‘Meet Joe Black’ Goes Viral After 21 Years Thanks to Brad Pitt’s Insane Car Accident Scene
Zack Sharf
Martin Brest’s 1998 drama “Meet Joe Black” was a box office bomb in the U.S. with a $44 million gross on a $90 million production budget, but 21 years later it’s officially become a viral sensation. A clip from the movie resurfaced on Twitter this week featuring the film’s most ludicrous moment, a car accident scene in which Brad Pitt’s character gets bounced in the air between two moving vehicles, and it’s currently earned over 23,000 shares and nearly 90,000 likes. Only in the age of social media would “Meet Joe Black” find relevancy over two decades after its release.
“Meet Joe Black” was distributed by Universal Pictures and was loosely based on the 1934 classic “Death Takes a Holiday.” The scene in question occurs after the first encounter between Claire Forlani’s Dr. Susan Parrish and Pitt’s unnamed man. The two characters meet in a coffee shop and have instant chemistry, although they leave without getting each other’s names. After a few stolen glances, Pitt’s character is hit by multiple cars and killed. The character becomes Death in the flesh and shows up at the Parrish family. Under the name Joe Black, Death takes a liking to Susan and makes her father, Bill (Anthony Hopkins), became his guide.
Despite its starry cast, “Meet Joe Black” was hardly a critical darling. The film was notorious for its 181 minute runtime (that’s three hours, folks) and extremely slow pacing. Part of the reason the car accident scene is so bonkers is because of how incredibly drawn out the moment is of Forlani and Pitt’s characters saying goodbye and walking away from one another. Interestingly enough, Emmanuel Lubezki served as the film’s cinematographer. After the movie’s bombing, Pitt would rebound by taking the iconic role of Tyler Durden in David Fincher’s “Fight Club.”
Watch the viral “Meet Joe Black” moment below, and check out the set photos from the filming of said moment.
This is the most bonkers one minute of a movie that I have ever seen pic.twitter.com/wjRxHlIBO4
— Rose O’Shea (@ladyastronauty) April 11, 2019
