Brad Pitt 'wanted to quit' 'Legends of the Fall': Director Edward Zwick

LOS ANGELES: Director Edward Zwick has reflected on directing Brad Pitt, 60, in ‘Legends of the Fall’.

In his upcoming memoir, ‘Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Forty something Years in Hollywood’, the ‘Blood Diamond’ director wrote that the 1994 film was "in limbo" after Tom Cruise, who was in talks to play Tristan Ludlow, dropped out due to issues with the character's "ethics”.

In an excerpt from his upcoming memoir, the director wrote, "I never gave up hope on getting Legends made, however, and was always looking for the right actor to play Tristan”, reports ‘People’ magazine.

The excerpt has been published by ‘Vanity Fair’. After meeting with Brad Pitt, Zwick observed that he "had a genuine passion for the script and a strong attraction to the character.”

"Growing up in rural Missouri, he had known men like Tristan, he said. When he left the meeting, I felt I had found the right actor. I was more determined than ever to push it over the line”, Zwick wrote. According to Zwick, Pitt's feelings about the film changed after a table read.

As per ‘People’, he recalled Pitt's agent calling the studio saying he wanted to quit and producer Marshall Herskovitz "talking him off the ledge”.

Zwick wrote that "it was the first augury of the deeper springs of emotion roiling inside Brad", expressing that he could be "volatile when riled”.

"Sometimes, no matter how experienced or sensitive you are as a director, things just aren’t working”, wrote Zwick. "You think the actor is being oppositional, while he finds you dictatorial. Some actors have problems with authority, but just as many directors are threatened when intelligent actors ask challenging questions that reveal their lack of preparation. Both are right and both are wrong.”