Brad Pitt: Reluctant Leading Man

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

Brad Pitt: Reluctant Leading Man is not intended as a definitive
biography. The book’s 11 succinct chapters and brief introduction,
supplemented with a liberal number of black-and-white studio stills,
cover the actor’s early life, his attitudes about “personalities,”
his interest in religion, his entry into the entertainment industry, and
his rise to become filmdom’s “ultimate leading man,” with
sufficient star power that despite three consecutive feature-film flops,
he now commands $17.5 million per film.

Written in a movie fan magazine style, the book is a quick read, with
behind-the-scenes clips of Pitt’s romantic adventures, snippets about
his interest in architecture and design, and summaries of his views on
the challenges of his chosen profession (we learn, for example, that in
preparing for a new role, Pitt “starts from nothing, and nothing is a
place of vulnerability from which all good acting comes”). There are a
number of references to Pitt’s filmmaking ventures in Canada.

The book’s filmography and notes on sources are useful research tools
for readers seeking further information about this A-list actor.
Recommended for fans of movies and/or pop culture.