Power. It’s where it’s at. When Brad Pitt mentions that he might like to see how that new Prius drives, an assistant makes three appear with varying colors and option packages. When he wonders if a vasectomy is for him, the same assistant performs one while he’s asleep but leaves a note that says, ‘don’t worry, Mr. Pitt…it’s reversible’.
And when Brad Pitt mentions through a mouthful of oyster po’boy that he might like to star in and produce an adaption of an unpublished piece of nonfiction, you can bet that Paramount buys that manuscript with approximately the same amount of forethought you have when tossing a Three Musketeers on the conveyer belt at Target.
As Variety has it, Paramount picked up the upcoming David Gann book Lost City of Z, which concerns “British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett, who was attempting to find the so-called City of Z when he and his party disappeared in 1925. Over the next 70 years, scores of explorers tried and failed to retrace Fawcett’s path, including a 1996 expedition of Brazilian adventurers.“
If this ever comes to fruition, Pitt would be Fawcett, but at the moment the odds of this actually happening seem pretty slim. It’s in the studio’s interest to nab the rights to the book, but Pitt still has The Fighter shadowboxing over in the blue corner and you can bet that Paramount will look closely at the (non)returns for The Fountain if this ever comes up as a realistic prospect.
Then again, if this did happen it would stand as an odd explorer’s do-over for Pitt, and maybe he’d be able to channel some Aquirre sort of magic to boot.