Brad Pitt, SJ
August 28, 2008, 10:14 am
Posted by David Gibson
…And speaking of renowned Jesuits, Brad Pitt has been cast as Father Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit scientist, in the film version of Mary Doria Russell’s “The Sparrow.” Father Jim Martin (not unknown, himself) has the news over at “In All Things,” and asks the central theological question Pitt will face in this movie: “Is he handsome enough to play a Jesuit priest?”
On an equally surprising note, I believe Scorsese is going to be filming Endo’s “Silence.” Now that’s a challenge.
on August 28th, 2008 at 10:32 am
It’s a good thing Brad Pitt is unmarried. He won’t have any problem with the Jesuit’s celibacy requirement.
on August 28th, 2008 at 10:42 am
My guess is that Angelina Jolie will.
on August 28th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Perhaps BP will bring the same subtlety of characterization to this role that he brought to his playing of Achilles.
on August 28th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Before we go all trashy on my eminently serious post, let us recall that Mr. Pitt starred in the film version of “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” a novel by Catholic author (and ordained deacon) Ron Hansen.
And Ms. Jolie is the daughter (albeit estranged, it seems), of the actor Jon Voigt, who played Pope John Paul II in a recent biopic.
That role was a labor of love for Voigt (though he seems to have become a bit cranky of late: “God sent an angel, his name was Rudy Giuliani,” he said at the candidate’s fundraiser), as he was raised Catholic, and left an impression, shall we say, at CUA, according to his Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Voight
“Voight was raised in the Roman Catholic faith and attended the all-boys Archbishop Stepinac High School in nearby White Plains, New York, where he first took an interest in acting and played the role of Puck in a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. After graduating from high school in 1956, he went to college at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he majored in art and graduated with a B.A. in 1960. At CUA, he demonstrated his artistic skill by designing the cardinal that adorned the center of the floor of the basketball court. This section of floor now resides on display in the school’s Pryzbyla University Center.”
on August 28th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Tyrone Power, also a Catholic, played Jesse James in a remarkable film in which Henry Hull delivered a funeral eulogy that virtually called for James to be canonized, as it were. Is there an R.C. connection here?
on August 28th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Did you see Voight in Runaway Train?
I’m sure that was the role that got him the John Paul II gig.
on August 28th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Five years ago, I heard that Brad Pitt was going to play this role from Ms Russell as she was signing copies of her book. The movie has barely moved along since, and she is “not holding her breath” wating for production to continue. http://www.marydoriarussell.info/
She was hoping for Johnny Depp as the lead anyway, a much better choice for the tortured Jesuit imo.
on August 28th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Jim McK: Thanks for the intel.
You have read the book? I did once, I’m sure, but my memory is a sieve.
Recommend it?
PS: Johnny Depp is remarkable.
on August 28th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Reading this, I feel liek I’m boning up on a Catholic trivia category for Jeopardy.
on August 28th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Jonny Depp–that would have been my choice, too. Or Antonio Banderas. Brad is too sunny.
(But the assassin he played in Mr. and Mrs. Smith did go to Notre Dame. I forget what he majored in.)
on August 28th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Hello All,
I read “The Sparrow” and later the sequel “Children of God” a few years ago. I seldom read novels anymore, becasue becoming a professional philospher has slowed down my reading processes to a degree that I can’t make very rapid progress in anything I read. (Just try to imagine the paralysis I sometimes experience when I try to study some of the tougher paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church!) Anyhow, my wonderful colleague Fiona Cowie, professor of philosophy at Caltech, bought “The Sparrow” for me one afternoon while we were in a book store together on condition that I promise to read the first fifty pages. I started reading my gift on a flight to a conference and finished the novel in about two weeks, breakneck reading speed for me. I found it the most surprising and moving a novel I had read in at least a decade. And even as I read the novel I thought this was one story that would never be adapted for film. I thought that the novel treats issues that touch upon the Roman Catholic faith with a seriousness and level of detail that would never translate well to a big screen movie adaptation. So I’m quite surprised to find that there will be a film adaptation of “The Sparrow”. And (forgive my cynicism) I would not be surprised if in the end the dialog is seriously toned down in the film to downplay the seriousness ways the characters struggles with their faith. But the film should bring some welcome publicity for the novel.
I also confess I find it hard to picture Brad Pitt as the novel’s central character Emilio Sandoz. Sandoz in the novel is physically attractive, but older in both age and appearance than Pitt, a serious scholar, and extraordinarily reflective. Sigh, I guess I’ve just insulted Mr. Pitt’s acting abilities.
on August 28th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Of course, it does need to be stated as an analytically true proposition that no one but an actual Jesuit could be attractive enough to play an attractive Jesuit.
on August 28th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Of course, it does need to be stated as an analytically true proposition that no one but an actual Jesuit could be attractive enough to play an attractive Jesuit.
Analytically true? Perhaps: Only an attractive Jesuit would have the craft to give the appearance of being be an attractive Jesuit. But I think even that is synthetic a priori.
on August 28th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Mr. Smith’s major? Not sure, but if it is Brad Pitt, can we guess…Am Stud? At Georgetown, that was also known as American Studies.
on August 29th, 2008 at 6:34 am
Mmm. Joseph. I guess, to be more precise, what I was thinking is that Jesuit attractiveness cannot be played, it can only be displayed. . . . No craft is sufficient. “Only a little person (not a child) can (dis)play a little person.”
Why would that be a synthetic a priori?
PS. NEVER MIND–I SEE NOW. Note to self: never blog on less than a full up of coffee.
on August 29th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
The Sparrow and Children of God are wonderful novels, about humanity, evangelization and misunderstanding. I heartily recommend them. Sf is rarely this good.
Her most recent novel is about an American tourist in 1920’s Egypt who becomes friends with Churchill and Lawrence, and is romanced by a German spy. I look forward to reading it.
http://www.marydoriarussell.info/
on August 29th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Brad Pitt isn’t handsome enough to play the part of Jesuit. I suggest the Mexican actor Eduardo Verástegui. He starred in the film Bella. Also he is a devout Catholic. My sister Theresa thinks it should be this Mexican. My sister and I are prejudice, our maternal grandparents were Mexican and like Verástegui they had a Basque last name.
on August 29th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Michael–
I agree with your recommendation of Eduardo Verastegui. I thought he was great in Bella. He played such a decent and non-judgmental character, and he had an underplayed presence that was the foundation for the whole storyline. If we don’t see him in “The Sparrow,” I’ll still be looking forward to his next film that is released in the U.S.
on September 1st, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I just heard from Mary about this, and this is her reply. Jim Martin gets a ten for historical accuracy, a minus 3 for reportage. It’s old news–and now wrong news. The option is open until spring 09, but there no director for the screen play. Although Mr. Pit was a fan of the books, the project seems to have fallen off the table.