Brad Pitt was playing a waiter in the 1987 film No Man's Land when he stepped out of line and was severely reprimanded by a director.
As an extra or background performer, his role was non-speaking. However, during a scene, he decided to improvise a line in an effort to earn his Screen Actors Guild card.
During the June 23 episode of Dax Shepard's podcast, Armchair Expert, Pitt, who was there to promote his new film F1: The Movie, explained, "The whole game was, how do you get your SAG card? Because you can't get a job if you don't have your SAG card, but you can't get your SAG card unless you've had a job. It's this Catch-22."
He went on to describe what happened, saying, "It's a restaurant scene. The main characters are Charlie Sheen and D.B. Sweeney, and a bunch of other actors that I wasn't necessarily aware of. I am the waiter. I'm supposed to bring up champagne and pour champagne. They show me how to do it. You gotta pour. You spin. You wipe the thing."
But after shooting began, he changed things up. "I get to the last actor — and she seemed lower on the totem pole? Maybe? And, literally, the scene is going on, I pour her champagne and I go, 'Would you like anything else?' It was 'CUT! CUT! CUT!'" said Pitt. "The first AD runs over, 'You do that again, you're out of here!!!' It was just shame for the rest of the night."
Pitt finally earned his SAG card with a small role on the nighttime series Dallas. During an interview with W Magazine a few years ago, he explained, "I had one line. And it was 'Yes' or it was 'No.' But that was enough because you had to get your SAG card."
F1: The Movie debuts in theaters this Friday, June 27, 2025. ~Alexandra Heilbron