20 Best Brad Pitt Movies, Ranked
Brad Pitt is as pure a movie star as they come, but if anything a large swath of his work is often overlooked. To celebrate the Missourianâs 60th birthday, Variety chief film critic Owen Gleiberman and Senior Awards Editor Clayton Davis look at the 20 best roles of Pittâs career.
From âInterview With The Vampireâ to âFight Clubâ Pitt has morphed into hero, villain and even the (beloved) simpleminded trainer Chad Feldheimer for the Coen Brothers film âBurn After Reading.â
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Just a few years shy of his best actor win for âOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood,â his portrayal of Cliff Booth in Quentin Tarantinoâs film is widely considered the high-water mark of his career. But itâs certainly not the first film to grant him awardâs buzz. âThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button,â âBurn After Reading,â âMoneyballâ all landed him past nods for his acting as did his 1996 role for the science fiction thriller â12 Monkeys.â
In conversation with Adam Sandler in 2019 for Varietyâs Actors on Actors, Pitt shared his thoughts on filmmaking and acting. His first piece of advice? Keep it real, âff itâs real for you, itâs going to be real, because the camera reads that.â
While accepting the award for best supporting actor at the Oscars he thanked the Academy and director Tarantino, âTarantino, you are original, you are one of a kind. The film industry would be a much drier place without you,â the actors then turned to his co-star Leonardo DiCaprio and said, âLeo, Iâll ride on your coattails any day.â
Here is our list of Pittâs best roles.
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20. Snatch (2000)
0)You canât find a more enjoyable Brad Pitt than his Mickey OâNeil, the captivating Irish traveler from Guy Ritchieâs cult-classic âSnatchâ (2000).Pittâs performance in this crime comedy was a whirlwind of energy, humor, and charisma. He fully immersed himself with a thick (and often difficult-to-understand) accent, bringing a delightful unpredictability to the character. A scene-stealer in every way, Pittâs infectious enthusiasm solidifies his place among one of the most versatile stars who can deliver in multiple genres. â Clayton Davis
19. Babel (2006)
In the multi-narrative drama âBabelâ by Alejandro G. Iñårritu, Pitt delivered a compelling and charged performance as a Richard, a husband grappling with a crisis while traveling through a remote part of Morocco.Capturing the desperation and helplessness of a man caught in a whirlwind of circumstances beyond his control, in addition to navigating language barriers and cultural divides, Pitt conveys Richardâs mounting frustration and vulnerability in the face of adversity, played expertly opposite Cate Blanchett. While he was only recognized at the Golden Globes for his work, he remains a highlight of the ambitious picture. â CD
18. World War Z (2013)
A global zombie apocalypse that looks even more timely now than it did three years ago (itâs all about a society in which rage has taken over and the bottom has fallen out), Marc Forsterâs teeming mass-panic horror film is not the sort of movie that tends to come up when youâre talking about inspired acting. Yet just watch the way Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a former U.N investigator whoâs jetting around the world, searching for the origins of â and possible cure for â the zombie virus. Pitt energizes the movie. Heâs a live wire of grace under pressure, whether heâs fighting to save his family or casually chopping off the hand of a soldier to keep her from going zombie. The last act, set inside a World Health Organization facility, was famously tacked on to save a troubled production, yet itâs the best thing in the movie â a nearly Hitchcockian sequence in which Pitt, a presence of pure alertness, dodges the death around him. â Owen Gleiberman
17. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
In David Fincherâs âThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button,â Pittâs performance as the titular character was regarded as one of the actorâs most giant swings. Navigating the complexities of a fantastical role about a man aging backward, his poignant exploration of love, joys, and the bittersweet moments of a life lived in reverse went beyond the visual effects on display.
Bringing him an Oscar nomination for best actor, his nuanced portrayal of Benjaminâs unique journey through life and a tender vulnerability alongside Cate Blanchettâs Daisy allowed audiences to access the universal themes, with a few tears shed along the way. â CD
16. Ad Astra (2019)
Playing astronaut Roy McBride in James Grayâs emotionally resonant âAd Astra,â the star showcased his talent for capturing a manâs inner turmoil and uninhibited depth within the vast expanse of space.
Pitt conveyed McBrideâs internal conflicts and suppressed emotions with a poignant subtlety. His work served as the emotional nucleus of the film, anchoring the narrative with a quiet yet powerful presence. Only able to muster a single nom for sound, in addition to being released the same year as Pittâs Oscar-winning work in âOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood,â it remains a clear standout on his resume. â CD
15. Babylon (2022)
Audiences had mixed feelings about Damien Chazelleâs over-zealous and ambitious 188-minute look at Hollywoodâs transition following the silent era. One aspect that was accessible for the viewer was Pittâs work as Jack Conrad, a thrice-divorced star being left in the dust of a changing world around him. Breaking your heart as he grapples with the fading memory of his glory days, his melancholic tapestry of emotions stands out in a narrative sea of elephant feces and orgies. The Golden Globes were impressed enough to take notice, but there were no kudos beyond that. â CD
14. Twelve Monkeys (1996)
In the middle of Terry Gilliamâs squalid dystopian time-travel head-spinner, Pitt shows up as a motormouth psychotic whose itchy reaction time and convulsive, too-much-electroshock personality may be a sign of how far gone he is, or possibly an elaborate put-on (or both). The manic pleasure of Pittâs performance is that he keeps you guessing. Pitt had tried to play a feral scuzzbucket once before, in the serial-killer drama âKalifornia,â but he couldnât keep his glamour from shining through. Here, for the first time, he shaves away his golden-boy persona right along with his hair, proving that a fugly Brad can be as magnetic as a studly one. â OG
13. Thelma & Louise (1991)
Standing apart from all the rapists, harassers, abusers, and other louts who surround Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon), those righteous feministas on the road to nowhere, there is one man chivalrous and innocent â and sexy â enough to get on their good side, and thatâs J.D., a rawhide slab of good-olâ-boy beefcake played by Pitt, in the movie that made him a movie star. Twenty-five years later, you can still see why: Showing off his dimples, miming a bank robbery with a hair dryer, heâs a dreamboat hunk, but instead of coming on like the usual Beautiful Dim Working-Class Sex Object, he acts like a guy who knows from the inside out why heâs the center of attention. Pittâs J.D. is so convinced heâs a charmer that he makes that very conviction charming â turning this, in effect, into the audition for fame that Pitt aced in front of the whole world. â OG
12. Legends of the Fall (1994)
There are good-looking Hollywood leading men sprinkled throughout history, and then thereâs Brad Pitt in the sweeping epic âLegends of the Fallâ (1994). Playing Tristan in director Edward Zwickâs gorgeous family drama, Pitt brought a potent mix of rebelliousness, vulnerability, and intense passion to the screen. Against the tumultuous backdrop of World War I, Pitt showed Tristanâs inner demons, becoming a cornerstone of the film that encompasses a stellar cast including Anthony Hopkins, Julia Ormond, Henry Thomas, and Aidan Quinn.
Tristan was the essence of a tormented soul, grappling with the intricacies of love and duty, making this a defining performance in Pittâs illustrious career. â CD
11. Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Pitts portrayal of Louis de Pointe du Lac in Neil Jordanâs âInterview with the Vampireâ showcased his remarkable ability to delve deeply and confidently into dark, tortured characters. As the brooding vampire struggling with the moral complexities of immortality, Pitt brought a haunting vulnerability to the role opposite Tom Cruise and breakout newcomer Kirsten Dunst.
His ability to convey a sense of torment through haunting gazes added a palpable sense of tragedy to Louisâ journey, cementing Pittâs status as an actor capable of infusing supernatural roles with an undeniable human essence. â CD
10. Se7en (1995)
After his breakthrough in âThelma & Louise,â Pitt made a handful of movies â âA River Runs Through It,â âLegends of the Fall,â even the smash hit âInterview with the Vampireâ â in which he hadnât completely figured out how to let his charisma jell into a character. He finally did it here, commanding the screen in the sort of no-frills utilitarian-cop role that other actors disappear in. David Fincherâs baroquely atmospheric but somewhat overly diagrammed psycho-killer mystery has much to recommend it, but most of that comes from the dark side: the lavishly staged crime scenes (each teaches a tidy lesson), Kevin Spaceyâs calculatedly unhinged performance, the gee-whatâs-in-the-box climax. Pitt and Morgan Freeman, as the cops investigating the madness, are minimalist noir gumshoes, but this is the most forceful and stylish of Pittâs lawman-knight performances. â OG
9. Oceanâs Eleven (2001)
Beneath its entertainingly dizzy convolutions, Steven Soderberghâs so-clever-itâs-delectable heist caper is really a love story â and not just because George Clooneyâs Danny Ocean lines up 11 accomplices to rob three Vegas casinos all as an elaborate ruse to woo his ex-wife (Julia Roberts) back from the casino owner. This may also be the slyest comedy of male bonding ever made: The whole joke is that Danny and his key partner-in-crime, played by Pitt, just want to hang, but they need to come up with an excuse THIS elaborate to maintain their too-cool-for-school unflappability. And no one onscreen has a shaggier nonchalance than Pitt, whose throwaway âtude â never more knowing than when it seems oblivious â makes him the quintessential operator in this new millennium Rat Pack. â OG
8. Burn After Reading (2008)
Joel and Ethan Coenâs underappreciated gem is a bumptious comedy about CIA secrets and the invasion of privacy, with Pitt cast as the most stupido character of his career: a thick-witted personal trainer named Chad, who stumbles onto a CD of what he thinks is highly classified information. At the time, people made cheap jokes about how Pitt played a nitwit stud with striking conviction, but really, he does it with hilarious and knowing style, standing in for a nation of get-rich-quick scroungers. â OG
7. Killing Them Softly (2012)
The most unjustly overlooked film of Pittâs career. Based on the George V. Higgins novel âCoganâs Trade,â it was director Andrew Dominikâs sizzling noir follow-up to âThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,â and itâs a highly suspenseful underworld saga full of hairpin turns and vivid sleaze, but Dominik gave it an added thematic layer â about America in the Age of Obama reduced to a trough of greed â that many found preachy and obvious (though its canny upshot it to link the criminal desperation onscreen with our own). Pitt plays Jackie Cogan, a Mob hitman of awesome efficiency who prefers to kill his victims âsoftlyâ (i.e., from a distance, so they wonât know what hit them). Hunting down a pair of reckless idiots who were clueless enough to rip off a gangstersâ gambling den, he lords it over an underworld maze thatâs like âThe Sopranosâ redrawn by Dashiell Hammett (the late James Gandolfini is even on hand, in his greatest non-Tony role). âKilling Them Softlyâ is a fable of sociopathic sympathy: You wouldnât want to be on the wrong end of Pittâs gun, but in his ice-cold impulse to sweep the streets, heâs so stylishly compelling heâs like an angel of death. â OG
6. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Pitt has always had moments of being a great comedian (âBurn After Reading,â âTrue Romanceâ), and his performance as Lt. Aldo Raine, the sâ-kicking redneck squad leader of Quentin Tarantinoâs WWII epic, is a lowdown high-style comic turn. Aldo talks like a sawed-off shotgun, blasting off lines like âI sure as hell didnât come down from the goddamn Smoky Mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half of Sicily, and jump out of a fâinâ air-o-plane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity.â The joke is that Pitt, with his mule-skinner drawl, makes you believe that Aldo is basically a transplanted woodland hillbilly who sees Nazi-killing as a form of hunting. At the same time, one reason heâs so good at slaughtering animals is that he knows how to think like one. Heâs a savage in a uniform, but heâs on the right side of things, never more so than when heâs carving swastikas into foreheads and letting his decency loom as large as his brutality. â OG
5. The Tree of Life (2011)
In recent years, the actors who have worked with director Terrence Malick â Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, Colin Farrell â have tended to come off as little more than swarthy artifacts of visual dĂ©cor. But âThe Tree of Lifeâ is the rare contempo Malick film thatâs more than just lyrical floating camera, breathless bursts of classical music, and amber waves of grain. Itâs the directorâs greatest film since âBadlands,â a poetically authentic dream of American life in the sleepy pre-media â50s, so steeped in memory that itâs like a Proustian scrapbook, and the most haunting thing about it is Pittâs performance as the heroâs father, whom he portrays as a fusion of reverence and stern, at times monstrous discipline. Heâs a man who acts out at home the frustration he feels at being a cog in the machine that he canât reveal anywhere else. The result is Pittâs most complicated character, because he doesnât just show you the deep love and the dictatorial scariness. He shows you how they canât be separated. â OG
4. Moneyball (2011)
It would be hard to name an actor outside the B-movie action realm (Jason Statham, etc.) who radiates the sheer confidence of Pitt, and thatâs why he hasnât often played characters who possess an undercurrent of insecurity. But the beauty of his performance as Billy Beane, the real-life Oakland Aâs general manager who devised a revolutionary new way to put together a champion baseball team, is that itâs fueled by that effortless and strutting Pittian bravura, but itâs also layered with convincing, grown-up glimmers of self-doubt. Billy, a former pro player whose career didnât work out, is trying to prove himself by boldly going where no baseball club has gone before â into the realm of computer analysis, which results in assembling a team of quirky flawed misfits who excel at one thing (getting on base). His whole mission in sports is riding on that decision, and Pitt, chewing on the most stylish baseball dialogue since âBull Durham,â creates a character of scruffy moxie and soul who would have been right at home in a downbeat classic of the â70s. â OG
3. Fight Club (1999)
Tyler Durden, the scuffed and imperious ringleader of a violent club for overgrown delinquents, is a dropout, a criminal, a truth-teller, an existential rebel, the ultimate badass, and the quintessential Brad Pitt character, because he wears his attitude of who-gives-a-fâ bravado like the tasty but unattainable fantasy it is. Tyler Durden is also, of course, a pure figment, and thatâs the mystery at the heart of Pittâs mesmerizing performance. Itâs Tyler, in this movie, who first uttered the phrase âHowâs that workinâ out for ya?,â and Pittâs priceless reading of that line is defining, because it throws down a generational gauntlet. It really means: Howâs it workinâ out for you not being as killer as Brad Pitt? Weâve been trying to answer that question ever since. â OG
2. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Pitt had never played a villain before, and though thatâs a simplistic word to use for the Jesse James of Andrew Dominikâs serpentine Western psychodrama â you could argue that Robert Ford, played as a weasel of weakness by Casey Affleck, is the filmâs real villain â Pitt seizes upon the chance to play a legendary outlaw by making the screen vibrate with coiled menace. You can see him gaining in confidence â and skill â as an actor, because in more scenes than not, he appears to be doing almost nothing, yet you canât take your eyes off him. Whatâs operating almost invisibly inside Pittâs electric presence is Jesseâs promise of violence, a threat so pure that he never has to say it aloud. â OG
1. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)
As Cliff Booth, the lad-back and enigmatic stuntman in Quentin Tarantinoâs âOnce Upon a Time inâŠHollywoodâ (2019), the actor effortlessly brings quiet confidence and depth to the role. A testament to his mastery of nuanced characters, his portrayal is a captivating study in subtlety, where every expression and gesture speaks volumes, painting a vivid picture of a man who navigates the glitz and grit of 1970s Hollywood.
Winning the Oscar for best supporting actor, you can easily see why he ran away with the prize. His effortless charisma, paired with an understated complexity, elevates Booth beyond a mere supporting role, becoming an anchor that grounds the film in its nostalgic ambiance and exploration of Hollywoodâs golden age. â CD