This year, Brad Pitt had two gambits pay off in a huge way: World War Z, which pundits were anticipating would be a bomb on the level of Lone Ranger and John Carter, defied expectations and became one of the biggest hits of the summer, and 12 Years a Slave, a bleak slavery drama which few producers wanted to touch, suddenly leapt to the front of the Oscar race following its premiere at Telluride and is now regarded as a shoo-in for the Best Picture trophy.

Both movies were produced by Pitt’s own production company, Plan B Entertainment.

“As I get older, I am enjoying more the producorial side of things—not being so forefront in the camera—the creativity of putting the pieces together,”; Brad Pitt reveals in the new issue of The Hollywood Reporter.

When Pitt first launched the company in 2002, it was regarded within the industry as a star’s vanity project. But after putting out hits like The Time Traveller’s Wife and Eat Pray Love and art house classics like The Assassination of Jesse James and Tree of Life, Plan B proved that it was a force to be reckoned with. Even so, the twin risks of World War Z and 12 Years a Slave threatened to destroy the company financially.

Regarding the bad buzz surrounding World War Z, which famously went over budget and required extensive re-shoots, Pitt says that he was unfazed. “I have done this long enough and have sat in editing rooms with enough talented people that I have a grasp of, “How do we shape things when they are not working?'”; he explains. “The idea was, let people see it and let them talk.”;

When a Vanity Fair article appeared that suggested that World War Z was a doomed production and that the producers had no idea what they were doing, Pitt says that his first thought was: “Game on, f***ers.”;

Now that World War Z has guaranteed Plan B’s financial security for the near future, Pitt plans to go forward with multiple projects, including an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oats’ Marilyn Monroe novel Blonde, an adaptation of the Rolling Stone article that got Stanley McChrystal fired (by the late Michael Hastings), and a David Fincher sci-fi film about a virus that causes people to develop unusual mutations.

“”;We follow the storytellers, and our little garage band of a production company’s mandate was [always] to help complex films get over the hill if they need a little push,”; Pitt says. “We are in a fortunate position to do that.”;

To read The Hollywood Reporter“s full profile on Plan B, click here.