Entertainment
‘Heart of the Beast’: Director David Ayer Interview on Brad Pitt
Director Jean-Luc Godard once said all you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun. The new adventure film “Heart of the Beast” shows that all you need to make a movie is Brad Pitt and a dog. Aside from a few brief moments with other characters, the film focuses entirely on Pitt’s special forces veteran James and his beloved canine companion, Odin, as they struggle to survive in the Alaskan wilderness after a plane crash. It’s a simple, straightforward premise — but making it work cinematically and emotionally was no easy task.
“It was a bigger challenge than I understood going into it,” director David Ayer told IndieWire on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “I really didn’t know what I was in for.” Although Ayer had staged massive battle sequences in his previous collaboration with Pitt, the World War II drama “Fury,” he found that stripping the action down to one actor and a dog created its own set of difficulties. “The simplicity of it exposes the filmmaking in ways I never imagined. Your decisions, tone, mood, and performance count more than ever in that situation. There was nowhere to hide.”
Ayer came on board the film after reading Cameron Alexander’s script, which provoked such a strong emotional response that the director couldn’t resist taking the material on. “I think it triggered part of my own grief over the loss of my father when I was young, and this sort of aspirational desire in me,” Ayer said. “I wish I had someone who looked after me the way James looked after Odin. I wish I had that kind of unconditional love and support.”
Exploring that kind of emotional connection through a tough, male-oriented action movie fits Ayer’s sensibility, as he’s made a career out of poking and prodding assumptions about masculinity. From his brilliant screenplay for Ron Shelton’s cop drama “Dark Blue” to directorial efforts like “Harsh Times” and “End of Watch,” Ayer has frequently explored and challenged conventional cinematic notions of violence and heroism, something steeped in his own military background.
In “Heart of the Beast,” Pitt is the ideal partner for Ayer’s preoccupations. The actor gives one of his best performances in a film that hinges almost entirely on his ability to express emotion and thought with minimal dialogue. In his collaborations with Ayer, he tends to be both tougher than in other movies and more vulnerable; Ayer uses the star’s persona and finds new textures and meanings in it, the same way John Ford once did with John Wayne, or Don Siegel did in his films with Clint Eastwood.
“ I think it has to do with his willingness to jump into material that isn’t so traditionally engineered as a movie star role, or traditionally masculine,” Ayer said. “He’s open to the deconstruction. And he has a lot of range, and I feel like he doesn’t always have the opportunity to find those dichotomies in himself. Maybe there’s also a kinship there in our understanding of traditional masculinity, the masks men are given in life to wear, and the fact that there’s often a confused beating heart beneath them.”
Digging into the character was all the more challenging for both Pitt and Ayer given the compressed pre-production schedule and swift shoot, which required them to hit the ground running. “It was a whirlwind, so it really put Brad on the spot as an actor, and me on the spot as a director,” Ayer said. The key to pulling it off was close collaboration with his department heads and lead actor to make sure James’ arc was clearly mapped out, both visually and emotionally.
“I had an amazing production designer, Greg Berry, and we came up with this visual journey that reflected the inner journey of the character,” Ayer said. “Brad’s very internal, so much of our work came in prep, mapping out the emotional beats and the tone. And then once he gets to set he will grind and exhaust himself.” According to Ayer, that exhaustion showed up in the movie, as Pitt couldn’t relax or rely on the typical comforts of a film set.
“Normally on a set, you have the director’s chairs lined up, and the actors sit in them and socialize,” Ayer said. “He had nowhere to go other than to be cold and tired and emotionally exhausted by himself. They say acting is reacting, and he didn’t have a big cast to react to and pass that energy back and forth — he had to react to the circumstances. He’s not getting any of the normal support an actor would in a scene. It was like a jet pilot flying a solo mission.”
Ultimately, Ayer credits Pitt, his crew, and serendipity for everything coming together so smoothly. “All of the details come from a lifetime of experience,” Ayer said. “ Brad’s done an amazing amount of movies and was in a place where he was willing to be vulnerable in ways he hasn’t before. I’ve done a few movies and feel like I’m just beginning to come into my own, and I was open to really challenge myself both emotionally and as a filmmaker. So everything came together.”
To hear the entire conversation with David Ayer and make sure you don’t miss a single episode of Filmmaker Toolkit, subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.
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Exes J.D. (Zach Braff) and Elliot (Sarah Chalke) are both getting significant others in Season 2 of Scrubs‘ revival on ABC, and for Elliot, it’s a blast from the past and someone J.D. was once jealous of. As Deadline revealed exclusively last month, Scott Foley is returning to the medical comedy, reprising his role as marine biologist Sean as he and Elliot rekindle their previous on-again off-again romance.
And Rachel Bilson, whose hospital visitor Charlie hit it off with J.D. in the Season 1 finale, is also back for an arc as the duo hard launch their relationship that may be coming fast and furious for J.D.
“J.D. is going, as you said, a little fast and furious with her, and Turk’s giving him advice that he’s going way too fast and needs to calm down,” Braff said during a joint video interview with the three stars of Scrubs ahead of the Season 2 premiere.
Added Faison, “He’s a little rusty with his courtship, and he’s going all in a little too too much, but that makes Turk realize that he hasn’t been going in with the wife at all, as far as the romantic side goes. Like he’s just playing husband; I’ll come home, we’re gonna do the maybe watch a movie thing, and then let’s go to bed, and then I’ll go to work, and you go to work in the morning, and stuff like that. He’s not doing any type of romantic anything.”
The first three episodes of Season 2 set up a “running storyline of the difference in all of our lives,” Braff said.
“J.D. is a bachelor again, and he’s out there in a new exciting thing, Turk’s been in a long-term relationship for many years, and Elliot’s also dipping her toe in the dating waters,” he said. “The contrast between our romantic lives is something that’s really been funny. Scott Foley’s back to be a love interest for Sarah for some episodes, and Rachel’s been mine, and the dynamic with us all together is just hilarious, we’re having so much fun.”
Besides revisiting a classic Scrubs love triangle (J.D., Elliot, Sean) that produced the signature “Nobody cares, Sean” line the jealous J.D. used to say, Foley’s return serves another story purpose.
“The writers were like, ‘How do we bring back Elliot’s neuroses?’,” Chalke said. “And so they thought that Scott would be a good way to do that because now that Elliot’s more comfortable in her job and feels super confident as a doctor, this is kind of what shakes her and brings back a lot of her neurotic days.”
This marks a character adjustment — and return to form — for Elliot.
“One thing we overcorrected for a little bit in Season 1 was Elliot being this mature person, and not that she’s not mature, but I think I and Sarah and others and fans missed a little bit of batsh*t crazy Elliot.
Said Chalke, “We brought some of the batsh*t back.”
Added Braff, “So we’ve taken the batsh*t dial in Elliot and put it back to normal. And by normal, I mean her old batsh*t stuff.
“Which has been super fun to do, I missed it,” Chalke said.
Is Elliot getting back with Sean because she may be jealous of what J.D. has with Charlie, and what happened with her Season 1 romantic interest pilot Wes who doesn’t seem to be in the picture anymore?
“We reference the fact that she’s still with the pilot at the beginning, but she doesn’t really realize, like Carla’s, like ‘Elliot, he’s so boring.’ She’s like, ‘He’s not boring, he’s just sending me pictures,’ and it was amazing the different alts of the jokes that the writers came up with for the photos that Wes was sending her. And then she realizes, she looks at what Charlie and J.D. have, and she’s like, ‘Huh, maybe I do want that’.”
Braff applauded Elliot’s classy reaction to his new romance.
“She’s being very mature about it, I have to say, because J.D.’s not being very tactful about his loving on Charlie.
Added Chalke, “Yeah, it’s in her face, in the workplace and outside.”
“Yeah, it’s not very respectful,” Braff continued. “But J.D.’s about to get a big wake-up call when TV’s Scott Foley shows up with his green eyes.”
Added Faison, “He’s so handsome. He’s got like this salt and pepper thing going right now. It’s just dreamy.”
Scrubs Season 2 launches on Sept. 30 with a two-episode premiere on ABC and streaming next day on Hulu.
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This season’s Tony Awards Nominating Committee will include, among others, Kimberly Akimbo actor Victoria Clark, playwrights Migdalia Cruz and James Ijames, performer Lorna Luft and former Washington Post theater critic Peter Marks, among others.
In all, 65 people drawn from all aspects of the Broadway creative community were named today to the Nominating Committee by The Tony Awards Administration Committee.
The Nominating Committee will attend all productions during the 2026-2027 Broadway season and will meet on a designated date to determine, by vote, the Tony Award nominees for the season. Members of the committee serve a three-year term.
The 65 members of the 2026-2027 Nominating Committee are:
Bryan Andes – Educator
Bonnie Becker – Stage Manager
Mark Bennett – Composer / Sound Designer / Educator
Rob Berman – Music Director
Jeremy Blocker – Creative Director / Executive Producer for Audible Theater
Pamela Bradley – Performer
Brian Harlan Brooks – Director / Choreographer / DEI Director
James Bundy – Professor of Drama, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale
Keith Bunin – Playwright
Dr. Jamie Cacciola-Price – Theatre Educator / Director
Kevin Cahoon – Actor / Director
Jade King Carroll – Director / Producing Artistic Director, Chautauqua Theater Company
Victoria Clark – Actor / Director / Educator
Bruce Coughlin – Orchestrator
Migdalia Cruz – Playwright / Librettist / Translator / Educator
Will Davis – Choreographer / Director
Scott Farthing – Cast Album Producer and Former Exec. V.P., Sony Masterworks US and Live Theater
Donald P. Gagnon, Ph.D. –Theatre Arts Professor / Dramaturg
Deeksha Gaur – Executive Director, Theatre Development Fund
Tiffani Gavin – Executive Director, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center
Daniel Goldstein – Director / Writer
Joshua Harmon – Playwright
Wendall Harrington – Projection Designer
Richard Hinds – Associate Director / Choreographer
Timothy Huang – Composer / Lyricist / Librettist
James Ijames – Playwright / Director / Educator
Daniel K. Isaac – Performer / Playwright
Anna K. Jacobs – Composer / Lyricist / Librettist
Rosalie Joseph –Casting Director
Rod Kaats – Producer / Director
Peter Kaczorowski – Lighting Designer
Mia Katigbak – Performer / Co-Founder, NAATCO
Glen Kelly – Amanuensis / Composer
Joyce Ketay – Theatrical Agent
Michael Kooman – Composer
L Morgan Lee – Actor
Kate Levin – Cultural Assets Management Principal, Bloomberg Associates
William Ivey Long – Costume Designer
Lorna Luft – Performer
Steve Mann – Retired / Acct Dir. Theatre Parties and Broadway Clubs / Group Sales B.O. at Broadway.com
Peter Marks – Former Chief Theatre Critic, Washington Post
Danny Mefford – Choreographer
Khady Kamara Nunez – Executive Director, Perelman Performing Arts Center
Katherine Oliver – Media and Technology Principal, Bloomberg Associates
Jessica Paz – Sound Designer
Georgina Pazcoguin – Actress / Producer / Diversity Advocate
T. Oliver Reid – Actor / Director / Choreographer / Activist / Musical Theater Professor at Rider University
José Rivera – Playwright / Director / Screenwriter
Liam Robinson – Music Director / Composer / Arranger / Performer
Carole Rothman – Co-Founder and Former Artistic Director, Second Stage Theater
Roslyn S. Ruff – Performer
Rafael Sánchez – Executive Artistic Director, Repertorio Español
Linda Shelton – Executive Director, The Joyce Theater Foundation
Rona Siddiqui – Composer / Lyricist
Paul J. Smith – Stage Manager
Mark Stanley – Lighting Designer
Susan Soon He Stanton – Playwright / Television Writer / Screenwriter
Pearl Sun – Performer
Jeffrey Sweet – Playwright / Librettist
Sanaz Toossi – Playwright
Allyson Tucker – Choreographer / Director / Performer
Alexandria Wailes – Actor / Director / Choreographer
Charlotte Wilcox – Retired General Manager
Sam Willmott – Composer / Lyricist
BD Wong – Actor / Director / Playwright / Author
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