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Brad Pitt may be on the brink of a new professional chapter ― but that doesn’t mean he’s putting himself out to pasture just yet.
The Oscar winner sparked rumors he was taking steps toward retirement two years ago when he cryptically told GQ: “I consider myself on my last leg. This last semester or trimester. What is this section gonna be? And how do I wanna design that?”
In a joint interview with his “Wolfs” co-star George Clooney that appears in the latest issue of GQ, Pitt acknowledged that his career is in a different place than it was years ago but offered some clarification for his previous remarks.
“Well, now I’m doing one movie in a year and a half,” he said. “I’m still kind of on the same trajectory. I feel the same. I’m really just trying to enjoy the people that I love around me and just living.”
Marc Piasecki via Getty Images
When confronted directly with his “last leg” quote, the 60-year-old Missouri native said he views his professional life as “seasons.”
“You know, there was moving out from the safety of the Ozarks. You embark on this thing and it’s all about discovery and it’s really exciting and interesting and painful and awful and all of it,” he explained. “And then when you’re allowed into the big leagues, it becomes another game of responsibilities and things to answer to. But also opportunity and delight and working with people you really respect. And then it’s this time now. It’s: What are these last years going to be?”
“In your 80s, the body becomes more frail,” he continued. “And yet I look at Frank Gehry. He’s just the loveliest man. And he’s 95 and still making great art and he’s got a beautiful family. And I think that’s kind of the formula to stay creative and keep loving your life.”
Clooney, 63, also chimed in about his own concerns of aging in Hollywood and the youth-centric film industry.
“The phone stops ringing if your decision is that you want to continue to be the character that you were when you were 35, and you want a softer lens,” he told GQ. “But if you’re willing to, say, move down the call sheet a little bit and do interesting character work, then you can kind of — you have to make peace with the idea that you’re going to die!”
He went on to note: “And so as long as you can make peace with the idea of change, then it’s okay. The hard part is, and I know a lot of actors who do this — and you do too — who don’t let that go and try desperately to hold onto it.”
Clooney and Pitt first appeared together in the smash remake of the Rat Pack classic “Ocean’s Eleven” in 2001. They later reprised their roles in two sequels, “Ocean’s Twelve” and “Ocean’s Thirteen.”
Due out next month, “Wolfs” ― the title of which is intentionally misspelled ― stars Clooney and Pitt as two “fixers” who are hired to cover up a high-profile crime. According to Variety, writer-director Jon Watts is already at work on a sequel, with both of the film’s principal stars expected to return.
Pitt, meanwhile, will also soon be seen in the Formula 1 racing drama “F1,” set for release next year.