1. The satirical comedy War Machine, out on Netflix and in select theaters on May 26, is the latest film from Brad Pitt.
2. The movie tells the story of General Glen McMahon (Pitt), who tries to “win” the war in Afghanistan.
War Machine is based on The Operators, a non-fiction book by the late BuzzFeed News reporter Michael Hastings. The Operators is about Hastings’ experience following General Stanley McChrystal around Afghanistan in April 2010, and it became a New York Times best-seller after its release in 2012.
3. On Tuesday, Pitt answered questions about War Machine during a BuzzFeed News-presented screening and panel discussion.
Kate Bubacz / BuzzFeed News
Pitt, who produced the film alongside his Plan B production company partners, was joined on the panel by director David Michôd, political analyst Elise Jordan (who’s also Hasting’s widow), and Plan B co-president Jeremy Kleiner. The taped panel was moderated by BuzzFeed News’ Nancy Youssef.
4. The actor said he’d previously made a trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and talking with soldiers in the hospital became part of his motivation for getting involved with adapting Hastings’ book into a movie.
5. “The impetus for this film for me was a visit to Walter Reed, and seeing the sacrifice and really looking at it from the point of view as a father,” Pitt said.
Kate Bubacz / BuzzFeed News
6. “I met as noble and heroic of individuals as I’ve ever met, and I walked away going, ‘Why? Why? For what? Why?’”
Kate Bubacz / BuzzFeed News
7. The actor continued, “It’s what made me want to …. and what made us in our discussions, to follow through with a film of this nature.”
Kate Bubacz / BuzzFeed News
8. BuzzFeed News
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