It all starts with a comment from EW interviewer Jeff Giles, covering Pitt’s career movie by movie, that the actor looks miserable in “Interview.”

“I /am/ miserable,” Pitt said. “Six months in the f—ing dark.”

“I’m telling you, one day it broke me. It was like, ‘Life’s too short for this quality of life.’ I called David Geffen, who was a good friend. He was a producer, and he’d just come to visit. I said, ‘David, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t do it. What will it cost me to get out?’ And he goes, very calmly, ‘Forty million dollars.’ And I go, ‘OK, thank you.’ It actually took the anxiety off of me. I was like, ‘I’ve got to man up and ride this through, and that’s what I’m going to do.’ ”

…Still, he says he doesn’t necessarily regret “Interview with a Vampire.”

“I don’t lament the failures,” he said. “The failures prepare you for the next one. It’s a step you needed to take, and I’m all for it.”