The following year, he appeared in the legal drama "Sleepers" (1996), based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's novel of the same name. The film received mixed reviews. In the 1997 film "The Devil's Own" Pitt starred, opposite Harrison Ford, as Irish Republican Army terrorist Rory Devany, a role for which he was required to learn an Irish accent. Critical opinion was divided on his accent; "Pitt finds the right tone of moral ambiguity, but at times his Irish brogue is too convincing – it's hard to understand what he's saying", wrote the "San Francisco Chronicle." "The Charleston Gazette" opined that it had favored Pitt's accent over the movie. "The Devil's Own" grossed $140 million worldwide, but was a critical failure. Later that year, he led as Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in the Jean-Jacques Annaud film "Seven Years in Tibet". Pitt trained for months for the role, which demanded significant mountain climbing and trekking practice, including rock climbing in California and the European Alps with his co-star David Thewlis. Pitt had the lead role in 1998's fantasy romance film "Meet Joe Black". He portrayed a personification of death inhabiting the body of a young man to learn what it is like to be human. The film received mixed reviews, and many were critical of Pitt's performance. According to Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle", Pitt was unable to "make an audience believe that he knows all the mysteries of death and eternity." Roger Ebert remarked, "Pitt is a fine actor, but this performance is a miscalculation."