Brad Pitt was photographed on a Los Angeles beach filming scenes for the sequel to Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, marking his first public appearance since the death of his friend and mentor Robert Redford.
The 61-year-old actor was seen wearing a dark zip-up track jacket with white trim, light-wash jeans and aviator sunglasses while working on The Adventures of Cliff Booth. He was pictured alongside co-star Scott Caan as cameras rolled on the sand.
Redford, 89, died in his sleep at his home in Utah earlier this week. The two had a long professional and personal relationship; Redford directed Pitt in the 1992 drama A River Runs Through It, a role that helped raise Pitt's profile in the early stages of his career, and they later appeared in Tony Scott's 2001 thriller Spy Game.
Pitt has previously credited Redford with influencing his approach to acting and with offering early support as his career developed. The two remained close throughout the years, and Pitt has also moved into producing, with credits on films such as The Lost City and Bullet Train.
Pitt is returning to the Oscar-winning role of stuntman Cliff Booth in the sequel. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the portrayal in 2020, a year in which Quentin Tarantino also won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the original film, which was set in 1969.
For the sequel, director David Fincher has taken over the director's chair from Tarantino. Tarantino, speaking to Deadline at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2023, said the follow-up would be set in 1977 and described the titular character as someone who had lived a full life without widespread fame. Tarantino also said the character once wrote movie reviews for a pornographic magazine.
Production activity on the beach shoot indicates the sequel has moved into principal photography. Details about the full cast and release schedule have not been officially announced by the studio. Pitt’s presence on set comes amid widespread tributes to Redford from the film community, reflecting the director and actor’s long-running influence on American cinema.
Redford’s role in nurturing younger actors and his work behind the camera had long been noted by colleagues and critics. His early decision to cast Pitt in A River Runs Through It is often cited as a formative moment in Pitt’s career. The two later shared screen time in Spy Game, a Cold War-era thriller in which Redford played a veteran CIA operative and Pitt a protégé caught behind enemy lines.
As filming continues, Pitt’s on-set appearance offered a public glimpse of a major Hollywood production in motion and a private moment of continuity for an actor mourning a longtime friend. Studio statements regarding the sequel’s production schedule and Redford’s death were not immediately available.
The Adventures of Cliff Booth will be watched closely by audiences and industry observers interested in how the sequel expands the world introduced in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood and in how Pitt, now into his 60s, revisits the Oscar-winning role.
Reporting on the location shoot and on Redford's death continued to circulate in entertainment outlets as tributes and recollections from peers underscored Redford’s decades-long impact on film and on the careers of actors he mentored.