Ok, this is all opinion, based on personal preference, but here goes...
Imo, Brad Pitt is usually playing Brad Pitt, even in OUATIH. This is a standard in Hollywood that is rare to see deviation from. Most actors/actresses tend to gravitate towards a consistent onscreen persona.
It’s one reason I can’t stand George Clooney. It’s as if he screams look at me, I’m GC playing someone. Sure, he’s handsome, polished, that deep voice, and a charismatic onscreen personality, but he’s always George Clooney. Although there are many A class performers, it’s rare for actors to be able to really transform themselves. Another actor who strikes me this way to a lesser degree? Robert Redford. It’s as if their true personality, which I might attribute to ego, overwhelms their ability to play someone else.
But in this movie, Pitt projects outside himself into a believable supernatural being. For Tom Cruise did you know the Anne Rice did not want him as Lestat? This was based on her impression of Tom Cruise’s abilities as she understood them. However he surprised her.
Lestat is a unique, one of a kind performance, although he gets high marks for The Right Stuff, Rain Man, Oblivion, and Knight and Day. For this roll, he really seemed to apply and project himself into a new person much different than standard TC, so different that I would say this is his best. To clarify, it’s not so much the story as a factor, but the personal effort and transformation.
