David Fincher Reveals Why Brad Pitt Refused to Join Him in The Killer

Summary

• Michael Fassbender delivers an incredible performance in David Fincher’s latest film, The Killer, marking his return to the big screen after a four-year hiatus.
• Initially, Fincher wanted Brad Pitt for the role, but Pitt turned it down, citing the film as “a little too nihilistic.” Instead, Fassbender embraced the dark and gritty nature of the character.
• Fincher and Pitt have a longstanding collaborative history, with notable films like Se7en, Fight Club, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. However, their plans for a World War Z sequel have seemingly been abandoned.

Although Michael Fassbender does an incredible job in David Fincher‘s latest film, The Killer, the director originally wanted to work with another actor, one with whom he had already collaborated on several projects before.

The Killer (2023)

Release Date November 10, 2023

Director David Fincher

Cast Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Kerry O’Malley, Charles Parnell, Lacey Dover

Rating R

Runtime 1hr 58min

Genres Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama

The recently released Netflix thriller marks Fassbender’s return to film after a four-year hiatus, as his previous movie was 2019’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix. And it’s a truly epic return, because it also marks the return of Fincher after first teaming up with the streaming platform for Mank in 2020, and the first collaboration between the acclaimed director and the actor.

But initially, when Fincher began working on The Killer years ago, he actually wanted a different actor. This is Brad Pitt, who has worked with the filmmaker on several occasions in the past. In an interview with Rolling Stone to promote his new film, Fincher revealed that Pitt refused to join the project and explained why:

“I’d originally been thinking of Brad [Pitt] back in 2008. But his response had been, ‘Eh, a little too nihilistic for me.’ OK, so, who? We needed someone who would embrace that aspect of the character. Then a dozen or so years later, when Andy and I were in the middle of hashing it out, I thought of Michael Fassbender. [I sent him the script with a note saying] ‘I’d love to send this to you to read, I don’t know what your life is like now, I know you’re racing…’ And a few hours later, he called back and told me he was in.”

In The Killer, Fassbender plays a professional assassin who botches a job, which not only jeopardizes his career but also his entire life. After his failure, he will start a race around the world to avoid suffering the consequences of his mistake.

Related: Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie Are Working Together on a Classic Remake, But What Is It?

The Legacy that David Fincher and Brad Pitt Have Built Together

20th Century Fox

Fincher made his debut as a film director in 1992 with Alien 3, but his first major project would come in 1995 with the dark thriller Se7en, still considered as one of his best movies. That would be the first time that Brad Pitt and the director met, since the actor played one of the two leading roles along with Morgan Freeman. In fact, Se7ven is one of those titles that helped Pitt on his path to becoming a huge star, along with Interview with the Vampire, Legends of the Fall, and 12 Monkeys, released that same year.

In 1999, they would team up again to establish themselves together as two big names in Hollywood with Fight Club, where Pitt plays the controversial but unforgettable Tyler Durden alongside an equally magnificent Edward Norton. Ten years later, they would reunite again in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which earned Pitt his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

Both were going to work together once again in the sequel to World War Z, after Pitt starred in the first film, but the project seems to have been forgotten despite the director’s intentions to make it happen.

The Killer is available to stream now on Netflix.

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