Brad Pitt discusses being directed by his former stunt double in Bullet Train: "There was a beautiful symmetry"

Brad Pitt in Bullet Train — (Image credit: Sony Pictures Releasing)

Brad Pitt has reflected on the experience of being directed by his former stunt double David Leitch in Bullet Train. Leitch doubled for Pitt in multiple movies – including Fight Club.

"He trained me for those fights and in a way he [was] helping me develop the character; now he's a director with his own voice and own vernacular and I'm serving him, he's the boss," Pitt told The Hollywood Reporter of the experience. "So there was a beautiful symmetry for two old friends."

Leitch co-directed the first John Wick movie and went on to helm Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, and Fast & Furious: Hobbs and Shaw. Bullet Train, based on the novel by Kōtarō Isaka, sees multiple hitmen board a train, where they soon discover their competing jobs are all interconnected. Along with Pitt, the massive cast includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Joey King, Hiroyuki Sanada, Andrew Koji, Michael Shannon, Sandra Bullock, Logan Lerman, Bad Bunny, Karen Fukuhara, and Zazie Beetz.

"Ultimately, as a choreographer, you want to give yourself problems and making the fights interesting in that small environment was really fun," Leitch told Total Film of the action-packed movie. "We got inventive: we put the quiet car in there, we put the mascot car in there you fight in different pieces of the car to make it interesting. That allows you to have all of these props you wouldn’t normally have."

Bullet Train hits US theaters this August 5. In the meantime, check out our roundup of all of 2022's major movie release dates for everything else the year has in store for us.