Brad Pitt, who dropped out of college a week before he was due to graduate (probably not with honors) to drive to LA and take a shot at acting, once had a job as a chauffer for strippers. He said if it wasn’t for that depressing job, he would not have met a stripper who got him to go to an acting class that inspired him to pursue it as a career.
He made the confession to a Newsweek journalist during a roundtable discussion that included other potential Oscar nominees Helen Mirren, Forest Witaker, Cate Blanchett, Penelope Cruz, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Q: It seems every actor, no matter how successful, thinks he’ll never work again. Do you feel that way, Brad?
BRAD PITT: Not really, no. [Laughter]Q: You all had some surprising early jobs before you became actors. Forest was a classical tenor. Helen was a sort of carnival barker.
PITT: I had a job driving strippers around.LEONARDO DICAPRIO: Really?
BLANCHETT: Just last month.
PITT: I love her. Yeah, my job was to drive them to bachelor parties and things. I’d pick them up, and at the gig I’d collect the money, play the bad Prince tapes and catch the girls’ clothes. It was not a wholesome atmosphere, and it got very depressing. After two months I went in to quit, and the guy said, “Listen, I’ve got this one last gig tonight.” So I did it, and this girl—I’d never met her before—was in an acting class taught by a man named Roy London [a famous acting coach]. I went and checked it out, and it really set me on the path to where I am now.
Q: A stripper changed the course of your career.
PITT: [Nods] Strippers changed my life.Q; We’ll see that in the National Enquirer next week.
PITT: [Looks toward the ceiling] I just want one week off. Just one.
If Pitt wants a week off he should stop telling such great stories about his past. You know he was banging that stripper and he took the acting class to impress her, just like he learned to fly after he hooked up with Angie. Maybe if that stripper was into horseback riding instead he’d be living on a farm now.
Update: Pictures removed on request.
I’m friends with an architect that works with Pitt frequently. He has nothing but great things to say about him, how down to earth and charming he is. Why is it considered weak if a man is influenced positively by a female? I don’t really understand the hating, except for the jealousy factor of course.
Pitt is a dork.
I bet it would be really boring to sit and talk to him.
I watched the interview, it was funny and Pitt was charming. He said that he was taking acting classes at the time but didn’t like any of the acting coaches (very “guru mentality”) but he decided to check this guy out because the girl said he was really good–so it’s not like he didn’t think about acting and suddenly the stipper told him what to do (which, of course, fits with the no-personality, imitates his girlfriends theory some people are eager to embrace). Cate Blanchett had some weird stories from her life too–she had no money at all and traveled around the world, was an extra in some Arabic movie in Africa (she said, thankfully, it didn’t involve sleeping with anyone). I loved when Penelope Cruz said that she knew she was famous when she made her first movie at 16, it became a hit and someone on the street yelled “I love you” and then, almost instantly, someone else yelled “Whore!”… I guess that applies to every actress who’s not afraid to show some personality.
It’s not hate, it is simply won’t these people just get out of the limelight? Pitt is no rocket scientist despite his interest in architecture. I don’t hate any celeb, I just get tired of hearing how terrific and unique they are when in reality the clawed their way up stepping on whomever they had to, to get their fame and fortune.
If I were an old dude, I’d totally do Helen Mirren. I think she’s the hottest older woman out there, and such a fascinating, witty woman.
Who’d Pitt step on and claw over, Mr T? (No sarcasm, just curious.)
i think people assume you can’t look like brad pitt and be intelligent and then when they find out he is, they critisize in some other way, just jealous.
Pitt was there along with five other nominated actors.. I don’t know how that means he’s seeking the limelight. I remember when he volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, some bloggers instantly reported that he showed up for a photo op and was gone shortly after that. Jimmy Carter (!!) actually clarified that he worked a day and a half alongside the regular crew and had no special requests or didn’t receive special treatment.
“Maybe if that stripper was into horseback riding instead hed be living on a farm now.”
Save a horse, ride a cowboy. Yee haw.
…sorry it’s 3:20 am where I am now.