Brad Pitt Almost Played William Wallace in Mel Gibson's BRAVEHEART
Mel Gibson's Braveheart is one of my favorite movies of all time. That movie holds my record of most times I've watched a movie in a theater at a solid eight times! Then I've watched it countless times on VHS and DVD and Blu-ray.
Mel Gibson not only did an incredible job directing the movie, but he also gave an amazing performance as William Wallace. It turns out that he wasn't originally going to take on the role. Gibson and the studio were actually looking at casting Brad Pitt in the role, which would have been so weird!
It's hard to imagine Pitt in the role, but in the beginning, they felt they needed a younger actor to play Wallace. Pitt would have made the film around the same that he made Legends of the Fall. I'm actually curious to know what Braveheart would've been like had Pitt starred in the film, but in the end, I'm glad that Gibson took on the role.
This little bit of movie trivia came from a report from THR that tells the story of Gibson throwing an ashtray through a wall during the Braveheart budget meetings at the studio. Here's the story breakdown:
With 20th Century Fox agreeing to put up two-thirds of the money in exchange for foreign rights, Lansing only had to deliver one-third of the preliminary budget of $65 million to $70 million. But when Gibson went to Paramount to meet with the studio's head of business affairs, Bill Bernstein, the executives offered just $15 million for Paramount’s share of the budget — not even enough to cover the battle scenes, according to Ladd. The studio also asked for a distribution fee of 25 percent of the movie's theatrical revenue.
Gibson was furious. "He grabbed a large glass ashtray and threw it through the wall,” recalls agent Jeff Berg. “He threw the ashtray through the wall!"
The actor-director confirmed the incident. "I was like, 'What the f— do you people mean? I turned down three jobs — blah, blah, blah.' I was kind of upset, probably a little over the top. It was all posturing bullshit."
A week later, Paramount revised its offer, putting up one-third of the budget and taking a lower distribution fee.
What do you all think about Pitt in the role of William Wallace in an alternate universe?