|
Legends of the Fall is a 1994 film based on the 1979 novella of the same
title by Jim Harrison.
Directed by Edward Zwick
and starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond, and Henry Thomas, the film won
the Academy Award for
Best Cinematography, but
the film did not do as well as expected at the box office. It has since become
available on DVD, with enormous success in
that medium.
The movie's timeframe spans from just before World War I through the Prohibition Era and into the 1920s, and it ends briefly in 1963. The film centers on
the Ludlow family of Montana,
including veteran of the Indian
Wars Colonel Ludlow (Hopkins), his
three sons Alfred (Quinn), Tristan (Pitt), and Samuel (Thomas), and the
brothers' love interest Susannah (Ormond).
Colonel Ludlow, sick of the betrayals the United States government has perpetrated on the
Native Americans, retires
with his most trusted friend, a Native American serving in the cavalry, named
One Stab. He moves his family to a remote part of Montana where he builds a
large home and begins ranching. His wife, born and raised in the city, does not
adapt well to the harsh winters of the cold country and leaves for the west
coast. She does not return for many years but she and the Colonel remain married
and close friends and communicate through letters. He raises his sons with the
help of One Stab who teaches them all the language of his American Indian
people. It is One Stab's voice that narrates the film, all in retrospect, and as
an old man.
Colonel Ludlow has three sons, all as different as night from day. The oldest
son, Alfred, is mature even at a young age, always responsible, and cautious.
The youngest son, Samuel, is naive but educated, and constantly being watched
over by his brothers. Tristan, the middle son, is wild, handsome, unapologetic,
spirited, confident, and one who has studied the ancient American Indian
traditions.
After introducing the characters the film opens with a scene in which Tristan,
at a young age, leaves home to hunt a wild bear. He and a large bear confront
one another, the bear attacks him, and in the fight that follows Tristan is
injured. He cuts a claw off of the bear's paw and the bear flees. It is evident
from the start that despite Tristan's wild nature he is his father's favorite.
Tristan is the strongest of the sons.
After his wedding to Friends
actress Jennifer
Aniston on July 29, 2000, he immediately began filming for Spy Game, a Cold War thriller in which he starred alongside
veteran actor and look-alike Robert Redford playing the role of his mentor.
In 2001 Pitt worked with long-term friend and actress Julia Roberts in the comical road movie The Mexican. At the end of
the year, Pitt finished filming Ocean's Eleven with George Clooney and Matt Damon, a remake of the 1960s
version which starred Frank
Sinatra. The film established a close friendship between the three,
particularly between Pitt and Clooney.[citation needed]
Since then, he has starred in numerous films, including Ocean's Twelve and
the epic Troy,
based on the Iliad, in which he portrayed
the legendary hero Achilles.
Ironically, during the production of Troy, Pitt tore his Achilles tendon,
delaying production for several weeks.[6] In 2005, Pitt starred in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, in
which he and Angelina
Jolie played husband and wife assassins.
In March 2006, it was announced that Paramount had purchased the rights to The
Sparrow for Pitt's production company, Plan B, and that Pitt would be
playing the lead role of Sandoz.[7] In June 2006 it was announced that Paramount and
Plan B will be working on a new zombie film called World War
Z, based on the book of
the same name by Max
Brooks.[8]
Pitt made his return to Hollywood in late 2006, with Alejandro González
Iñárritu's critically acclaimed Babel, starring alongside Cate Blanchett. The movie
garnered a total of seven Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, one of which was a
Golden Globe
nomination for Pitt as Best
Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture. The movie has since become Pitt's
highest grossing drama.
In 2007, Pitt was listed among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World. He was
listed among artists and entertainers, and was credited with using "his star
power to get people to look at places and stories that cameras don't usually
catch."[9]
Pitt has appeared in television commercials in Asia, such as
for Edwin Jeans, the Toyota Altis, and Japanese canned coffee, ROOTS. He also appeared
in a Heineken commercial which aired
during the 2005 Super
Bowl. It was directed by David Fincher, who directed Pitt in the feature
films Se7en and
Fight
Club. Together with Aniston and Paramount Pictures head Brad Grey, Pitt is the co-founder of the production
company 'Plan B'. Aniston is no longer a partner in the company, although she is
still attached to many projects that were set up before her divorce with Pitt.
The company produced the blockbuster Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp.
He has also had a cameo appearance in season 8 of Friends and on an episode of MTV's Jackass, in which he took part in a
staged abduction of himself. In a later episode, he and some cast-members run
wild through the streets of Los
Angeles in gorilla suits.
Pitt has been an active supporter of research into diseases such as AIDS.
Pitt is behind Not On Our Watch, an organization that focuses global
attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities such as in Darfur, along with George Clooney, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub.[10]
In 1998, Pitt met Friends
actress Jennifer
Aniston and married her at an enclosed wedding ceremony in Malibu on July 29, 2000. The couple were adamant that the ceremony would be a
private affair and hired hundreds of guards to block out any attempts of
invasion by the paparazzi. Only one media picture was ever released of the
wedding. Not long after the wedding, Pitt sued Damiani International, the company which
made the wedding ring he gave Jennifer Aniston, for selling replica "Brad and
Jennifer" rings. According to Pitt, the ring was his design and was to be
exclusive. Under the settlement reached in January 2002, Pitt would design
jewelry for Damiani that Aniston would model in ads, and the company would stop
selling the copies.
Though their marriage was, for years, considered the rare Hollywood success,
rumors of trouble began circulating, and the Pitts announced their separation on
January 7, 2005. As Pitt's marriage to Jennifer Aniston drew to a
close, he and Angelina Jolie were involved in a well-publicized Hollywood
scandal in which Jolie was often painted as the "other woman," largely due to
their chemistry during the filming of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
While Jolie and Pitt both denied any claims of adultery, speculations continued
to mount throughout 2004 and early 2005. In an interview with Ann Curry in June
2005, Jolie explained, "To be intimate with a married man, when my own father
cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at
myself in the morning if I did that. I wouldn't be attracted to a man who would
cheat on his wife."[11]
The concept of a "troubled marriage" (and arguably his own) inspired Pitt to
cooperate with Steven Klein for a photoshoot in early 2005 entitled "Domestic
Bliss" for W magazine.
The spread showed Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a 1963 married couple with
children. Pitt expressed the desire to tell a darker, truer tale, one that
explored the "unidentifiable malaise" that often haunts a seemingly happy
couple. "You don't know what's wrong," he remarked, "because the marriage is
everything you signed up for."[12]
Aniston filed for a divorce on March 25 the same year. The divorce was finalized on
October 2, 2005.
Source: Wikipedia Encyclopedia
|
Other Web Sites Sponsored by 
and/or