Ahead of what will likely be a rabid San Sebastian Film Festival premiere, Brad Pitt joined his Heart of the Beast director David Ayer for a press conference on Wednesday.
Journalists and attendees swarmed the room at the town’s Kursaal Theater, where a jovial Pitt made his first San Sebastian appearance since the 2009 presentation of Inglourious Basterds alongside filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. He delighted reporters by touching on man’s bond with dogs, the consolidation of Hollywood and the current independent film climate.
Pitt was swiftly asked about his producing outfit and what he makes of the indie film landscape. The star was buoyant: “I think the current setup has actually been really conducive to independent [films], in a really cool way because more eyes are getting on these projects. It feels even as strong as in the ’90s,” he said, before asking Ayer for his own opinion.
Ayer chimed in: “I think there’s new pipelines of discovery out there, new auteurs. We have people coming in off YouTube or the internet,” he said, referencing young horror directors Curry Barker and Kane Parsons, “but now we’re seeing what I believe may be the ascent of it, as we find filmmakers in that space, but also as young people matriculate into the industry. They have much different tastes, and they grew up on a different sense of media than we did. So I’m actually very excited about the future and future opportunities and future stories that are going to be told.”
Pitt was asked straight out of the gate about the consolidation of Hollywood, with the Paramount-WBD merger looming and in a climate where the streamers reign supreme. “What I love about what streaming has brought to us is so many more opportunities for actors, writers, directors,” replied Pitt. “And because of that, we have a greater plethora of really interesting stories and really interesting talents, and that’s been amazing. Of course, we had a dip — and we’re seeing that come back; we’re seeing the communal experience being embraced again.”
He continued: “But what happened is movies got so expensive. We always talk about this. The very big tentpole movies were able to recoup, and the more independent, lower-budget, or anything in the middle ground — anything from maybe 30, 40, 60 [million dollars] — has a really difficult time getting made, even movies like ours, because it’s very difficult for the studio to recoup that middle budget. […] I’m hoping these movies still have a lot [of support], because that’s usually where I end up most,” he laughed. “The middle ground.”
Pitt was also asked about the emotional bond between his character, James, and the dog, Odin, and why those bonds are so important in real life. He replied: “[The characters] James and Odin are both extremely capable creatures. They’ve been trained. They’ve been hardened. They’ve been proven. But it was more their bond between each other […] we would fight more for another than we would even for ourselves, and that kind of care and love and loyalty kept them both points in our film, and I think that’s also true love. When I think of the darker days, certainly my close relationships, I relied heavily on friends, dear close friends, handful of close family, and was very open about my growth.”
For the final question (it’s a room full of European journalists, after all), Pitt was asked about how it’s possible to cope in a “sad world full of hate, wars, politics, and racism.”
The U.S. star replied: “I think we could spend more time on where we are the same… What binds us, what connects us, and I think we can listen better through these divisional lines. But you know, maybe we just start taking care of the people that are around us and making sure they’re okay.”
In Heart of the Beast the Oscar-winning star plays a former Special Forces officer who, accompanied by his retired combat dog, must survive in the Alaskan wilderness following a harrowing plane crash.
Ayer’s credits include Training Day, Suicide Squad, End of Watch, The Tax Collector and Sabotage. His latest feature is written by Cameron Alexander and reunites him with Pitt (who starred in Ayer’s Fury). The film’s cast also includes J.K. Simmons and Anna Lambe. Pitt produces the film alongside Olivia Hamilton, Marty Bowen and Ayer, with Damien Chazelle among its executive producers.
The 2026 San Sebastian International Film Festival runs Sept. 18-16.
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