He's certainly in full steam ahead promotional mode, and Brad Pitt added another cover gig to his efforts by fronting the February 2012 issue of Backstage.

The 48-year-old big screen superstar spoke at length with the publication while beginning with his tale of falling in love with acting/storytelling and working through topics such as the auditioning experience and his take on whether he feels underrated as a thespian.

Highlights from Brad's interview are as follows. For more, be sure to visit Backstage!

On when he first realized he wanted to be an actor:
"I grew up in Oklahoma and Missouri, and I just loved film. My folks would take us to the drive-in on summer nights, and we'd sit on the hood of the car. I just had this profound love for storytelling. I think it's just an amazing thing we get to do. We are so complex, we are mysteries to ourselves, we are difficult to each other. And then here's this storytelling that reminds us we are all the same. I consider it such a privilege."

On whether he's ever felt underrated as an actor:
"No. I thought I could always get there or make that turn as long as they let me stay in the game. Listen, I've been pretty fortunate. And if I've ever been underrated, it's actually been something I've been able to work with; I can surprise people. It sets me up to exceed expectations, so I don't mind.

On his take on the audition experience:
"You're sitting in a room, and you all kind of look alike, and you're all going over your lines, you can hear the audition going on inside. And you have these few pages of black lines on white paper, and it says you smile here, you do this there. You start hearing the same thing over and over. Now you think of the people on the other side there, the people that are running the casting sessions. By the third, the fourth, the 10th, the 20th, they're hearing the same thing, and then suddenly someone comes in and does something different. And it lands. Now you can't be different for different's sake, and this doesn't always work, but you have to separate yourself from the normal read. Of course, it has to be truthful. If it's not truthful, don't waste your time. I think that's the key thing that took me a while to figure out."