Sony Pictures
While on a rocket ship to the top of Hollywood’s A-list, taking on a grimy role as a non-intelligible Gypsy boxer in a relatively small British crime comedy might not be the most advisable move. But that’s what makes Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt.
After bursting onto the scene in the early-mid 90s, Pitt had the world at his feet thanks to his roles in films such as Seven and Fight Club.
However, instead of taking on another flashy leading role, Pitt instead decided to star as the gypsy boxer Mickey in Guy Ritchie’s film Snatch, which was produced by Matthew Vaughn.
Speaking to BroBible’s Post Credit Podcast ahead of the release of his new film Argylle, Vaughn told a story about Pitt getting cold feet the night before filming was set to start and needing a few (or a lot) rounds of Guinness to get him back on board.
“What was really crazy was the day before filming, Brad pulled out and I ended up sitting in a pub with him very, very late, with a lot of Guinness being drunk, persuading him not to leave because he was worried he wouldn’t get the accent right,” Vaughn explained.
“And he did. And that’s what’s phenomenal about Brad: he has such humility, and such a desire to do things properly. Anyway, he said yes — I don’t know whether he was so drunk when he said yes, but he did say yes.”
“He already had it,” Vaughn’s said of Pitt’s now-famed Pikey accent, “But it was a pretty extreme voice. It was so extreme that when we showed the first cut to the studio, I had the chairman of the studio saying, ‘You need to subtitle him and revoice him.’ And we’re like, ‘That’s the joke — you’re not meant to understand him.'”
The night before production on ‘Snatch’ began, Brad Pitt almost walked away from the film because he was worried he couldn’t nail Mickey’s accent 🗣️
Luckily, it wasn’t something that a few — or a lot — pints of Guinness with producer Matthew Vaughn couldn’t fix 🍻 pic.twitter.com/t7N5yorKXX
— Post Cred Culture (@PostCredPod) January 31, 2024
Still, the studio, as Vaughn says, was adamant that there was no way they’d release a movie with Brad Pitt in which you can hardly understand him. Ultimately, though, Vaughn and director Guy Ritchie won that battle.
And it’s certainly a good thing they did, as Pitt’s Mickey character is now the most memorable artifact from that movie.
While Vaughn was the producer of Snatch, he’s the director of his new film Argylle, which will be released in movie theaters on February 2.