Brad Pitt’s Legends Of The Fall director reveals that the breakout star was ‘unhappy’ when he graced People’s Sexiest Man Alive cover for first time

He is one of the few men to have been named the Sexiest Man Alive by People Magazine twice.

But Brad Pitt was reportedly not a fan of the coveted title when he first graced the iconic cover in 1995.

The future Oscar winner, now 60, was fresh off two big hits from the previous year: Interview With The Vampire and Legends Of The Fall.

And now, in a new memoir from Legends director Edward Zwick, the filmmaker reveals that becoming a sex symbol soured Pitt’s mood.

“He was…unhappy when people called him the sexiest man of the year (sic) – something for which I take neither credit nor blame,” Zwick, 71, claims in Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood, via Variety.

According to his Legends Of The Fall director Edward Zwick, Pitt was “unhappy” when he graced the iconic cover, via Variety

It’s unclear whether Pitt and Zwick’s tempestuous working relationship on Legends Of The Fall could have influenced how the rising star reacted to his appearance being celebrated.

In his memoir, the filmmaker described how Pitt “became tense when he was about to shoot a scene that required him to show deep emotion.”

The inconvenience in production was there from the start.

After Pitt stepped in to play the role of Tristan Ludlow – which was originally going to be played by his future Interview costar Tom Cruise before leaving the film – he apparently had such a bad experience at the first table, reading that his agent went to reportedly called the director. “To say Brad wanted to quit.”

Zwick went on to say that Pitt “could be volatile when he was angry,” and they disagreed on how emotionally open his character should be.

“Brad had grown up with men who kept their emotions in check; I believed that the point of the novel (Legends Of The Fall) was that a man’s life was the sum of his sorrows. (…) But the more I pushed Brad to reveal himself, the more he resisted. So I kept pushing and Brad pushed back,” Zwick wrote.

He recalled a particularly tense moment on set when he criticized Pitt’s performance in front of the film crew, rather than talking to him privately, which he called – in retrospect – “a stupid, embarrassing provocation.”

“The deliberate move would have been to tell the crew to take five and let’s talk about it together. But I felt bloody and wasn’t going to give in,” Zwick continued.

Zwick jokes in his memoir Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood that he takes “neither the credit nor the blame” for Pitt’s unhappiness, referring to their difficult time filming Legends Of The Fall (1994 ); seen in 2019 in Beverly Hills

He recalled clashing with the rising star over his desire for Pitt to be more emotional while the actor wanted to give a more subdued performance; still from Legends Of The Fall

The two began yelling and cursing at each other, and the director claims they even threw chairs at each other, although he could not remember who threw the first.

The painful experience of making the film was possibly highlighted by Brad’s People Magazine cover, as he has long hair and a goatee, reminiscent of his rugged Legends Of The Fall look.

Despite their frequent bickering, Zwick also emphasized that the two would “make up and mean it” after each outburst.

He also praised the Once Upon A Time In Hollywood star as “an outspoken, straightforward person, fun to be around and capable of great joy.” He was never less than completely committed to doing his best.”

However, Pitt ultimately ended his time with the production on another sour note, as he was unhappy with the final cut of Legends Of The Fall because “he felt I had underestimated his character’s madness,” Zwick wrote.

“I actually only cut one take of the scene where Tristan is raging with fever and screaming as the waves wash over him on the schooner,” he continued.

‘But it was an injection that he really liked, and it wouldn’t have been enough to keep him in it, and I should have. Sorry, Brad.”

Pitt also had a difficult experience with Interview With The Vampire, which he admitted in an interview in 2011 Entertainment weekly.

He was ultimately unhappy with the final cut of the film, and the fact that his People cover was styled similarly to how he looked in the film may not have helped matters.

But Pitt had a rough year, as his other 1994 hit, Interview With The Vampire, left him depressed after filming ‘six months in the goddamn dark’; seen in January 2023 in Paris

After the interviewer commented that he looked “miserable” in the film, Pitt responded, “I am miserable. Six months in the damn dark. Contact lenses, make-up, I play the big role.’

He clarified that he was a fan of his character Louis de Pointe du Lac as he was portrayed in Anne Rice’s iconic novel, but he felt that the film version had sanded off the more interesting parts of the character while leaving out the more salacious aspects of Tom Cruise’s performed. character Lestat de Lioncourt, instead forcing him to be just an observer.

Despite Pitt’s unhappiness with his People cover, he was again named the Sexiest Man Alive for the magazine’s 2000 cover.

Only George Clooney and Johnny Depp have also been named Sexiest Man Alive twice, although Richard Gere earned the title in 1999 after previously appearing on the cover with his then-wife Cindy Crawford when the magazine temporarily changed the issue to Sexiest Couple Alive.