Aside from the fact that the director himself says no, and that he says James LeGros was imitating another actor LeGros had recently worked with, you have to look at the timing. Chad was obviously already a big star, throwing his weight around, and cast for his marquee value. NONE of that would have been true for Brad Pitt when the movie was conceived and shot.
Living in Oblivion was released in January 1995, a few WEEKS after the first releases of Legends of the Fall (December 1994), his big breakout starring role, & Interview with the Vampire (November 1994) with his key costarring part. Se7en, Twelve Monkeys, Sleepers, and The Devil's Own all followed in 1995. So before Living in Oblivion, Pitt had had small parts in big movies, and big parts in small movies, but never a starring part in a major release.
Patrick Swayze, in contrast, starred in Dirty Dancing (1987), Road House (1989), and Ghost (1990) shortly before, and in Point Break (1991) he sported long blonde hair and worked with James LeGros. He is a far more logical choice as the model of a horribly overconfident, self-satisfied, blond heartthrob marquee star in 1993 or 1994 than Pitt, whose career really had not yet taken off.
I think the part of Chad was written pretty generically and LeGros then used Swayze as the model for his performance.
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16 years ago
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the sphynx
16 years ago
Thank you, Watchman777.
Matt Dillon *is* an interesting suggestion, and likelier by far than Brad Pitt. However, as with Pitt, time plays tricks with memory. I think we consider him a bigger deal in retrospect than he was at the time.
Most of Dillon's movies were low-grossing or only modest hits ($15M box office or thereabouts) and his biggest hit, The Outsiders ($25M), also sported Swayze. Dirty Dancing ($64M), Ghost ($217M), and Point Break ($43M) all made a much bigger splash than anything Dillon had been in. Even the silly Road House grossed $30M. In addition, LeGros had worked with Swayze more recently. Hence more likely.
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mrojola
16 years ago
LeGros worked with Dillon again in 1992, after Point Break, in "Singles". Which means, according to your theory, he is more likely to be the source of inspiration for LeGros...
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the sphynx
16 years ago
You ignored the major point of my argument in favor of the small ending bit. The most important thing is that Chad Palomino was HUGE box office, in a fine position to be throwing his weight around, and "slumming" to achieve additional respect by acting in an independent movie that might not make as much money, but would have more cachet. All of that fits Swayze better than Dillon, with his many smaller-grossing pictures--even without the director having been quoted years later as saying Swayze was most definitely LeGros's model for Palomino.
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Smurftastic
16 years ago
Just based on a quick look at people that Legros could have based this character two names jumped out quickly. The first was Matt Dillon which I could see, but how about Keanu Reeves? He definetly could be the template for the vapid, self involved actor with limited talent. I would imagine the truth is that is actually a composite of many different actors though.
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the sphynx
16 years ago
Keanu is a possibility, and more likely than Matt Dillon because he'd been in several big hits (Point Break and the Bill and Ted movies) before Living in Oblivion was filmed. But his parts in the Bill and Ted movies are not heartthrob roles, and you still have to contend with the director's clear statement that LeGros based the characterization on Swayze.
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jagheterjack00
15 years ago
I always felt Chad was simular to Brad Pitt, but that was long before I watched the film with the commentry where it was suggested that he was based on Pitt.
I think he's simular, but I'd be dissaponted if Pitt turned out to be that much of a jerk.
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