Michael Pitt has been part of the Hollywood landscape for over two decades, and in that time he's built an eclectic career that includes noteworthy roles in television, popular movies and indie films. He's worked with some of the film industry's most prestigious directors, including Michael Haneke on Funny Games, Gus Van Sant on Last Days and Bernardo Bertolucci on The Dreamers, while also appearing in the series Boardwalk Empire, produced by Martin Scorsese and Hannibal, produced by Bryan Fuller.

Now, he can be seen in the new indie film Run With the Hunted, playing Oscar, a character who is thrust into a life of crime after killing his neighbor's abusive father and fleeing his rural hometown at 13 years old. As the adult version of the character, Pitt turns in a grounded, heartfelt performance in which his character mentors a gang of young thieves and maintains a long-term relationship with Dree Hemingway's Peaches.

In an interview with CBR, Pitt discussed why he wanted to be involved with the film and how he approached his character, and also shared what's next for him, including his feature directorial debut, Nocturnal.

Scroll to the end of the interview to check out an exclusive clip of him in action in Run With the Hunted.

RELATED: Why You Need to Watch Hannibal on Netflix

CBR: Why did you want to be a part of Run With the Hunted?

Pitt: You know, I just want to make films. I met [director] John [Swab], he impressed me…. I think that he's going to have a great future as a director. He was very open to making this film as good as it could be. And so, I wanted to just jump aboard.

It's so hard being an actor and just waiting for the material, and then you wait for the material, and you know, maybe there's political reasons or financial reasons that they can't hire you. I mean, it's hard waiting to work. And so, I met John and it seemed like it was going to be fun, and something that I could do well.

This role is actually a little bit unique in that we spend almost half the movie with the younger version of your character. Did you work with Mitchell Paulsen, who plays young Oscar, to develop the character at all?

No… When I got down there, it happened very fast. And so, it was just more of a scheduling thing.... There wasn’t a lot of time to prep for Run With the Hunted. But I would’ve liked to have gone down [to the filming location] sooner and spent some time and actually pick up some of his movements and mimic that. There wasn't a lot of time to do that.

So, we spent some time when I got down there, and put brown contacts in my eyes, which usually took three or four people to do. Like, two people to hold me down, the other one to sing me a lullaby… and shove the contacts into my eyeballs.

What about developing the character for yourself because we don't know that much about Oscar outside of there's this big event that happens early in his life that causes him to leave home at a very young age. How did you conceive of the adult version of the character from that limited information from when he was a child?

Well, …me and John we did a rewrite on that specifically for the Oscar character, and also with Dree Hemingway, who plays Peaches. Because, like I said, we had to do everything very quickly but it didn't really represent the relationship that we were trying to put together so quickly. And so we talked a lot about backstory…. I think I wrote some backstory, that would help me. But, you know, [my character] was basically a kid who got thrown on the street 15 years later. You do the math.

It's an interesting exploration, though, because Oscar is still shown to have a lot of compassion. He has his group of Lost Boys, who he's like a father figure to. Was that part of what you revised in the script?

Yeah, I think anyone who has had a bad father or a father who's gone or not present, I think a lot of those people who’ve had that experience, they want to rewrite their history by being what their father wasn't. So I think he had some moments with his father, but… then basically he was on his own at a very young age. And so the way I played him was that he didn't want the boys he had under his care to have to make the mistakes that he made.

But… they’re also thieves so it's not like everything that he was saying was good advice. It was more good advice… if you were in that situation. These are the things you have to deal with, this is what keeps you safe and making sort of a brotherhood.

How did you and Dree Hemingway go about building the long-term relationship between your characters?

You know we talked. We workshopped things when we were down there. Also with John, he was very open to making this relationship right. Dree was really a pleasure to work with, and I think she's great in the movie. I really dug Dree a lot.

It seemed like as actors you built a tight bond there that was palpable onscreen and added to the film.

Dree was very adamant about me doing the film. And I had met her before I had accepted.... One of the reasons I wanted to meet her was because I knew that chemistry was going to be very important to the film working, and for both those characters to work there had to be an understanding between those actors.... And so I could kind of tell right away that she was going to be great and that it was going to work….

RELATED: Is Boardwalk Empire On Netflix, Hulu Or Prime? Where To Watch Online

You've built a career where you've often avoided big-budget blockbusters, but you've worked with exceptional directors on smaller films. What's your strategy in approaching your career and the roles you choose?

Well that’s a difficult question because I think the strategy has to change, it's constantly changing as the industry is constantly changing, as the world is constantly changing, as you are constantly changing. So, I've tried my best to make films that I think are important, that are challenging, that are a contribution to cinema. And I've tried to do that and still have a career. It's difficult, but there's many different strategies and it's constantly changing. I don't think anyone can just stick to the same strategy.

Is there anything else on the horizon, you can tease?

I’m going to be releasing some music very soon. As far as films, I just directed a film in Italy. It’s called Nocturnal. It's not out yet. It's basically completed.... And I'm not sure how it's going to be released yet. But there you go. No one knows about that. You're the first one.

Congratulations, that’s really exciting!

Thank you. I directed it, I wrote it, but really the actors and crew are the ones who made it happen.

Run With the Hunted was written and directed by John Swab and stars Michael Pitt, Ron Perlman and Dree Hemingway. It is currently available on demand.

NEXT: Run With the Hunted Is a Movie Unable to Convey a Message