• Shop
  • Fashion Films
  • Interviews
  • Collections
  • Blog
  • Project Archive
  • Contributors
  • Sign In | Register

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Instagram

SHOWstudio

SHOWstudio

The Home of Fashion Film and Live Fashion Broadcasting

  • Shop Fashion
  • Shop Art
  • Fashion Films
  • Interviews
  • Collections
  • Blog
  • Project Archive
  • Follow us

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Tumblr
    • Instagram
  • Calendar
  • About
  • Contributors
Nick Knight and Brad Pitt

Freedom Of Love

Nick Knight used André Breton’s poem 'Freedom of Love' as the guiding text for this short film of Brad Pitt, created while shooting the actor for Vanity Fair in 2004. Devising a number of scenarios for Pitt to engage the actor in deliberately self-reflective performance, the film is set against a soundtrack of Pitt reciting Breton’s one stanza, sixty-line homage to the poet’s wife

More in this project

  • Overview
  • Fashion Film
  • Poem
  • Editorial Gallery

Share this page

  • Fashion Film
    Film by Nick Knight
  • Poem
    'Freedom of Love' by André Breton, translated by Édouard Roditi
  • Editorial Gallery
    Nick Knight's cover editorial featuring Brad Pitt, from Vanity Fair, June 2004

About

Nick Knight used André Breton’s poem Freedom of Love as the guiding text for this short film of Hollywood star Brad Pitt, created while shooting the actor for a special issue of Vanity Fair magazine in 2004. During the shoot, Knight created a number of intriguing scenarios for Pitt to perform, so as to engage the actor in deliberately self-reflective performance.

The shoot began in a photo booth set up in a studio in Los Angeles, where Knight asked Pitt to take his own passport photograph and then write over the resulting prints, which were blown up to 3 x 4 metres. Knight then filmed Pitt energetically painting onto the huge blow-up of his own face and adding captions while reciting Breton’s poem, a one stanza, sixty-line homage to the poet’s wife.

A meditation on image and celebrity, and on an actor’s response to the way he is seen by others, the film is presented alongside the original June 2004 Vanity Fair editorial and the text of Breton's verse.

Credits / Contributors

  • Nick Knight Nick Knight
    Director
  • Brad Pitt Brad Pitt
    Actor
  • Narration: Brad Pitt
  • Direction & Film: Nick Knight
  • Motion Image Design and Edit: Adam Mufti
  • Production: Stardust Visions
  • Set Design: Bill Doig
  • Styling: Alister Mackie
  • Special thanks to Isabella Blow and Cindy Guagenti

Related Shop Items

New Shop

Related Projects

  • Performance
    Black Saint
    Jun 17 2010
  • Fashion Film
    White Wedding
    Apr 28 2008
  • Fashion Film
    Flowers For Kate
    Nov 15 2007
  • Fashion Film
    Boned
    Sep 27 2007
  • Fashion Film
    Christian Dior J'adore
    Nov 19 2004
  • Performance
    Lyric
    Apr 26 2004

© 2000-2019 SHOWstudio

  • Film Submissions
  • The SHOWstudio team
  • Fashion Illustration Submissions
  • FAQ
  • About SHOWstudio
  • Hiring
  • Newsletter
  • Contact

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Instagram