Play Audio Story The Shapeshifter – Brad Pitt
In the mid-90s, I photographed Brad Pitt for the first time, fresh off of his movie “Interview with a Vampire.” Recently, my ideas for sessions had been to remove ourselves from the distractions of studios, publicists, and day-to-day non-photographic nonsense. During a quick, lively call from a very enthusiastic Brad Pitt, we both decided it was time to get the hell out of dodge and head down to Mexico for a three-day adventure.
The journey started at San Diego airport where we picked Brad up at baggage claim, and then our small, nimble crew, including Jean Black, Brad’s longtime makeup artist and friend, headed across the border. My editor, Jodi Peckman, had a duffle bag of assorted jeans, t-shirts, and of course some Neil Young CDs to set the mood.
The quiet of the Mexican desert, the energy of creating something from nothing, and Brad’s willingness to explore and challenge the norm all came together to shape a new landscape. This first trip was the beginning of a 25 year collaboration.
Transcript
There was a break in time of Brad and I actually working together from one shoot to another. Details Magazine hired me to photograph Brad, and again, we had a conversation about where we would go. He just mentioned tall trees, so we ended up in Humboldt County in the Redwood Forest. My producer, Ruth Levy and I, came up with an idea of photographing Brad on his motorcycles, which he so generously brought up to Humboldt from Los Angeles. These incredibly beautiful custom machines that he really loved to drive. So I strapped myself on top of the roof. My producer, Ruth Levy, was driving, and we got Brad to play cat and mouse with us in the car as we were going through the forest of the Great Redwoods. And I had no idea how it was going to come out, but we actually captured his light and joy of being one with nature and then also, obviously, of riding his motorcycle. It was a pretty cool experience.