The show’s director has opened up about the F1 star’s involvement

The director of the hit show Adolescence has opened up about Brad Pitt’s involvement as an executive producer on the popular series, and has revealed that the Hollywood A-lister was very hands-on in the making of the hit show.

Philip Barantini opened up about the series on The Rest is Entertainment podcast, explaining: “When we were pitching to Plan B, they kept saying, ‘We’re just waiting for Brad’s schedule.’ I thought, ‘It can’t be that Brad.’ But sure enough, there he was on the Zoom — such a lovely human being and a remarkably hands-on producer.

“He gave feedback, shared ideas, and was so engaged throughout the process. He couldn’t visit the shoot because of his F1 project, but having someone like Brad Pitt involved — and so invested — was incredible. And he’s, yeah, I mean, I’d love to work with him again.”

He also spoke about finding the right actor to play the teenage boy Jamie after an extensive casting search. He said: “One of the first things I asked for was just an improvised moment of two scenarios. One of them was, ‘You’ve been brought into your head teacher’s office and you’re guilty of something.’ The other was, ‘You’re innocent of this thing.’ And I just wanted to see how they played it.

Brad Pitt was an executive producer on Adolescence

“Owen [Cooper] was someone who just felt so real and so natural, and it’s quite rare to see that in an actor, especially in auditions. I think he just didn’t really have any preconceptions about what acting was. He’d done some acting classes, but he was doing it for fun, really.

“We put him through his paces — he had five auditions, including a couple with Stephen [Graham] towards the end of the process. And every time he came in, he just absolutely nailed it. I’d give him more and more things to do, and each time, he smashed it.”

© Netflix
Christine Tremarco as Manda Miller and Stephen Graham as Eddie Miller in Adolescence

Owen has been catapulted into stardom with the role, and is set to appear in the upcoming movie Wuthering Heights as a younger version of Jacob Elordi’s character, Heathcliff.