“Such Passion and Power”: Brad Pitt Pays Homage to Stephen Wilson Jr. at ‘Heart of the Beast’ Screening

Stephen Wilson Jr. joined Brad Pitt and director David Ayer at a special Heart of the Beast event in Colorado on September 14th, performing ‘Stand By Me’ after a private screening of the upcoming movie.

Introducing Wilson Jr. to the crowd, Pitt revealed he had already done a bit of homework after hearing Wilson’s version of the Ben E. King classic.

“I don’t think film can exist without music,” Pitt said. “So I hear this cover, it’s sung with such passion and power, this voice... so I had to look it up. I went on this deep dive, ‘Who is this guy?’”

With country music booming at the moment, he didn’t have to look too far. “He’s here to play tonight,” Pitt continued. “Please welcome Stephen Wilson Jr. and his dog.”

That dog was, of course, Frida. Pitt and Wilson Jr. had caught up prior to the show in the mountains Wilson Jr. introduced her to Pitt, “This is Frida. I would call her a rescue dog, but I’m pretty sure I’m her rescue human.”

Anyone who follows Wilson Jr. will know Frida goes pretty much everywhere with him, travelling on the road and regularly appearing backstage and alongside him on his travels. So Heart of the Beast feels like a film that would be pretty close to Wilson Jr.’s heart too.

With the story-line revolving around the relationship between a man and his dog, Wilson Jr. walking out with Frida beside him to sing ‘Stand By Me’ felt like a pretty perfect moment.

Frida also made sure she had her own moment. As Wilson Jr. performed, she rolled around, shook herself off and wandered around the stage, doing a pretty good job of stealing the show in the process. Footage shared by Wilson Jr. also shows him and Pitt together out in the mountains afterwards, where the conversation naturally turned to their dogs.

“Talk about our dogs, like, what an amazing gift,” Pitt tells him, before adding: “This voice was so important to me during the showing. Such an honour, man.”

It adds another chapter to a story we first covered back in August, when Wilson Jr.’s ‘Stand By Me’ was revealed as the soundtrack to the Heart of the Beast trailer.

The song already has a huge amount of meaning for Wilson, but also has legacy in the film industry itself. He first began performing it following the unexpected death of his dad in 2018, and it has since become one of the songs most closely associated with him.

Now we know it also made enough of an impression on Brad Pitt to make him stop, look Wilson up and go on his own deep dive. From soundtracking the trailer to performing it for Pitt himself with Frida by his side, ‘Stand By Me’ continues it’s film legacy in finding another home in Heart of the Beast.

And it looks like Wilson may have picked up a new fan in Brad Pitt along the way too.