Michael Carmen Pitt (born April 10, 1981) is an American actor, model and musician. A casting agent, whom Pitt mistook as a police officer attempting to arrest him, noticed him and recommended him for a guest role on the television series Dawson’s Creek (1998) (he played Henry Parker in 15 episodes between 1999 and 2000).Rising through the ranks of indie cinema, Michael starred in dramas like Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), The Dreamers (2004), and Last Days (2005), along with roles in the thrillers Murder by Numbers (2002) and Funny Games (2007). Moving back to television, he played Jimmy Darmody on Boardwalk Empire (2010) and Mason Verger in Hannibal (2013). In 2017, he appears opposite Scarlett Johansson in the science fiction action adaptation Ghost in the Shell (2017).
Michael Pitt
Movies
Criminal
Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds) is a CIA agent on a mission in London tracking down a shadowy hacker nicknamed “The Dutchman” (Michael Pitt). When he gets mysteriously ambushed and killed, an experimental procedure is used to transfer his memories into dangerous convict Jerico Stewart (Kevin Costner). When he wakes up…
Fun Facts
"" and they sparked up a joint. So we're standing there on the corner in front of this church and we're smoking a joint and we're excited
Quotes
[on his director, Bernardo Bertolucci]: There are two kinds of directors: There's the kind where two plus two equals four, and you have to help them figure it out. And then there's the kind that throws you in a room, locks the door, sets the house on fire and films it.
All these directors who do different locations forget that one room can be shot from a million different angles and a million different ways. When I direct a movie, I'm going to use that.
[on The Dreamers (2003)]: I was nervous for the sex scenes. It's tough for an American actor, because it can be looked upon very badly. It's a serious risk to take in your career. It's risky with the studios and with the American public. It's looked down upon in American culture at a serious level. It could be perceived not as work but as pornography. Every time I was nervous about it, I would remind myself that possibly I was going to be a part of something that was going to change those attitudes. I don't agree with those values at all. It's totally fine showing someone getting their head blown off in America and you can't show the human body. I think that shows something about the culture.
I think in some ways you learn more from the things you don't like than the things you do. What you want, and what you don't want.
I just do movies I like. I mean, I do movies I would want to go see.
You know, people want someone to tell them the answer. They want a friend, or a teacher, or a parent, but above all I guess they just want to know. And the truth is you can't tell them, and that's a hard thing to deal with. And it's easy to get wrapped up in the idea that this person knows, that he will tell me what I need to know, what I need to live, because he means a lot to me.
Movie stars get paid these ridiculous amounts of money, I don't know if they deserve it. But I think what they're really getting paid for is not the work but all the other stuff.
There's this double standard with nudity. You can show a woman's full anatomy, but it's threatening and uncomfortable with guys. Gay, straight, bi or whatever, these particular people who run the country are afraid to see the beauty in things that aren't necessarily what they think is right or whatever.
(On getting fired as an extra on Flawless) I was there with my friends and they wanted these two punk rock guys to be standing in this elevator while Robert De Niro ran in, or something. Joel Schumacher picked us, which meant we were going to get paid like two or three hundred dollars more, which at that time meant that we had our rent for the month, so it was a big deal. We were standing in the East Village with all the extras, next to a prostitute and a little person, talking about the money we were going to get. So someone-one of the extras-had a really great idea and said, "We should celebrate