Brad Pitt is ‘volatile’ when riled, says Ed Zwick in his new memoir

Brad Pitt is described as “volatile” by director Ed Zwick in his new memoir, Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood.

Zwick dished out details in his book about his conflict with Pitt while filming Legends of the Fall, revealing, “Brad seems easygoing at first, but he can be volatile when riled, as I was to be reminded more than once as shooting began and we took each other’s measure.”

“It fell to [producer] Marshall [Herskovitz] to talk Brad off the ledge,” penned the director in an excerpt of the book via Variety.

Zwick mentioned, “It was the first augury of the deeper springs of emotion roiling inside Brad.”

He further said, Sometimes, no matter how experienced or sensitive you are as a director, things just aren’t working.”

Zwick wrote that Brad “would get edgy whenever he was about to shoot a scene that required him to display deep emotion”.

“Brad had grown up with men who held their emotions in check,” he remarked.

Recalling one of the moments when Zwick gave Pitt direction on set, which he realised now “was a “stupid, shaming provocation”.

“The crew grew accustomed to our dustups and would walk away and let us have it out,” pointed out the director.

Despite their occasional “blow up arguments,” Zwick added that he and Pitt would “make up and mean it in the end”.

Zwick however praised Pitt’s work in the movie, stating, “He was never anything less than fully committed to doing his best.”