Bullevard
Where’s Your Head At?
brad pitt
He turns 50 this year, makes megamovies and proper grown-up cinema, and once hawked Mexican food dressed as a bird. But, aside from the wife and kids, what else makes this superstar tick?
Pitt Stop
Under The Feathers
His perfume ad caused a Pitt storm. “The world turns and we turn with it. Plans disappear. Dreams take over. But wherever I go, there you are. My luck, my fate, my fortune. Chanel No. 5. Inevitable,” he said, earning US$170,000 a word and much derision. Inevitable.
William Bradley Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA on December 18, 1963. Just before graduating, he drove to LA in Runaround Sue, his old Datsun. He worked as an extra, dressed as a chicken to sell burritos and was a driver/ DJ for strippers at parties.
Korma Karma
Monkey Do
After bit parts, Pitt’s career took off in 1991 with Thelma & Louise. In 1994, Legends of the Fall gave him his first lead. In 1995 came Se7en and an Oscar-nominated turn in 12 Monkeys – fitting, as Planet Of The Apes is one of his favourite movies.
What does an A-list couple do for surprise gifts? Frozen takeaway. While in the UK in April, Angie arranged for a Surrey curry house to make and freeze dishes Brad loved when the family lived nearby last year, and took them back to LA on the plane. That’s love.
Put On Weight
Nine years ago, Pitt scored a hat-trick of hits: Troy, Ocean’s Twelve, Mr & Mrs Smith. He has since favoured art over commerce: Babel, Burn After Reading, Moneyball. “What I’m lacking,” he stated, “is the weight of some of the actors I like, maybe I’ll focus on that.”
words: paul wilson. illustration: lie-ins and tigers
The First Rule
Becoming the maniacal Tyler Durden for Fight Club, in 1999, required a lot of cut-and-paste. “I covered my trailer in porn, and a Bruce Lee photo,” he told acting students eager for tips. Susan Sarandon visited the set “with her daughter and little Natalie Portman. So be careful.”
Undead Good
Six Pack
Pitt has six children with Angelina Jolie: three adopted, three biological. In 2008, they raised US$14 million for their charity selling pics of newborn twins Knox and Vivienne. Said Jolie: “We explain to our kids that people like to take photos of people who make movies.” the red bulletin
Released in June, World War Z is Brad Pitt versus zombies, but for sentimental reasons. “I just wanted to do a film that my boys could see before they turned 18,” said Brad, “one that they would like, anyways.” No caring father would make them sit through Meet Joe Black. www.worldwarzmovie.com
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