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In a 2019 interview for The New York Times Magazine\u2019s Great Performers issue<\/em>, Pitt said his disappointment with the film pushed him to stop following outside advice and instead trust his own instincts when choosing roles.<\/p>\n The actor, who played Greek warrior Achilles in Wolfgang Petersen\u2019s historical epic, said Troy<\/em> marked a turning point after years of navigating expectations placed on him as a Hollywood leading man.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m following my gut from here on out,\u201d Pitt said.<\/p>\n Pitt explained that he originally wanted to pursue different projects but accepted advice that encouraged him to take a bigger commercial role instead.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was this defining film I never got to do, a Coen brothers film called To the White Sea<\/em>. We had an opportunity to go, and then it was shut down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThen another interesting opportunity arose, and instead I was talked into: \u2018No, you need to be doing this other thing. You can get to your art project later.\u2019 I ended up taking that advice.\u201d<\/p>\n Pitt said he was contractually required to make another studio film after leaving a different project, which eventually led him to Troy<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to do Troy<\/em> because \u2014 I guess I can say all this now \u2014 I pulled out of another movie and then had to do something for the studio. So I was put in Troy<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Although he praised director Wolfgang Petersen, Pitt said the film\u2019s approach did not match the type of storytelling he wanted to pursue.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t painful, but I realized that the way that movie was being told was not how I wanted it to be,\u201d Pitt said. \u201cI made my own mistakes in it.\u201d<\/p>\n The actor said he struggled with the film\u2019s visual style, particularly the way it presented its hero.<\/p>\n \u201cI could not get out of the middle of the frame. It was driving me crazy,\u201d Pitt said.<\/p>\n He compared the experience with his previous collaborations with director David Fincher, whose films encouraged more ambiguity and complexity.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d become spoiled working with David Fincher,\u201d Pitt said. \u201cIt\u2019s no slight on Wolfgang Petersen. Das Boot<\/em> is one of the all-time great films. But somewhere in it, Troy<\/em> became a commercial kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEvery shot was like, \u2018Here\u2019s the hero!\u2019 There was no mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n Pitt said that experience convinced him to prioritise stronger material and more challenging filmmakers.<\/p>\n \u201cSo about that time I made a decision that I was only going to invest in quality stories, for lack of a better term,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a distinct shift that led to the next decade of films.\u201d<\/p>\n Following Troy<\/em>, Pitt increasingly worked with acclaimed directors and appeared in films including The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford<\/em>, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button<\/em>, Moneyball<\/em>, 12 Years a Slave<\/em>, The Big Short<\/em> and Once Upon a Time\u2026 in Hollywood<\/em>.<\/p>\n Looking back on his career evolution, Pitt said he became more interested in finding roles where he could contribute something unique rather than simply filling the traditional Hollywood leading-man role.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the \u201990s I did become aware that there was this kind of leading-man role that you could plug any of us into and it didn\u2019t even matter,\u201d Pitt said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would all have the same result. So as I\u2019ve gotten older, I\u2019ve become more conscious of thinking, \u2018If I am the one to play something, what can I bring that\u2019s unique?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Pitt said his later performances, including Cliff Booth in Quentin Tarantino\u2019s Once Upon a Time\u2026 in Hollywood<\/em> and Roy McBride in James Gray\u2019s Ad Astra<\/em>, reflected a deeper understanding of himself and his characters.<\/p>\n \u201cThe two characters could be connected,\u201d Pitt said. \u201cIn the sense that you have to go through an evolution to get to a place of comfort. You have to go through profound internal hardships.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n