Since Michael Pitt first made his big splash in films like Bully and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, many journalists have been calling him the next big thing in acting. With performances in The Dreamers and Wonderland he may just be proving them right.
Now he is a playing a Kurt Cobain like rock star in Gus Van Sants Last Days.
Check out the official site for Last Days
Daniel Robert Epstein: When did you become involved in Last Days? Director Gus Van Sant was saying you have been involved for years.
Michael Pitt: Maybe three years ago. Originally, Gus [Van Sant] had a couple of other people in mind. He was in between projects. He always has like five or six ideas hes always talking about, and then he just mentioned this one day. I got really animated and was like, You have to make this film, and he was like, I was actually thinking about you as the main character. I really didnt believe him at the time. I thought he was cool, but I thought he was a little misguided, because I was a big fan and I had lot of respect for him
DRE: Do you remember where you were when Kurt Cobain killed himself?
MP: I do, but I wasnt a fan then. When I was younger, I really didnt see the change, or impact, that he had. All I saw was that everyone was a fan by that point, and I naturally gravitated away from that.
DRE: What albums or songs attracted you to them?
MP: It was Bleach and Incesticide. Im actually not that good with song names, but for me, the most impressive album is Incesticide and all the B sides. That album is amazing. For me, that album is whats going to keep it alive, as opposed to Nevermind. Nevermind was a big success, but those other albums were when their success wasnt as big. For me, [Incesticide] is whats going to keep it going.
DRE: Did you study a lot of footage of Kurt Cobain for the role?
MP: I had [already] seen everything, but then I revisited things. I was able to look at some personal footage.
DRE: Did you connect to the experience of being in a band while creating the character of Blake?
MP: I think musicians are all different. We werent doing remakes of concerts and [explaining] how they came up with certain riffs, which is all just fucking hearsay. It was more about the last 3 days of his life. Definitely, his success and profession was a factor, but I was thinking more about his life, his wife, and his child.
DRE: Do you have mixed feelings about success?
MP: I think success is subjective. It sounds clich, but success is your friends, your family, what you do, and if youre happy when you wake up.
DRE: What kind of strategy, if any, do you have for choosing each role?
MP: Theres a bit of strategy that goes from one character to the next. Its about changing perception, but I really just do things that interest me.
DRE: Being a musician, did you have any input as far as the music for Last Days?
MP: I didnt really write the music for the film. Well, the last song From Death to Birth was a song I wrote a long time ago. Any reservation I had about doing this film was based on me being a fan [of Cobain] and dealing with that. Another big factor was my own music, and I didnt want it to appear that I was trying to benefit [from] a song that I wrote. So, basically, the concept I came up with was that if I make music on the film, it will be improvised and it will be what happens that day. That is what I did, like in the first song. In the last scene we did about 7 or 8 takes, and each take I made up a song. It was something that said: This is a musician, hes playing a song but theres no confusion. And then Gus, in the last take, said, Play that song, and then I think Thurston [Moore the films music coordinator] suggested that we put that song in. I trust Gus and I trust Thurston.
DRE: Was Van Sant very rigid with the script or did he give you freedom?
MP: The whole film was improvised. The shoot was seventeen days. There was a map, no dialogue, and there are a lot of the scenes that are in the movie that werent written. I like working like that. Even when there is a script, I try and do that, but you cant always do that. [For me], its the first time where it has been the whole thing. If youre going to do a film like that, as a director, it can be so fucking great. You have to seriously trust the people youre working with and make sure you can still make your vision with everyones input, which is amazing because he [Van Sant] just does it. Sometimes its eerie, because it doesnt even matter what you do. Some directors have very strong egos and they say, No, dont put the cup there, put it here. And Gus is like, Put the cup wherever you want. You can put it across the room.
DRE: How did you meet Aaron Woodley and get to do Rhinoceros Eyes?
MP: That film came to me. To be honest, it was the only original thing that I got. I probably shouldnt be saying this, but I dont care. I have issues with that film, because, at one point, they didnt hand over total control to Aaron. You decide to do a film with someone, and thats who you want to do a film with. It was the first feature for him, so it probably upsets him less because he got to make his movie.
DRE: What was it like working with Bernardo Bertolucci in The Dreamers?
MP: It was intense. It was a lot of things. Here was this director that is revered, and Im starring in it. I was in Europe, alone for three months, and I was the only American. I feel like the relationship between actor and director is maybe different in Europe, but thats probably not true. There was this thing where it was like: Youre the actor and Im the director. At first, me and Bertolucci were very much going head to head. Part of it was because he wasnt used to me trying to be so involved, and part of it was me not knowing how to present things. But once we got that figured that out, it was amazing. I would get an idea and I would scream it in the middle of the shoot. I remember thinking this was a good idea, and then Bertolucci would stand up and look around and say, Does anyone care to have this movie directed by Michael Pitt? It was completely humiliating and I realized that you dont yell out on set, you talk in private and you explain what you dont like. I think when actors give their input, it can be very ego-driven and directors are scared of that. He saw it wasnt about my ego, and more about the film and about making him look good and doing a good job for him.
DRE: Would you have done this film if it was a strict biographical account of Kurt Cobain?
MP: I dont know, to tell you the truth. The hard thing is that I really respect Gus. Its just my opinion, but I think hes the most important American director we have. He takes the most risks. Hes just pure to me. So its this weird thing where maybe I would have done it. But I also respect him enough that, if I didnt feel like I could do it, I wouldnt say, Yea I can do it and just reap the benefits.
DRE: What are you planning on doing next? I hear that you are going to work with Steve Buscemi?
MP: Thats not a go yet. Right now Im just working on my music mostly. We recorded last summer, and right now were trying to figure out how to release it. I think were going to go an independent route, so its going to be a longer process. I play guitar and sing.
DRE: Do you have a preference between music and acting?
MP: The day someone put money in my hand for a job, I bought a guitar and figured it out. I was like 18 or 19, which is pretty late. I was always a fan of music. The acting, I dont know really how it happened. I was the only thing I though I could do well, and I was fascinated as a kid. I would just watch movies all day long, and then I moved to New York and just went for it.
DRE: You started out in the theater. Are you ever going to go back to it?
MP: I think I should. First job was The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek.
DRE: Do you have good memories working with director Larry Clark in Bully?
MP: That was the first time I think I felt at home. I didnt have to pretend. No one was going to judge, and no ones going to think Im a freak. I can just work. For Bully, they wouldnt really see me, because I wasnt on the list. So I went to Larrys house, and I was like, Read me, Read me. That was the part that I could get, and I was lucky to get that.. The part was actually smaller on the page, but he just let me riff
DRE: Do you want to direct?
MP: Yes, I want to direct. I have like three projects in mind, but I think Ive been out of it too long to direct a theater piece.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Now he is a playing a Kurt Cobain like rock star in Gus Van Sants Last Days.
Check out the official site for Last Days
Daniel Robert Epstein: When did you become involved in Last Days? Director Gus Van Sant was saying you have been involved for years.
Michael Pitt: Maybe three years ago. Originally, Gus [Van Sant] had a couple of other people in mind. He was in between projects. He always has like five or six ideas hes always talking about, and then he just mentioned this one day. I got really animated and was like, You have to make this film, and he was like, I was actually thinking about you as the main character. I really didnt believe him at the time. I thought he was cool, but I thought he was a little misguided, because I was a big fan and I had lot of respect for him
DRE: Do you remember where you were when Kurt Cobain killed himself?
MP: I do, but I wasnt a fan then. When I was younger, I really didnt see the change, or impact, that he had. All I saw was that everyone was a fan by that point, and I naturally gravitated away from that.
DRE: What albums or songs attracted you to them?
MP: It was Bleach and Incesticide. Im actually not that good with song names, but for me, the most impressive album is Incesticide and all the B sides. That album is amazing. For me, that album is whats going to keep it alive, as opposed to Nevermind. Nevermind was a big success, but those other albums were when their success wasnt as big. For me, [Incesticide] is whats going to keep it going.
DRE: Did you study a lot of footage of Kurt Cobain for the role?
MP: I had [already] seen everything, but then I revisited things. I was able to look at some personal footage.
DRE: Did you connect to the experience of being in a band while creating the character of Blake?
MP: I think musicians are all different. We werent doing remakes of concerts and [explaining] how they came up with certain riffs, which is all just fucking hearsay. It was more about the last 3 days of his life. Definitely, his success and profession was a factor, but I was thinking more about his life, his wife, and his child.
DRE: Do you have mixed feelings about success?
MP: I think success is subjective. It sounds clich, but success is your friends, your family, what you do, and if youre happy when you wake up.
DRE: What kind of strategy, if any, do you have for choosing each role?
MP: Theres a bit of strategy that goes from one character to the next. Its about changing perception, but I really just do things that interest me.
DRE: Being a musician, did you have any input as far as the music for Last Days?
MP: I didnt really write the music for the film. Well, the last song From Death to Birth was a song I wrote a long time ago. Any reservation I had about doing this film was based on me being a fan [of Cobain] and dealing with that. Another big factor was my own music, and I didnt want it to appear that I was trying to benefit [from] a song that I wrote. So, basically, the concept I came up with was that if I make music on the film, it will be improvised and it will be what happens that day. That is what I did, like in the first song. In the last scene we did about 7 or 8 takes, and each take I made up a song. It was something that said: This is a musician, hes playing a song but theres no confusion. And then Gus, in the last take, said, Play that song, and then I think Thurston [Moore the films music coordinator] suggested that we put that song in. I trust Gus and I trust Thurston.
DRE: Was Van Sant very rigid with the script or did he give you freedom?
MP: The whole film was improvised. The shoot was seventeen days. There was a map, no dialogue, and there are a lot of the scenes that are in the movie that werent written. I like working like that. Even when there is a script, I try and do that, but you cant always do that. [For me], its the first time where it has been the whole thing. If youre going to do a film like that, as a director, it can be so fucking great. You have to seriously trust the people youre working with and make sure you can still make your vision with everyones input, which is amazing because he [Van Sant] just does it. Sometimes its eerie, because it doesnt even matter what you do. Some directors have very strong egos and they say, No, dont put the cup there, put it here. And Gus is like, Put the cup wherever you want. You can put it across the room.
DRE: How did you meet Aaron Woodley and get to do Rhinoceros Eyes?
MP: That film came to me. To be honest, it was the only original thing that I got. I probably shouldnt be saying this, but I dont care. I have issues with that film, because, at one point, they didnt hand over total control to Aaron. You decide to do a film with someone, and thats who you want to do a film with. It was the first feature for him, so it probably upsets him less because he got to make his movie.
DRE: What was it like working with Bernardo Bertolucci in The Dreamers?
MP: It was intense. It was a lot of things. Here was this director that is revered, and Im starring in it. I was in Europe, alone for three months, and I was the only American. I feel like the relationship between actor and director is maybe different in Europe, but thats probably not true. There was this thing where it was like: Youre the actor and Im the director. At first, me and Bertolucci were very much going head to head. Part of it was because he wasnt used to me trying to be so involved, and part of it was me not knowing how to present things. But once we got that figured that out, it was amazing. I would get an idea and I would scream it in the middle of the shoot. I remember thinking this was a good idea, and then Bertolucci would stand up and look around and say, Does anyone care to have this movie directed by Michael Pitt? It was completely humiliating and I realized that you dont yell out on set, you talk in private and you explain what you dont like. I think when actors give their input, it can be very ego-driven and directors are scared of that. He saw it wasnt about my ego, and more about the film and about making him look good and doing a good job for him.
DRE: Would you have done this film if it was a strict biographical account of Kurt Cobain?
MP: I dont know, to tell you the truth. The hard thing is that I really respect Gus. Its just my opinion, but I think hes the most important American director we have. He takes the most risks. Hes just pure to me. So its this weird thing where maybe I would have done it. But I also respect him enough that, if I didnt feel like I could do it, I wouldnt say, Yea I can do it and just reap the benefits.
DRE: What are you planning on doing next? I hear that you are going to work with Steve Buscemi?
MP: Thats not a go yet. Right now Im just working on my music mostly. We recorded last summer, and right now were trying to figure out how to release it. I think were going to go an independent route, so its going to be a longer process. I play guitar and sing.
DRE: Do you have a preference between music and acting?
MP: The day someone put money in my hand for a job, I bought a guitar and figured it out. I was like 18 or 19, which is pretty late. I was always a fan of music. The acting, I dont know really how it happened. I was the only thing I though I could do well, and I was fascinated as a kid. I would just watch movies all day long, and then I moved to New York and just went for it.
DRE: You started out in the theater. Are you ever going to go back to it?
MP: I think I should. First job was The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek.
DRE: Do you have good memories working with director Larry Clark in Bully?
MP: That was the first time I think I felt at home. I didnt have to pretend. No one was going to judge, and no ones going to think Im a freak. I can just work. For Bully, they wouldnt really see me, because I wasnt on the list. So I went to Larrys house, and I was like, Read me, Read me. That was the part that I could get, and I was lucky to get that.. The part was actually smaller on the page, but he just let me riff
DRE: Do you want to direct?
MP: Yes, I want to direct. I have like three projects in mind, but I think Ive been out of it too long to direct a theater piece.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 25 of 25 COMMENTS
Abbie said:
I have reservations about his acting abilities, especially in The Dreamers.
he was great in bully