September 23, 2026 9:38 am
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Brad Pitt and director David Ayer previously worked together on the WWII tank unit thriller “Fury“; they’ve reunited for their latest pic, “Heart of the Beast,” as Pitt plays a U.S. forces veteran who is forced, alongside his war dog Odin (both now retired from service), to traverse the harsh Alaskan wilderness after a near-death plane crash. Ahead of the film’s wide release later this week, the two appeared at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain for a press panel today (via <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/brad-pitt-san-sebastian-film-festival-heart-of-the-beast-1236708258/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>The Hollywood Reporter).
When Pitt was asked directly about wearing his producing hat (best known for his shingle Plan B) and the current landscape of independent filmmaking, he had an extremely positive outlook on the state of things in 2026. “I think the current setup has actually been really conducive to independent [films], in a really cool way because more eyes are getting on these projects. It feels even as strong as in the ’90s.”
Of course, Ayer also chimed in with an opinion citing the recent YouTube-to-theater pipeline with on-the-rise filmmakers Curry Barker and Kane Parson‘s success earlier in the year. “I think there’s new pipelines of discovery out there, new auteurs. We have people coming in off YouTube or the internet,” he said, referencing the young horror directors behind “Obsession” and “Backrooms” (two massive box office successes that came together on a smaller scale beforehand), “but now we’re seeing what I believe may be the ascent of it, as we find filmmakers in that space, but also as young people matriculate into the industry. They have much different tastes, and they grew up on a different sense of media than we did. So I’m actually very excited about the future and future opportunities and future stories that are going to be told.”
Given how TWO massive legacy studios and entertainment giants are now going to be under the thumb of the Ellison Family (who will oversee Paramount-Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery‘s various entertainment divisions across multiple platforms under one umbrella, which is expected to lead to mass industry layoffs), it’s hard to really 100% buy into the idea that the landscape of indie films is going to get better with less competition for distribution (alongside an expected wind-down of production volumes from those studios when there only so many weekend spots to fill). Then again, maybe Pitt’s Plan B (some of their upcoming titles include “The Bell Jar,” “The Chaperones,” “Isle of Man,” and “The Riders“) won’t be as affected as other production banners and smaller studios by the recent shake-up from the latest merger.
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“Heart of the Beast” arrives in North American theaters on September 25 (The Playlist has already shared our thoughts on the pic in our recent review of it), and Brad Pitt’s next big project is going to be David Fincher‘s “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth” (penned by Quentin Tarantino and a continuation of the “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” universe, also has Plan B’s involvement) as it heads to IMAX on November 25 before debuting on Netflix in December.
Brad Pitt says independent cinema “feels as strong as in the ’90s”:
“The current set-up has actually been really conducive to independent cinema in a really cool way because more eyes are getting on these projects.” https://t.co/ryfZjFeA89pic.twitter.com/ha78iw3pNi
— Variety (@Variety) September 23, 2026
Brad Pitt makes his San Sebastian Film Festival entrance ahead of the premiere of David Ayer’s #HeartoftheBeastpic.twitter.com/EC3XYDgMpv
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 23, 2026
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