which features a disregarded television remake that fans ought to check out). Pitt portrayed Jeffrey Goines, a psychiatric patient and ecoterrorist with outrageous conspiracy theories, whom Bruce Willis’ character, James Cole, meets in a mental institution during his time travel journey.
Although his performance received recognition from the Academy and garnered acclaim from both critics and audiences, Pitt felt unfulfilled with his overall depiction of Goines. In a 2019 interview with The New York Times, the actor explained his feelings: “I excelled in the first half of ’12 Monkeys.’ I completely missed the mark in the second half. That portrayal troubled me because there was a limitation in the writing. It’s not the fault of the writing, but it was something I couldn’t decipher. I realized that in the latter part of the film, I was merely playing the concept of what was real in the first half — up until the final scene — and it drove me [expletive] insane.”