What Becomes ‘Legends’ Most?

After “Legends of the Fall” credits roll and the theater lights flick back on, that nagging sensation lingers. There’s something so familiar here. Maybe somewhere you’ve seen Brad Pitt play this role before?

That’s his role as Tristan Ludlow, the favorite son with the tortured soul. The high-spirited beautiful one whom others envied but all wanted a part of? The one who always danced with danger in every aspect of his life until it did him in?

Yep, for those who caught Hollywood’s latest young stud’s performance as Paul Maclean in Robert Redford’s “A River Runs Through It,” deja vu is definitely the order of the day.

Consider these similarities between the two films:

* In both films, Pitt’s character is the favorite son;

* In both, Pitt’s character has an older, pensive, educated brother who loved him yet envied him;

* In both, Pitt is the beautiful, free-spirited creature who had a closeness with nature unlike the others;

* Both have animal metaphors--”Legends” has the bear, “River” has fish;

* Both stories are part of a trilogy;

* Both stories take place in Montana, near Helena;

* In both, Pitt’s character falls in love with an Indian woman (or at least half Indian);

* In both, bootleg liquor plays a role;

* In both, involvement with gangsters proves Pitt’s undoing;

* Both films had sweeping vistas, exquisite cinematography and swelling orchestral scores;

* And “Legends” looks like a 1989 Ralph Lauren commercial while “River” looks like a 1995 Ralph Lauren commercial.

Yet it is TriStar’s “Legends” that has been touted as the picture with a great role that’s supposed to push Pitt over the top as a box-office star.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret,” says one TriStar production source. “When the brass saw Pitt in ‘River,’ we were just starting to cast ‘Legends.’ They liked Pitt in that film so much, they thought they would have him basically play it all over again.”

Pitt, who is currently filming the movie “Seven,” wasn’t available for comment.

But Marc Platt, president of TriStar Pictures, says that the idea to bring Pitt aboard for “Legends” came from director Ed Zwick. “Brad loved the script. He was very passionate about it. When Ed came in for the meeting about doing the picture, he brought Brad along with him,” says Platt.

“But I have to say this project was hanging around TriStar for 10 years and was probably the one that survived every regime. Everybody wanted this picture and we wanted Pitt.”

Perhaps the movies themselves sum it up best. To steal a line from one--”eventually all things merge into one . . . and a river runs through it.”