Brad Pitt Got His Own Greek Demigod Curse While Portraying Achilles in $497M Troy
In the 2004 epic historical battle film Troy, which was written by David Benioff and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, Brad Pitt starred as Achilles. The movie is based on Homer’s The Illiad.
The film tells the story of the Trojan War when a Greek army under the command of Menelaus of Sparta and Agamemnon of Mycenae invaded a fortified city. Due to the young Trojan prince Paris’ passion, who seduced Helen, the queen of Sparta, while on a peace mission, war was made inevitable. Surprisingly, while playing Achilles on the sets of Troy, an incident occurred with Brad Pitt which is remembered even today as a Trojan curse.
Brad Pitt tore his Achilles tendon while playing Achilles in Troy
Actor Brad Pitt, who played Achilles in Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy, reportedly tore his Achilles tendon while filming a fight scene. It was known that the actor had worked really hard to achieve a good shape for the character and had revealed in one of his interviews that he worked out for about six months to get into the fighting form and made sure to eat four protein-rich meals every day as a part of his training.
He admitted that “in a bout of stupid irony, I tweaked my Achilles’ tendon.” Pitt’s injury halted the movie for several weeks and even though Troy received mixed reactions from the audience and critics, Brad Pitt was applauded for his dedication to the character.
In another interview, he explained, “It’s just wear and tear and all the jumping and fighting in that sand. It was near the very end and we’d been shooting and training for months at that point and it just said, ‘I’m done. I need a rest.'”
Petersen struggled to see how an actor playing Achilles in his movie who tore his Achilles’ tendon is funny as he was already under enough pressure. The delay caused by Pitt’s injury followed another pause caused by a hurricane that had ripped through the million-dollar set and destroyed a host of props.
“There was no mystery”: Brad Pitt on being a part of Troy
The Fight Club actor revealed in 2019 during an interview with the New York Times that he had to do Troy because he pulled out of another movie and then had to do something for the studio, so he was put in Troy to play Achilles. Pitt said it wasn’t painful, but he realized that the way that movie was being told was not how he wanted it to be. The actor noted that he made his own mistakes in it.
The actor mentioned that he could not get out of the middle of the frame but it was driving him crazy adding that he had become spoiled working with David Fincher. He said,
“Troy became a commercial kind of thing. Every shot was like, ‘Here’s the hero!’ There was no mystery. So about that time, I made a decision that I was only going to invest in quality stories, for lack of a better term.”
During an interview with USA Today at the time, the actor said that he only acted in the movie out of contractual obligation because it was the part he was willing to play and now he does not look back on those memories as fond memories but like a great valuable experience that taught him something about the industry which influenced his choices to pick roles. Pitt recognized that the characters of Achilles lacked the depth and artistic nuance that he desired.
Also read: Painful Reason Why Angelina Jolie Did Not Invite Her Father Jon Voight to Her Wedding With Brad Pitt
Troy‘s disappointment taught Brad Pitt a valuable lesson
Troy may be one of the movies that did not exactly work for the actor, but it had an effect on his career and he added in an interview with the New York Times; “When you’re trying to figure things out in your career, you get a lot of advice. People are telling you that you should be doing this, and other people are saying you should be doing that.”
Recalling his experience, the actor had shared previously, “I’m following my gut from here on out. I had to do Troy because—I guess I can say all this now—I pulled out of another movie and then had to do something for the studio. So I was put in Troy. It wasn’t painful, but I realized that the way that movie was being told was not how I wanted it to be. I made my own mistakes in it.”
His Bullet Train co-star Aaron Taylor-Johnson shared at the Locarno Film Festival,
“He just wants to bring light and joy into the world and be around people who are there to have a good time. You work with many actors and after a while you start making notes: ‘I am definitely not working with this person ever again.’ Brad has this list too: the ‘good’ list and the s— list.”
Brad Pitt will soon appear in an untitled film about the world-famous Formula One.
Source: US Magazine
