Nylon Magazine - Public Enemy

"I was so glad when you stabbed that motherfucker. I was like, "yes, stab him!" says the young man seated at a neighboring table. "Cool," responds the chain-smoking young actor who has just asked if the other diner will trade a Marlboro Red for a Camel Light. "I didn't think anyone saw that movie." "We have it at home," says the girl dining with the young man. "You're our favorite." The movie in question is Larry Clark's Bully (2001), and the favorite actor is 21-year-old Michael Pitt. Despite being seen recently in Barbet Schroeder's Murder By Numbers as another killer, Pitt isn't worried about being pigeonholed as a bad seed. "I want to do work that makes people think. The characters with depth that they write for people my age are distasteful. But I'm not interested in being a teen idol or doing those kinds of films--so stop calling!"

In Murder By Numbers, Pitt plays Justin Pendleton, a shy bookish teenager who hatches a plot with a friend to commit the "perfect murder." But Pitt is careful to point out, "It's not about who did it but why. This movie presents the question, but dosen't answer it." He admitts that audiences are not always up to the challenge of working to understand their movies. "My wish for this film is that it makes people think, which they don't like to do. I hope it's not dismissed as a result."

Pitt grew up in New Jersey as the youngest of four, the son of an auto mechanic and a retailer. His peripatectic school career and eventual decampment to New York City at age 16 has been well documented. In a nutshell, "I felt like I was wasting my time when I could be honing a craft and a passion. I realized at a young age that I didn't need college; I knew I wasn't going to be a lawyer." So Pitt moved into a one-room apartment that he shared with nine other artists, actors, and musicians.

After being discovered while panhandling on Bleeker Street, He had a bit part in films like "54" before taking a turn as a sweet, sensative football player on Dawson's Creek. That led to bigger roles in movies like Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Bully. Besides championing independent films and quirky productions, Pitt likes working with good actors (big surprise), but says that those are few and far between. (Think Sean Penn, Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro. of his contemporaries), his favorites are also his friends (Leo Fitzpatrick, Mark Webber). When it comes to making a director wish list, Todd Solondz and Darren Aronofsky come out on top. "But Darren is doing Batman, so 'Bye Darren.' He's entitled to make money, but I hope he comes back. Once he gets better at connecting with his characters, he'll be unstoppable," says Pitt.

To relax, Pitt writes (he's working on a novel that he describes as "a cross between The Catcher in the Rye and The Stranger") and makes his own music (he plays guitar). He's a fan of the sort of bands you'd imagine a young artsy guy would be into, early Bowie, the Stooges, the Sex Pistols, the Pixies, Sonic Youth and the White Stripes. According to Pitt, "the strokes suck." Score an invite to his Brooklyn apartment and you'll find it stocked with "a mattress, music stuff, and cinderblock bookcases. Vouge shot there, and I think they thought it was hip, which wasn't the intention." In fact, Pitt seems devoid of any attempt at hipness--he skips most industry events, doesn't spend money on clothes, and prefers New York to LA. "I'd like to go with the flow a little bit, but I can't. It seems wrong."