7 Actors Who Beat Their Star Persona

6. Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading

Alike DiCaprio, Brad Pitt is a humanitarian heartthrob unafraid of exploring the potential of his craft. Many also doubt his talent merely because it is hard to accept that someone as handsome can also possess as much talent. In short, folks, he does €“ if he always has is another question entirely. Before he became a household name, Brad Pitt already started experimenting and made it perfectly clear that he had no intention of becoming a typecast pretty boy a la Channing Tatum. His performances in Se7eN, 12 Monkeys, and Fight Club asserted that the man aimed to stand the test of time, and we are pretty sure that he has by now. As soon as the noughties came along, however, one can tell that he grew severely comfortable with his celebrity lifestyle and personality. He still appeared in commercial hits like the Ocean€™s trilogy, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and Troy, but he discontinued his delivery of demanding performances. The man played himself and succumbed to the star persona that the global media labeled him as €“ a charismatic sex symbol €“ which personifies the kind of career path by which DiCaprio was unwilling to cruise. He unbuckled his seat belt once more in 2006 with Babel, thankfully, and viewers rekindled to the profound actor that was thought to be long gone. The Assassination of Jesse James and the Coward Robert Ford cemented his return, but his performance in Burn After Reading caused various jaws to hang like sails on a ship unraveling as soon as the wind pops by. This sharply dressed, handsome, magnetic, emotionally deep celebrity morphed into a doofus. A jester. A joke. A member of the frat pack. And a bloody hilarious one. Never will you see someone with Brad Pitt€™s star power achieve this more than once. Otherwise, the trend and expectancy would develop into one that could hinder his future roles. That is something that only auteurs like the Coen Brothers could ever come up with: €œlet€™s pay the most famous and sexiest actor on the planet €“ man that countless of people look up to €“ millions of dollars to play a man with a cow€™s IQ€. Brad Pitt received a BAFTA nomination for his performance, and it verifies that a pinch of the Brad Pitt from the 90s remained. Can you really believe that the man who played Jesse James and Benjamin Button managed to squeeze a role like Chad Feldheimer€™s right in between them? The role may not be his most challenging, but definitely his most unique.