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Before Brad Pitt was a Hollywood phenom, he was just another extra on set.
The 61-year-old “F1” actor appeared as a guest on his friend and fellow actor Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, released June 23, where he talked about one of his first experiences on a movie set.
And it appears his career almost ended before it began.
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On the podcast, Pitt opens up about the catch-22 of earning work in Hollywood — which often requires actors to be a member of the Screen Actors Guild before being taken seriously in an audition.
So, how does one become a member of the Screen Actors Guild? First, you need to work.
“The whole game was how do you get your SAG card — because you can’t get a job if you don’t have your SAG card, but you can’t get your SAG card unless you’ve had a job,” Pitt explains on the podcast.
The two actors later clarify that being an extra wasn’t enough to join the Screen Actors Guild. Instead, the “barrier to entry” was having an actual line in the film or show they were appearing in.
In order to maneuver around this dilemma, Pitt had to get creative… to a fault.
“I land this job as an extra,” Pitt says of his uncredited role in “No Man’s Land” (1987). “It’s a restaurant scene and it’s the main characters Charlie Sheen and D.B. Sweeney and a bunch of other actors.”
Pitt’s role was simple, walk over to the table and pour the lead actors a glass of champagne.
In the film NO MAN'S LAND 1987 Brad Pitt was an extra with no lines.
— Hollywood Horror Museum (@horrormuseum) September 3, 2023
When he got to the actress at the end of the table, he said, Would you like anything else? She looked up at him bitchy, and the AD yelled "You do that again, you're off the set!" pic.twitter.com/w7imBj66CL
“I get to the last actor and she seemed lower on the totem pole,” he explains. “ I pour her champagne and I go, ‘Would you like anything else?’”
The director yelled “Cut!” without hesitation and the assistant director told Pitt, “You do that again, you’re out of here!”
“It was just shame for the rest of the night,” Pitt recalled, before he then praised himself, saying he “took a shot.”
Pitt reveals that he was an extra for roughly two years
This isn’t the first time Pitt has shared his “No Man’s Land” story.
The “Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood” actor previously opened up about his failed attempt at getting a SAG card in a 2019 interview with BBC alongside co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.
DiCaprio had just finished revealing that he was once kicked off the kid’s show “Romper Room” after he misbehaved — to which Pitt replied, “Atta boy.”
Pitt went on to reveal that he was an extra for about two years before his career started taking off.
Pitt would also appear in “No Way Out,” “Another World,” “Growing Pains” and “Dallas” in 1987, per IMDB, but didn’t receive his big break until 1991 when he was cast in “Thelma & Louise.”
And, while his role in “No Man’s Land” led to some "shame," Pitt told BBC that his role as an extra in “Less Than Zero” was the one he was most proud of.
“I’m standing in the doorway with an outstanding mullet,” Pitt says of his scene as an extra in the film.
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Pitt has since gone on to win two Oscars, two Golden Globes, one Emmy and two SAG Awards over the next three decades, per IMDB, and is widely considered to be one of the most successful actors of his generation.
