Bullet Train (2022)
- Before Brad Pitt was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
- The incredible score for Bullet Train was composed in just a few weeks after the original composer dropped out.
- The original script for Bullet Train was written over a decade before production finally began in 2022.
Bullet Train is a 2022 American action comedy directed by David Leitch, based on Kōtarō Isaka's 2010 novel. Brad Pitt stars as Ladybug, a luckless, therapy-attending assassin who boards a Japanese bullet train for what should be a simple snatch-and-grab job — retrieve a briefcase and get off at the next stop. Unfortunately, the train is packed with other assassins, each with their own missions and grudges, including the bantering British twins Tangerine and Lemon played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry, a vengeful father played by Andrew Koji, and a deadly schoolgirl known as the Prince played by Joey King.
David Leitch's direction turned the confined train setting into a constantly shifting playground for inventive action comedy, with fights spilling between cars, into luggage racks, and through the quiet car. Brad Pitt's zen, conflict-averse Ladybug trying to apply his therapist's advice while surrounded by murderous professionals was a comedic delight. The revelation of how all the passengers' stories interconnected provided satisfying narrative payoffs.
Bullet Train earned $239 million worldwide on a $85 million budget.
