How Brad Pitt appears in “Jackass: Best and Last”: ‘It was wild,’ says Steve-O

Key points

• Brad Pitt appears in a segment in Jackass: Best and Last, featuring repurposed footage from the Jackass MTV show, shot in 2001.

• Steve-O tells Entertainment Weekly that Pitt “was just ready to go for it” when he shot with the Jackass gang.

• Johnny Knoxville adds that “the guys loved shooting with him.”

A very famous face appears in Jackass: Best and Last — but it’s not in new footage.

Brad Pitt stars in a wild segment in the latest Jackass movie alongside the usual crew of thrill-seeking bros like Steve-O and Chris Pontius. However, since a good chunk of the film consists of older material from the four previous Jackass movies and the MTV show of the same name, the Moneyball star’s appearance isn’t a new stunt.

Instead, Pitt appears in a segment titled “The Abduction,” which was originally shot in 2001 and later aired in a season 3 episode of the show in 2002.

“Hi, I’m Brad Pitt, and I’m gonna get abducted,” the Ocean’s Eleven actor says in the segment.

In the clip, Pitt queues up at Pink’s Hot Dogs in Los Angeles, where he stands for a moment before a black van pulls up and members of the Jackass gang grab the actor as he flails and begs for help from his fellow customers. Pitt is brought into the vehicle — seemingly against his will — and one bystander tries to help him resist his captors, while another chases after the van on foot.

One of the onlookers later calls the police and says, “Brad Pitt was in line, and was kidnapped and thrown into a van. I’m really not kidding.”

The version of “The Abduction” in Jackass: Best and Last is slightly longer than the one broadcast on the show and features footage of Pitt in the van with the Jackass boys immediately after the stunt. At one point, we see Pontius tell Pitt, “You’re a good actor, dude,” which was only broadcast on the TV version via voiceover.

Steve-O tells Entertainment Weekly about his memories of shooting with Pitt during an interview at the Best and Last premiere on Wednesday. “It was wild. The year was 2001, so that’s 25 years ago,” he says. “Brad Pitt was a young man. We were all young men, and God, it was just cool. He was cool.”

The Jackass star emphasizes Pitt’s willingness to keep up with the gang’s extreme hijinks. “Brad Pitt did not want us to go easy on him,” Steve-O says. “He said, ‘Don’t go easy on me,’ and he was ready to go for it. I loved it.”

Johnny Knoxville shares similar memories with EW at the premiere. “He was just so down and up for whatever,” he says of Pitt. “He showed up alone and just hung out with everyone, just no pretension. Just down-to-earth, and a really great guy. I really like him, and the guys loved shooting with him. And he’s not so bad to look at!”

Best and Last features a mix of new Jackass stunts and a wide array of archival footage, most of which is presented alongside newly shot commentary from the stars reminiscing about their favorite gags from past projects. In their new introduction for “The Abduction,” Steve-O and Knoxville explain that they warned the authorities that they were going to stage a fake kidnapping with Pitt so that the police would disregard any potential 911 calls concerning the incident.

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Additionally, in their recollection of the incident, they say that Pitt originally planned to shoot only a “Night Monkey” segment — which sees the crew skateboarding while wearing ape costumes — and that the idea for “The Abduction” arose once he was already hanging out with the Jackass gang.

Jackass: Best and Last hits theaters on Friday.

Additional reporting by Calie Skiba.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly