“I just silently wept”: Brad Pitt praises emotional script for new film about a soldier and his dog

Brad Pitt has always known his life is better with dogs.

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So when David Ayer sent him the script for Heart of the Beast, Pitt, 62, was immediately moved by the story of a man and his loyal canine companion struggling to survive after their Cessna float plane crash-lands in the Alaskan wilderness.

Written by newcomer Cameron Alexander, Heart of the Beast casts Pitt as retired Special Forces officer James Belmont, who is seeking a quiet life with his dog, Odin, after deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Both James and his beloved German shepherd (played in the movie by canine actor Uber) are still carrying the scars of war and suffer PTSD nightmares. Retreating into the remote wilderness is the only place where they can find peace.

James and Odin are thrown into a battle for survival after their plane crashes during a freak storm.

Director Ayer, who teamed up with Pitt on the 2014 Second World War action drama Fury, said after reading Alexander’s script, he knew he wanted to be the one to tell the story of James and Odin on the big screen.

“It was simply one of the best pieces of writing I’d ever seen,” Ayer says. “It didn’t just make me cry; it made me ugly cry. I’d have to stop and process a little bit, then start reading a few more pages … After surviving the unsurvivable in Iraq and Afghanistan … James had made the dog a promise, something like, ‘If we survive this, I’m going to take you fishing.’”

Pitt, who owns three dogs of his own, says he teared up reading the story of James and Odin.

“I just silently wept. It just really, really moved me,” the Oscar winner recalls. “I read it again and had the same reaction. And I just said, well, I’m not sure what it is but there’s something in here worth doing, investigating, supporting, so let’s go. I called up my old friend David Ayer and off we went.”

At the film’s première earlier this month in Nashville, Pitt, who attended the screening with girlfriend Ines de Ramon, 33, made sure adoptable dogs were able to attend the soiree.

He calls the film a love story that pays special tribute to all the dogs he has owned throughout his life.

“That bond between human and dog, dog and human, is something quite incredible,” he says. “The love and joy and even frustration I’ve had with my dogs are undeniable and unique in its relationship. I wanted to do something that was a tribute to that, to my dogs, and to what they’ve given me. A dog’s love is so unconditional, and there’s a lot to be learned from that.”

In a Zoom interview before the world première of Heart of the Beast, Pitt and Ayer talked to Postmedia about the importance of dogs and why those bonds we form with our pets are some of the strongest we’ll ever know.

Brad, I think it’s the most intimate movie we’ve seen you act in. What was it like for you to tap into James and the story of him and Odin?

Pitt: “It was certainly challenging, but I was so moved by the script in the end in a very warm and cathartic way. I think back on my relationships with my dogs and what they’ve given me, even on the darkest days, so I wanted to pay a bit of a tribute to that. When David sent me the script — and we’d already filmed a movie together in difficult and challenging circumstances — it just felt like what had to be done to tell the story and it was worth it.”

David, you directed Brad before on Fury and that looked like a film that had tons of challenges. What was it like to see Brad take on a role like this? It’s something we haven’t really seen him do before.

Ayer “Honestly, it was humbling. You make these movies, and you have your crew and your equipment, and there’s a certain rhythm to it. In this case, it was just Brad and the dog and the environment. We were really going through it — the difficulty of just being really cold and miserable and wet and tired — and Brad was showing up every day and pouring his soul out. I felt I had to be there for him. I was operating the camera and I was kind of just following him around and really taking his lead in a lot of this.”

Pitt “And I’m following the dog around.”

Ayer “So we’ve got the dog, Brad, the camera crew — and somehow it worked.”

What makes the bond between humans and dogs so special?

Pitt “It’s that unconditional love, isn’t it? It just amazes me how they’re able to shake things off and be constantly loving. It’s that unconditional thing that moves me to tears. We’re less lonely in the world because of our animals.”

Ayer “Andrew Simpson, the dog trainer, says it beautifully. ‘We didn’t choose dogs; they chose us.’ They came out of the wilderness and found us and now we’ve learned something from them.”

Brad, you’ve taken on so many amazing characters in your career. Is there a trait you’re looking for when you decide who you want to play?

Pitt “No, I don’t usually figure it out until I finish one thing and then think, ‘What do I want to do next?’ Coming from the world of (last summer’s) F1, which is loud and propulsive and energetic, to what is a survival, but ultimately a love story between these two, really moved me. It felt right to work with David again and going off and doing this felt like the right call. It’s as simple as that.”

Is it always OK to let the dog lick your face?

Pitt “It’s funny, even at home, I’m like, ‘Hey, hey, hey.’ But you’re in the movie and you just go with it. So, me and Uber, we were drinking out of the same bowl, eating out of the same hand. We became one, me and Uber.”

Heart of the Beast is now playing in theatres.

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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