Brad Pitt won't campaign for the Oscars

Brad Pitt

American actor Brad Pitt is planning to take it easy during this award season. The star says that he will "abstain" from campaigning in the upcoming Oscars race despite being expected to be among the contenders for starring in films 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' and 'Ad Astra'. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the 55-year-old star revealed that he has no interest in campaigning for Oscar nominations for his roles in Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time In Hollywood' and James Gray's 'Ad Astra'. "Oh, man. I'm gonna abstain," the actor told the outlet.

"I mean, you never know, and it's really nice when your number comes up," Pitt added. The actor went on to say that campaigning for Oscars nominations is "actually disservice" to the films. "But the goal is for the film to land, to speak to someone whether it's now or a decade from now. I find chasing it actually a disservice to the purity of your telling a story, and a shackling thing to focus on," he said. Pitt received rave reviews for his performance as Cliff Booth in 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood', which marked his second collaboration with Tarantino.

Their first was the 2009 hit film 'Inglourious Basterds'. It was also Pitt's first film in two years, after last featuring in the 2017 Netflix drama 'War Machine'. While many believe that Pitt could receive an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Booth, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, the actor has also earned praise for his role as Roy McBride in 'Ad Astra'. Gray told Entertainment Weekly that Pitt understood McBride's character "completely" and perfectly controlled his performance.

"In some ways, because he's a star, Brad's acting is underrated. To control performance and still convey the ideas and the emotions necessary for the film I think is as difficult as anything, really," the director said of Pitt. "To be kind of showy -- and by the way, I'm not saying this about him in Quentin's movie, which I think is wonderful -- but sometimes a showy performance can lead us in a very obvious series of choices. But he understood it completely, this character who lives so much in his own head," Gray added.

Despite the recent success and appreciation, the actor actually plans to cut back on starring in films in the future. "It'll be fewer and farther in between for me, just because I have other things I want to do now," Pitt told The New York Times earlier this month. "When you feel like you've finally got your arms around something, then it's time to go get your arms around something else," he added at that time. 'Ad Astra' is slated to hit the big screens on September 20, 2019.

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