Why Brad Pitt Turned Down Michael Fassbender’s Role In The Killer 15 Years Ago

WARNING! This article contains spoilers for The Killer (2023)!

David Fincher’s The Killer magnificently cast Michael Fassbender in the titular role, but the part was initially offered to Brad Pitt, who refused it for a peculiar reason. Fincher and Pitt famously collaborated on three critically acclaimed successes throughout the years, including the particularly dark and gritty 1995 thriller Se7en, which cemented Pitt’s status as a serious actor and further elevated his movie star status. The Killer could have been their fourth collaboration, but the celebrated actor and producer refused the unique role due to the thematic approach that The Killer‘s graphic novel-adapted story employs.

Netflix’s The Killer stands apart from other thriller movies about professional killers for the uncommon approach it uses to tell the titular unnamed assassin’s story. Opening with Fassbender’s character waiting for his target’s appearance, The Killer sets up its protagonist as a meticulous planner to the smallest of details. However, the plot is set in motion when his plan ironically goes awry after missing the target and killing the wrong person. The Killer walks a fine line between the comical absurdity of the assassin’s inner monologue and the brutality of his job, creating a unique atmosphere. However, had Brad Pitt been cast in The Killer, the movie could have ultimately yielded a very different tone.

Why Brad Pitt Turned Down The Killer

Initially coming across Alexis Nolent’s graphic novel The Killer in 2007, Fincher had Brad Pitt in mind for the central role. Having previously collaborated on similarly violent and dark movies like Se7en and Fight Club, Fincher’s choice of Pitt as the titular character could be easily understood. However, after pitching the idea to him, Pitt reportedly refused The Killer’s lead role by saying, “Eh, a little too nihilistic for me.” With Fincher busy finishing and promoting The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Killer wasn’t made at the time, essentially postponing the problem of finding the lead actor.

The Killer Was A Passion Project For David Fincher

Ever since reading Alexis Nolent’s graphic novel, David Fincher wanted to adapt it into a film (via Rolling Stone). The first time Brad Pitt’s company, Plan B, acquired the rights to it, a draft was completed. However, Fincher’s other work commitments eventually monopolized his attention, and the rights to The Killer lapsed and returned to the author. Still, he continued to think about it until the time when Nolent contacted Fincher in 2015 to ask him if he was still interested in turning his graphic novel into a movie. The film version of The Killer then started materializing itself as Fincher proposed a specific writer, with whom he had already collaborated in the past, to adapt it.

Fincher always thought of The Killer’s structure as divided into five 20-minute-long acts, and he initially asked Nolent to write a script. However, only after bringing that script to his long-time collaborator Andrew Kevin Walker did The Killer start to take its true form. Walker read up on philosophers like Camus and Nietzsche, trying to find a way to make the inner monologues of The Killer’s protagonist work so that they could mirror his moral reprehensibility without audiences “tuning out in the first ten minutes.” As the movie’s screenwriter, Walker came up with the philosophical mantra the killer repeats to himself throughout the film. After deciding on setting The Killer‘s chapters in different cities, Fincher and Walker eventually proposed it to Netflix in 2019.

How The Killer Would Have Been Different With Pitt Instead Of Fassbender

Throughout his career, Pitt has played plenty of assassins on a mission, but The Killer‘s premise is quite different from his past roles. The titular assassin’s reasoning for his job at the front and center, as he justifies his actions without remorse or dwelling on the morals of his career. Pitt’s evaluation of The Killer as nihilistic highlighted the central characteristic that needed to be reflected by the protagonist and fully embraced by him. Fassbender’s casting was therefore perfect due to his method acting approach, which made him meticulously plan each little detail in his performance. This process is brilliantly highlighted by The Killer’s final shot in which Fassbender’s eye twitches, as the actor’s dedication to his character led him to not blink throughout the movie.

Pitt’s casting as the titular character wouldn’t have worked for The Killer if he didn’t embrace the story’s nihilistic themes, as the protagonist is extremely effective due to his stoic approach clashing against the violent nature of his work. The movie is greatly enhanced by audiences seeing the discrepancies between what the assassin says in his inner monologues and his physical actions. Pitt has brilliantly played assassins before, but the focus of those stories often took a comedic approach that wouldn’t fit the tone of Fincher’s 2023 film. Ultimately, the movie may not have been as effective with Pitt, as The Killer likely would have lost the unique atmosphere that sets it apart from other assassin-centered action crime dramas.