Brad Pitt shared his two cents on how the Manson Family Murders rocked Hollywood almost 50 years ago and how it compares to Harvey Weinstein’s 2017 controversy.
The Hollywood actor spoke to U.K.’s Sunday Times in an interview to promote his new film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Pitt shared his parent’s recollection of Sharon Tate’s tragic murder by the Manson Family.
“When my parents described it, it was as the end of this idealized revolution,” the actor told The Times. “My parents are still hippies, but it was the loss of this dream. As (Hollywood director) Quentin [Tarantino] describes, you sort of portray this utopia, but there is a mildew around the canvas that brought the darkness of humanity into play and ended a lot of my parents’ hopes for how they could infuse that ‘love and peace’ ideology into the rest of the world. It all sort of crashed and ended so much that some talk of it as a conspiracy. It was the total end of an era — immediately.”
When asked what he thinks rocked Tinseltown the same way the Manson Family murder did, Pitt answered the sex scandal that paved the way to the #MeToo movement.
“Harvey Weinstein. Can I say that?” Pitt answered. “It’s more that I think we’re getting recalibrated, but in a good way.”
In the same interview, Pitt shared his thoughts on how masculinity has changed in the entertainment industry.
“When I started, I loved Mickey Rourke and Sean Penn,” Pitt shared. “I loved them because there was a toughness to them, which was how the male I’d grown up being taught about was meant to be. But they were also vulnerable, raw and open, and I always appreciated that.”
Pitt explained, “What I see now is a new masculinity, especially with people who have gone through Hollywood and its recalibration, a new male who is more vulnerable. I’m not talking mushiness — I mean a man who owns his own flaws and is aware of them and open about it. And vulnerable, with real feelings, rather than being this macho, trying-to-be-tough guy. But that might just be me in my old age, on my own trip, projecting onto everyone else.”