In recent years, fans haven’t really seen much of Logan Lerman on the big screen. Following his breakout role as the titular character in the Percy Jackson films, the California native went on to pursue various roles that ultimately propelled him to teen idol status.Lately though, Lerman has been taking on fewer roles than before. This includes a supporting character in the recent action flick Bullet Train. And as it turns out, the actor agreed to do it because Brad Pitt came calling, literally.
Logan Lerman Had Already Done A Movie With Brad Pitt Before
A few years after his second Percy Jackson movie came out, Lerman went on to star in David Ayer’s critically acclaimed war drama Fury, which sees Pitt play a tank commander fighting their way across Germany as the Allies make their final push in Europe. Meanwhile, Lerman plays Norman, a recruit that gets transferred to Pitt’s unit.
By then, the actor has done a number of huge movies but perhaps, nothing of this scale. And certainly, nothing that featured an A-lister like Pitt. At that moment, Lerman was just mesmerized.
“It was great. He is a great actor and he is extremely generous as a person. He gives a lot of himself to the process. He is committed and dedicated. He doesn’t ask for much. He’s knee-deep in the mud like we were,” the actor said of his famous co-star.
“There were a lot of tips I got from him and a lot of validation, and advice about choosing filmmakers. You can see from the films that he’s made that he is always choosing great filmmakers. That was something that was validating to hear from his mouth.”
And while Lerman may have had a lot of questions for Pitt, the actor didn’t really get to hang out with him much while on set. “He’s a little bit older and has got his family and kids and so I socialized with the younger guys a little bit more,” Lerman explained.
At the same time, the actor also said that his role required him to keep his interactions with Pitt to a minimum.
“For the purpose of the movie it was better that there was always a level of distance between him and me; we deliberately kept that distance and a level of respect,” Lerman continued.
“The bulk of my major scenes are with Brad, and we had a lot of work to do together. But we’re not supposed to like each other on screen.” Later on, though, it seems the two became close and remained in touch.
Brad Pitt Called Up Logan Lerman To Do Bullet Train
Around the time Pitt was putting together the cast for Bullet Train, Lerman had just moved back to Los Angeles from New York. He had been taking it easy, although the actor was also starring in Amazon series Hunters. But then, Pitt called and Lerman just couldn’t resist.
“I know Brad and I’ve been friends with him for years and love him,” the actor said. Not to mention, the project couldn’t have come at a better time. “It was nice to have an excuse to go to work when nobody was really working,” Lerman said. “I was really lucky to be doing that.”
In Bullet Train, Lerman plays the son of White Death (Michael Shannon) who gets murdered unexpectedly as assassins Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) were taking him to his father. Throughout the film, the men do what they can to give the illusion that Lerman’s character is still alive, which led to some hilarious moments.
“There was some puppetry that was fun or people are using me as a puppet,” Lerman remarked.
On a more serious note, though, Lerman’s performance earned a lot of praise from co-star Henry who shared a lot of scenes with the actor.
“It's a true testimony to an actor because playing dead is not easy – telling a story while your body is being moved and jostled all over the place,” Henry explained. “A lot of our corpses in this movie did a great job.”
And while Lerman wasn’t able to take part in the action, he did have the opportunity to “observe” David Leitch and his team at work. “They’re doing the most exciting things with fight choreography, and to see them create these dances of sorts in such a tight space…[plus,] the beats of humor throughout the fight sequences are exceptionally well-crafted.”
Following Bullet Train, fans can expect to Lerman in the upcoming comedy College Republicans. As for Disney’s upcoming Percy Jackson series, fans are certainly hoping that the actor will also appear in some form (and Lerman has even expressed interest in coming in as a new character).
At the same time, he also has a simple piece of advice for Hollywood’s rising stars. “Enjoy it, appreciate it,” Lerman said. “It's stressful to be making something when you're that age because you're so young.”