Having great eyesight is important to actors. However, actors with poor vision that want to avoid wearing glasses often settle for contacts to help with their vision. Is Brad Pitt one of such actors? Does Brad Pitt wear contacts?
Yes. Brad Pitt wears contact lenses. The award-winning actor and one of the world’s sexiest men, has worn his fair share of contacts and has been seen wearing them numerous times both on and off movie sets. Where exactly has he worn them, and what kind of contacts does he prefer? What eye defect does Brad Pitt have? Keep reading to find out.
Brad Pitt’s Eye Defects
Contact lenses have been around since the late 1800s and have gone through varying modifications since then. Their primary function was the correction of eye defects such as myopia, astigmatism, and hyperopia, among others. Outside this primary function, they also perform some cosmetic function and are highly sought after enhancement among celebrities. Also, contact lenses are now used as fashionable props and for decorative purposes by people celebrating Halloween and themed parties. As a result, when people wear contacts today, they hardly do so for health reasons.
Up until 2010, Brad Pitt’s primary reason for wearing contact lenses would most likely have been linked to his poor eyesight. The blue-eyed hunk suffered from poor eyesight and was being antagonized by friends and fans for his failure to recognize them. To prevent him from making more enemies, the Ocean’s Eleven actor opted to go in for laser eye surgery and have his sight corrected. Although the actor isn’t quite vocal about having had the procedure, the surgery has helped him to dispense with the need to wear “uncool” glasses or contact lenses always.
With the laser eye surgery done and his eyesight corrected, Brad has been able to easily fit into and play different roles and characters. Good vision is undoubtedly an integral part of being an actor. It comes in handy when actors have to maintain eye contact on set, reading scripts, following prompts from a teleprompter, and keeping their eyes open while playing dead. For Brad, what the successful surgery means is that if the actor is seen wearing contacts now, they are merely a style accessory and not necessarily a tool for improving his eyesight anymore.
Brad Pitt Wearing Contacts
Generally, contact lenses come in several forms. These forms include extended-wear, rigid gas permeable, daily-wear soft lens, and others. Though we are unable to verify exactly which of these forms Brad Pitt has used, we will still go through instances where he was seen using contacts.
Interview With The Vampire
In the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire, Brad Pitt plays the role of Loius
de Pointe du Lac, a vampire who retells his life story to a young reporter. The film’s title is obviously self-explanatory. In playing the role of a vampire, Brad Pitt shields his natural blue eyes with contact lenses to properly fit into the iconic character. While shooting the film, two sets of contact lenses are used by Pitt. The first being the “touchstone” contact, and the second the “burn effect” contacts. Both contacts were specially fitted,custom-designed, and hand-painted by Andrea Le Vine, a special effects contact lens expert. They helped Brad nail the role perfectly. Check out the contacts in the film’s trailer below.
12 Monkeys
In 12 Monkeys, Brad Pitt delivered a Golden Globe award-winning performance as Jeffrey Goines, a manic depressive patient with extremist views. In preparing for the role, Brad checked into a psychiatric hospital for a day and also took part in group therapy sessions at a real-life hospital. More importantly, in playing the role, Brad wore a pair of black/brown contact lenses to cover up his blue eyes.
In conclusion, it is clear that Brad Pitt wears contacts and that they look good on him.