irresponsible cinematic work” in his life, and “Interview with the Vampire” made him feel “unhappy,” “Troy” also became one of the films he would like to erase from his filmography.
The reason was not only his dissatisfaction with the final result and the filming process, but also the fact that the intense physical preparation for the role of Achilles significantly affected his personal and professional life. “I had to be the greatest warrior of all time. I had to get in shape. I completely changed my life. I quit smoking, and let me tell you, I was a professional smoker and I still miss it…”, said Brad Pitt in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2004. He added that he wanted to test how far he could go in physical training, and after the filming was completed, he followed the same diet and training program for another year.
Physical trials for the role of Achilles
According to Men’s Health magazine, the actor admitted that, although his physical form looked impressive on screen, the process itself was extremely exhausting: “There were days when I just didn’t want to lift another weight. It was work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for months. It’s a full-time physical job, and it’s incredibly draining. When we finished filming the movie, I was physically exhausted from the role of Achilles. The first thing I did after finishing was to go buy a hamburger and start smoking again.”.
To prepare for the role of the Greek hero, Brad Pitt worked with trainer Duffy Gaver, a former Navy SEAL. Gaver began working with the actor after learning that he needed a trainer. “We talked about what is aesthetically correct in the male body. If you look at Greco-Roman wrestlers, they don’t go to the gym, they just do their work, but they look incredible,” noted Gaver in an interview with Esquire in 2021. He explained that to form an athletic physique, strong back, shoulders, and arms are needed first, and then work on the relief can be done. That is why Pitt’s training to strengthen his back included “a lot of lat pulldowns and bent-over dumbbell rows,” among other exercises.
Dissatisfaction with the filming process and impact on career
However, not only intense training and a strict diet exhausted Pitt, but also the filming process itself, which was difficult from the very beginning. The actor admitted that he agreed to the project after refusing another film and had to fulfill his obligations to the studio. “It wasn’t painful, but I realized that the way this story was being told was not the way I wanted. I made my own mistakes in it. I couldn’t get out of the spotlight. I was going crazy. I was used to working with David Fincher. This is not a criticism of Wolfgang Petersen. “Das Boot” is one of the best films of all time. But at some point, ‘Troy’ became something commercial. Every frame was like: ‘Here’s the hero!’ There was no mystery,” he told The New York Times in 2019.
The 2004 film also made him turn down the opportunity to work with the Coen brothers on “To the White Sea” — an adaptation of the novel by James Dickey. Although the project ultimately did not happen due to lack of funding, the dilemma faced by the actor became a turning point in his career. “I made the decision that I would only invest in quality stories, for lack of a better term. It was a radical change that marked the beginning of the next cinematic decade,” admitted Brad Pitt.
Source: La Nación
