Every great Hollywood director seems to have a favorite: Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson, Greta Gerwig and Saoirse Ronan, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, and the list continues. But no pair comes close to the incredible story of Brad Pitt and director David Leitch who once upon a time started in the industry as Pitt’s stunt double, instead of as an infamous director-actor collaborator. Now, with 25 years in the bag, the Pitt-Leitch duo that now supersedes the Pitt-Fincher partnership has become as infamous as the news of Leo DiCaprio replacing Rob De Niro as Scorsese’s muse.
Also read: Bullet Train Review: Fun But Not Fast Enough
David Leitch Credits Brad Pitt’s Professionalism as an Actor
When Brad Pitt still served as a muse to the esteemed and twisted mind of director, David Fincher, an unlikely friendship blossomed on the sets of one of history’s most incredulous films of all time, Fight Club. Almost like art imitating life, the friendship that the audience witnessed in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (sans the fading glory) began to grow between Fincher’s leading man and his stunt double, David Leitch. Through the decade that followed, the pair would go on to collaborate as actor-double in films like Ocean’s Eleven (2001) and Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005).
When Leitch finally graduated from his spot in front of the lens to one behind it, the duo’s first film together in their new-found actor-director partnership, Bullet Train, was a colorful melée of overlapping plots, anime-style cinematography, and a non-stop barrage of hilarious fight sequences from start to finish. Recalling their time on set, the director claims:
“When [Pitt] came on this, he seemed to respect me already as a director. Obviously, we worked a little on ‘Deadpool 2.’ We fell into this great friend rapport that we had in the years we spent together. But I was just blown away by him embracing me as the director and leaning into my ideas.”
Adapted from the black humor thriller novel by Kōtarō Isaka titled Maria Beetle, the film served as the first full-length feature film collaboration between David Leitch and Brad Pitt after the duo previously worked on a two-second cameo scene from Pitt in Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool 2 as Vanisher. The favor was hilariously returned in Bullet Train when Reynolds appeared at the very end as Carver, the one responsible for Pitt’s character, Ladybug, landing in hot water in the first place.
David Leitch’s Hollywood Arc: Stunt Double to Director
At the time Fight Club had come out, David Leitch already established himself as quite the master stunt coordinator. Excelling in the traditional Hong Kong action film style sequences, Leitch had also trained alongside Wing Chun legend, Bruce Lee’s training partner, Dan Inosanto, who later inspired Leitch to incorporate an American fighting technique into the Hong Kong action sequences, giving rise to the infamous “gun-fu” form of stunt that one can witness in the John Wick installments.
The limited space that Leitch later got to work with in his 2022 film, Bullet Train, worked perfectly in his favor as the director finally got to incorporate choppy and condensed stunts with “lots of quick jabs and kicks,” according to an interview with Insider. Now, Leitch finally gets to enjoy his new lookout from the directorial chair as the talented director sets off in search of more challenging projects to pick up in the near future.
Bullet Train is available for streaming on Netflix.
Source: Insider
