Film In 2001, Pitt portrayed Tommy Gnosis, the lover of a
genderqueer rock star named Hedwig, in the film
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, an adaptation of
John Cameron Mitchell's
1998 stage musical. Although not his first film role, Pitt's performance as Gnosis led to a series of supporting roles in many acclaimed and often controversial films, including
Bully (2001),
Murder by Numbers (2002), and the 2007 remake of
Funny Games. One of Pitt's more notable roles was as the lead in
The Dreamers (2003). Pitt attributes his success in films to a combination of hard work and the presence of "a few angels in my life." He has also stressed that he chooses roles not with the hope that they will garner commercial success or to gain notoriety but to create art, challenge the audience, and ultimately contribute to a project that he is proud of: To be honest, I make very controversial films. The films that I've made have been very, very bold choices. As the years go by, I think my work is going to come more and more in context. The truth is that you can't take what people say too seriously. If I cared what people think about my career, I would have not done—just look at my work. Don't look at me, look at what I've done. Every movie that I've picked, from my first film on, has been considered by everyone to be "career suicide." And I have an amazing life. I have an amazing career. I work with artists. But I'm not making
Spider-Man. In 2004, Pitt has also appeared in
The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things and
The Village and in 2005 starred in
Last Days as a rock musician "inspired" by
Nirvana frontman,
Kurt Cobain. He performed all of the songs, which closely resembled Cobain's guitar and singing styles. On the set of
Last Days, he met
Thurston Moore of
Sonic Youth, who had been hired by Van Sant to serve as the film's music consultant. The pair formed a close bond, with Moore writing, "[Gus] wanted me to hang out with Michael and talk about his character, and let him be in character. We ended up spending a lot of time together. My daughter Coco still relates to Michael as Blake from
Last Days". In 2006, he starred in the unconventional romantic comedy
Delirious as a young
homeless man who befriends a celebrity photographer and falls in love with a pop singer. The movie appeared at the
Sundance Film Festival. The following year, he played opposite
Keira Knightley in
Silk, adapted from the novel by
Alessandro Baricco, as Hervé Joncour, a French
silkworm smuggler, who falls in love with a baron's
concubine while in Japan. with the cast and crew of
I Origins In 2014, Pitt juggled two starring roles, as
Tommy Uva in the comedic American
crime drama Rob the Mob and as a molecular biologist in search of the truth about the origins of the eye in the
science fiction romantic drama I Origins. In 2017, Pitt starred in the film
Ghost in the Shell as the villainous hacker
Kuze, alongside
Scarlett Johansson.
Theater Pitt made his
Off-Broadway debut in 1999 in the play
The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek at the
New York Theatre Workshop. playing the role in the show's second season. He subsequently left and was replaced by
Joe Anderson.
Music in
Madrid in 2007 Pitt sang and played guitar in his band,
Pagoda, whose self-titled debut album was released by
Universal/Fontana/Ecstatic Peace in 2007. Under the title Jimi Pitt and the Twins of Evil, Pitt performed "
Hey Joe" with the Twins of Evil for
The Dreamers soundtrack.
Directing In January 2015, Pitt made his official directorial debut with a campaign film for fashion label
Rag & Bone's Spring 2015 collection. The video features Pitt and prior co-stars actress
Astrid Bergès-Frisbey—the new face of Rag & Bone womenswear—and British actor
Stephen Graham, Pitt's
Boardwalk Empire and
I Origins. Says Rag & Bone co-head, Marcus Wainwright, "[Pitt]'s a really talented actor and musician, and he came to us with this concept of doing a film-based campaign. We thought it was awesome and well worth trying." Pitt has also directed a number of music videos for Pagoda. In 2020, he revealed he had recently directed a film in Italy called
Nocturnal, although there is no release date set yet.
Modeling Pitt has modeled for numerous designer campaigns. In 2012, he was named the face of Italian fashion house
Prada and modeled their menswear line. He was also featured in two separate
Rag & Bone campaigns prior to the release of his self-directed campaign—once for Fall/Winter 2013, with French actress
Léa Seydoux, and once for Fall/Winter 2014, with actress
Winona Ryder. ==Personal life==