How The Lost City Landed Brad Pitt: 'Before We Knew It, He Was In The Jungle'
Paramount isn't hesitating to play up the parallels between "The Lost City" and classic comedy adventures like "Romancing the Stone," in the hopes of enticing filmgoers to give the Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum team-up vehicle a shot. Whereas a movie like "The Batman" is doing its very best to talk about the scary times we live in, directors Adam and Aaron Nee's action-comedy seems to be far more interested in delivering pure escapism, complete with a welcome punching bag of a villain in the form of an evil-doing "one-percenter."
Written by Dana Fox ("Cruella"), Oren Uziel ("22 Jump Street"), and the Nee brothers from a story credited to Seth Gordon ("Breaking In"), "The Lost City" stars Bullock as Loretta Sage, a reclusive author whose best-selling romance-adventure novels center on Dash Chicvance, the dashing hero depicted in their cover art by himbo model Alan Caprison (Tatum). Daniel Radcliffe also co-stars as Fairfax, the eccentric, criminal billionaire who kidnaps and forces Loretta and Alan to locate the ancient lost city featured in her latest book. However, it's Brad Pitt who may yet prove to be the film's not-so-secret weapon.
Thank Pitt's hairdresser
Total Film (via Games Radar+) describes Pitt's "The Lost City" character as a "mysterious gung-ho adventurer" who aids Loretta and Alan in their quest to find the fabled "Lost City" before Fairfax and his goons. As for how the film landed the in-demand A-lister, Adam Nee says you can thank Pitt and Bullock's hairdresser, Janine Thompson:
"Brad Pitt's name came up early for this. But the role isn't a cameo, he's in a good chunk of the movie. We were like, 'We're never going to get Brad Pitt to do this. And then Sandy [Bullock] did 'Bullet Train' [with Pitt], she was pitching him the role and she and Brad share a hairdresser, Janine [Thompson]. Janine was saying to Brad, 'How would you do your hair if you played this part? What would you do about this?' It felt like she just started getting him excited about it. And it then suddenly became real – and we were sitting on a Zoom, and talking to him about the movie. Before we knew it, he was in the jungle."
Bullock and Pitt, as Nee mentioned, are also co-starring in "Bullet Train," the latest action-thriller from "Atomic Blonde," "Deadpool 2," and "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" director David Leitch. Judging by its newly-unveiled trailer, "Bullet Train" hews closer to the tone of Leitch's last two films than "Atomic Blonde" and his uncredited work as co-director on "John Wick," blending cheeky humor with brutal close-quarter violence. As such, between that movie and "The Lost City," it looks like Pitt will be flexing both his action and comedy muscles aplenty in the months to come.
"The Lost City" opens in U.S. theaters on March 25, 2022, with "Bullet Train" due to follow four months later on July 15.