Brad Pitt on The Huffington Post

Angelina And Brad's Deal With People Mag: Baby Photos For Positive Coverage

2008-11-21T00:03:03Z

LOS ANGELES - When Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt negotiated with People and other celebrity magazines this summer for photos of their newborn twins and an interview, the stars were seeking more than the estimated $14 million they received from the deal. They also wanted a hefty slice of journalistic input -- a promise that the winning magazine's coverage would be positive, not merely in that instance but into the future.

According to the deal offered by Ms. Jolie, the winning magazine was obliged to offer coverage that would not reflect negatively on her or her family, according to two people with knowledge of the bidding who were granted anonymity because the talks were confidential. The deal also asked for an "editorial plan" providing a road map of the layout, these people say.

Brad Pitt Vs. Obsessed Tattoo Fan On Oprah (VIDEO)

2008-11-19T17:23:34Z

While on Oprah to talk about his life and promote his new film, Brad Pitt came face to face with one of his more ardent fans in the most uncomfortable Oprah moments of recent time.

Via webcam, Oprah welcomed viewers to the show to ask questions of Pitt and Cate Blanchett, stars of "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button."

Up on the big screen came Christina, a self-professed fan of 17 years, who wanted to know how many tattoos Brad has and where they are and their meanings.

Pitt glossed over answering, so she followed up with specifics, naming the tattoo and the body parts she wanted to know about. When Pitt turned red and went silent, Oprah pressed her, the fan, for more tattoo details.

The awkwardness is remarkable and lasts a shockingly long time until Oprah finally shut it down.

WATCH:

SEE MORE PITT ON OPRAH

Back in May Angelina told EW about the tattoo on Brad's back:

What's the deal with Brad's new tattoo?
I drew that. We went to Davos. It's not that we were bored at the World Economic Forum, but one night we didn't have anything to do, so I was drawing on his back.

So it's not permanent?
It is. But I was just sketching.

On him?
On him, yeah.

And you thought, 'Let's make it a tattoo'?
He just liked it! The picture everybody saw was kind of awkward, but it just lines up beautifully on his back, just enhances the part of the body I like.

The one on his stomach is Jolie's birthday in Khmer (6-4-1975):

His arm tattoo has been identified as an outline of the iceman, Ötzi, who was found in an Italian glacier in 1991. He is thought to be around 5,300 years old and is Europe's oldest natural human mummy.

Brad Pitt On Oprah: Kid Stories, Angelina And Happiness (VIDEO)

2008-11-19T17:03:47Z

Brad Pitt sat down with Oprah two weeks ago, and the episode, excerpted earlier, finally aired on Wednesday. On the show, which he did to promote the upcoming "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Pitt talked about how funny his kids are, imitating Shiloh screaming and Zahara holding dog poop, how his life has changed, kiddie slumber parties and what life is like as a father of six and so much more.

The pair also swapped a story about seeing each other over the summer when Pitt had two cell phones and a beeper on as he awaited the birth of his new twins.

He said of fatherhood, "It really tells you a lot about yourself and who you are and how you react to things... They make me better. They make me a better person as a father." Asked which of his six children is the funniest, Pitt says, "They all have their own thing. They don't mean to be funny."

(Pitt also had an extraordinarily awkward exchange with fan about his tattoos- click to watch)

WATCH PITT:

Brad Talks Kids: Shiloh "Only Wants To Be Called John"

2008-11-18T14:18:48Z

Pitt tells Oprah Winfrey, in an interview to air November 19, that quick outings are thing of the past. "We don't go to the mall," he says, adding that preparing for a car trip is an adventure unto itself.

"It's like a half-an-hour just to get everyone buckled in and make sure they've got their snacks and Z.Z. (Zahara, 3 1/2) has got a blanket and Shiloh's got her silky," he says. "Angie's militant about it. She's right on top of it. Thank God because I'm always forgetting something."

He also shares 2 1/2-year-old daughter Shiloh's latest quirk. "She only wants to be called John. John or Peter. So it's a Peter Pan thing," he says. "So we've got to call her John. 'Shi, do you want...' - 'John. I'm John.' And then I'll say, 'John, would you like some orange juice?' And she goes, 'No!' So, you know, it's just that kind of stuff that's cute to parents and it's probably really obnoxious to other people."

Joyce McFadden: The Other Woman Can't Break Up Your Marriage. It's Impossible.

2008-11-13T14:00:00Z

If you have the misfortune to be heterosexual, as many of us do, you have enough on your plate just trying to bridge the divide on how differently men and women go about all things sexual. Women don't need the extra headache of watching their backs with their own gender. But when it comes to affairs, the focus often shifts from The Marriage to The Other Woman.

This morning I turned on the Early Show just in time to hear the breaking news that there was a "Battle Over Brad" (!) and that in Vogue "Jennifer Aniston breaks her silence and blasts Angelina Jolie for breaking up her marriage."

The segment went on to pull up quotes from the article in which Aniston didn't appear to use that language at all. She seemed to express more of a distaste for the way Jolie handled it rather than accusing her of husband stealing.

So this is the problem I have with CBS: it took the sexist route. You never hear people say The Other Man stole someone's wife, and men are never referred to as home wreckers. But because the appeal of a catfight is apparently news worthy, CBS pit woman against woman and obfuscated the realities of affairs which are these:

No woman can steal another woman's man, and no woman has the power to break up a marriage. It's always a decision the husband makes, a choice to step deeper into his marriage, or to step further outside it. Women aren't omnipotent sirens who lure poor helpless men, and this is true even of women who might have predatory leanings.

None of us has control over anybody -- which is usually a big fat drag, as anyone who's ever tried to change someone knows, but in this case it's a tremendous relief because it means we only have to worry about our couple -- those outside it don't need our attention because ultimately, they aren't the threat.

Obviously whoever participates in an affair is accountable for their actions, but that's not the same thing as being accountable for the end of a marriage.

If a husband is having an affair, it's the husband who threatens the break up the marriage. If a wife is having an affair, it's the wife.

Jennifer Aniston Talks To Oprah About Angelina "Uncool" Comments, Brad

2008-11-12T21:33:24Z

In a new interview with Oprah Winfrey Wednesday, Jennifer Aniston continues to open up about her love life - past and present.

When asked about her candid interview with Vogue, and it's cover line calling Angelina Jolie's past behavior "really uncool," Aniston says she was merely responding to the reporter's question. "I basically just answered it as honestly as I could," Aniston says on The Oprah Winfrey Show, airing Thursday.

The actress has kinder words for ex-husband Brad Pitt, saying, "He's done some amazing things in the last couple of years. So I just think he's doing great."

Jennifer Aniston On Angelina: "Uncool" And "Inappropriate"

2008-11-11T14:28:42Z

UPDATE: Watch Aniston Talk Angelina On Oprah

Jennifer Aniston is on the December 2008 cover of Vogue (READ WHOLE THING HERE) and speaking out about Angelina Jolie.

Aniston asked the reporter, Jonathan Van Meter, to turn off the tape recorder when first asked about her ex-husband Brad Pitt's partner. Here's what she did say on the record:

On being bothered that Angelina recounted a detailed timeline of how she fell in love with Brad Pitt on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith: "There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening. I felt those details were a little inappropriate to discuss. That stuff about how she couldn't wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool.

On if she ever speaks to Brad: "[We've exchanged] a few very kind hellos ... and congratulations on your babies... [We] had an amicable split ... The marriage didn't work out."

More the marriage:

"The marriage didn't work out... Pretty soon after we separated, we got on the phone and we had a long, long conversation with each other and said a lot of things, and ever since we've been unbelievably warm and respectful of each other."

Anistonays she's been "unbelievably lucky in love," but adds, "Whoever said everything has to be forever," she says. "That's setting your hopes too high. It's too much pressure. And I think if you put that pressure on yourself ... that's unattainable."

On her romance with John Mayer: "People need to mind their own business! Did you ever think Claudia Schiffer and David Copperfield made sense? Love just shows up....

"It's funny when you hit a place in a relationship and you both realize [that] we maybe need to do something else, but you still really, really love each other. It's painful. There was no malicious intent. I deeply, deeply care about him; we talk, we adore one another. And that's where it is."

On when Mayer bragged about dumping her: "Trust me, you'll never see that happen again from that man."

Brad Pitt Thrown Out Of Screening By Confused Guard

2008-11-11T11:00:17Z

In a bizarre incident at Monday night's Los Angeles premiere of his movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Brad Pitt was grabbed, pushed and spun around by a plainclothes security guard who had been hired to protect him.

Pitt arrived half an hour early for the screening at the Bruin Theater in Westwood, where paparazzi promptly descended upon him. But instead of shooing the photographers away, the security guard instead went after Pitt, spinning him around and pulling him backwards - all while clutching in his teeth what appeared to be a brochure for a karate studio.

A shaken Pitt had words with the guard, broke free and waited out the ruckus in an upstairs bathroom area. No news yet on the security guard's fate.

Colleen Perry: A Scathing Look at "Celebrity"

2008-11-07T14:23:14Z

When I read the news yesterday that Joaquin Phoenix was giving up acting and getting out of the business, I felt strangely proud and full of admiration for him. I have always wondered why more celebrities don't come to this same decision, especially the ones who are always complaining about the lack of privacy and the pressure to stay physically competitive. I mean, when you have tens of millions of dollars in the bank, doesn't that give you the luxury of "opting out"? I've always fantasized about it, haven't you?

But then I saw the video clip of the interview wherein he reveals this startling information and I was embarrassed for the interviewer. Joaquin Phoenix came across as smug and arrogant when Extra's Jerry Penacoli laughed at his statement, assuming he was just joking. The scorn and derision on Joaquin's face was obvious. I couldn't believe how self-important he came off, as if to say "How dare you question the great and powerful Oz (Joaquin)!" And then it dawned on me... this is why celebrities have trouble giving up "celebrity." They are so accustomed to someone hanging on their every word; ready to fulfill every wish and desire that normal every-day life would be a tremendous adjustment.

Case in point: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Here are two people who have committed themselves to many worthy causes, and for that I am very grateful. They have the power and the money to contribute to the world in a way that I can only imagine. But correct me if I'm wrong, didn't they also make a commitment to parent and raise 6 children? They certainly have enough net worth to be able to take a break from working in entertainment, continue their charitable work, and focus on raising emotionally stable children. Can someone please tell me why these two can't stop making movies? Is it the ego-gratification that is so alluring and impossible to let go of? Is it the guilt of disappointing managers, agents, studio execs and others that make money off of them? Is it the fans?

Frankly I don't care what it is. I have a judgment about raising children...if you're not going to make the full commitment, then don't do it! Children are not objects through which we look for our own shiny reflection. They are human beings that have varying individual needs from the day they are born. Studies in neuroscience suggest that the quality of attachments made to the mother or caretaker in the first year of life is the most profound determinant of healthy relationships and good mental health in the future. How then can healthy attachment occur when the parent is out of proximity to the child? As humanitarian as Angelina is; recently traveling to Afghanistan for 3 days, her children remain estranged from their mother for that time. Who is the priority here? What about the needs of her own children?

Mia Farrow was the first celebrity I can remember who adopted children from many cultures and ethnic backgrounds. Unlike the Jolie-Pitts, I have nothing but admiration for her. Why? Have you heard anything about Mia Farrow in the last 2 decades other than her husband, Woody Allen, seducing and marrying their daughter? No, she stepped out of the lime light to raise her children. That became her job. And don't get me started on Woody Allen! I am disgusted that he is still making movies and hasn't been shunned for being a child molester. This is a man who began taking semi-naked pictures of his adopted daughter while underage. Not that waiting until she was 18 years old would have been excusable. But for all intents and purposes, this was the only father figure she had ever known. For him to have broken that trust is deplorable. And then what... all is forgiven because he married her and exclaimed "The heart wants what the heart wants." Oh, it was the "heart" was it? Yeah, right.

And now that I'm on a tear... who is this Jennifer Lopez? How much attention does one woman need? It's unbelievable to me that she would compete in a triathlon Sunday morning in Malibu and then be celebrating her husband's birthday, which she planned, for $400,000, that same night in New York! Where are the twins? Having competed in the same triathalon several years ago, I know how many hours of training go into preparing for such an event. Trust me, it's obsessive. Although a woman has a right to do with her body as she sees fit, and there is enormous pressure to "lose that baby weight" immediately, I have to question the amount of hours she is choosing to spend away from her newborn twins. That's not time you can get back as far as establishing consistent attachment. I wonder if this is simply nothing more than ego-gratification. I have another example to support my musings... two weeks after J Lo's $400,000 soiree, she and Marc renewed their wedding vows in a lavish suite at Caesar's Palace. All done spur of the moment in the pre-dawn hours. So if you're both out partying all night, who's taking care of the children's feedings? Not them, that's for sure! How much stimulation and excitement does this woman need anyway?

It may not be fair of me to judge since I am on the outside looking in. But as a psychotherapist with plenty of experience seeing "the writing on the wall," I would bet that my observations are right on the money. So Joaquin, best of luck with your music career. Just don't be too disappointed when no one cares!

Brad Pitt Talks To Oprah About Love Of Angelina, Fatherhood

2008-11-07T09:56:41Z

In an upcoming interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the daytime diva acknowledges to Brad Pitt that Angelina Jolie is the love of his life.

Then, she asks him if he's the happiest he's even been, according to TheseBootsAreMadeForStalking.com.

"Dare I say," Brad replies in the interview, set to air Nov. 18.

"Dare I see," says Oprah.

It is Pitt's first sit-down with Winfrey since his 2005 split with Jennifer Aniston (a Winfrey pal).

Winfrey asks Pitt -- who is raising six kids with Jolie -- if he wants more children.

"Probably. It's the greatest endeavor I've ever taken on," he says. "Why stop now?"

He calls his kids the "funniest people," but admits he can only handle being alone with four of them at a time.

Celebrities React To Obama Win: Oprah, Pitt, Lohan, Alba, Clooney, Madonna, More

2008-11-05T08:00:22Z

Celebrities from around the world went on the record about Obama's historic win.

SEE CELEBRITY ELECTION NIGHT PHOTOS

Oprah screamed with joy on her post-election show

On Wednesday's "The View" Sherri Shepherd shed tears of joy.

More reaction from Us:

"I'm vibrating," Winfrey told Usmagazine.com.

How will she celebrate?

"Just to be fully present. I'm just trying to take it all in," she told Us. "I can't even talk about it."

"This has been the greatest experience of my lifetime," she told reporters. "I haven't seen a sense of unity like this since 9/11. Now, we're all brought together in the name of hope."

(At one point during her night, she was mobbed by the media when she left the National Finance Committee party to use the bathroom. "I've never used a Porta-Potty before!" she joked.)

As for Winfrey's pal Gayle King?

"On a scale of 1 to 10, I've got to be a 15!" she told Us.

Brad Pitt also couldn't contain his excitement.

Asked how he was feeling earlier in the night (as early projections signaled an Obama victory), Pitt (in a gray trench coat, minus Angelina Jolie) told a reporter, "I'll be a lot happier in about an hour-and-a-half!"

From People:

Actor George Clooney: "I congratulate President-elect Obama on his historic victory, and now it's time to begin unifying the country so we can take on the extraordinary challenges that this generation faces."

• Singer Usher: "This will go down in history, in black history, for all of the sacrifices that the great Joseph Lowery and Martin Luther King made, this actually pays off for their sacrifice. ... I'm speechless. I don't even know what to say."

• Music mogul Diddy: "I felt like my vote was the vote that put him into office. ... And that may not be true but that's how much power it felt like I had."

• Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz to PEOPLE: "My parents met working for [Obama's running mate on one of his early campaigns]. If it weren't for Joe Biden, I would not exist as a human being. ... I am proud to be a part of history in the making."

From the NYDN:

"I'm so excited right now," Ethan Hawke told us at Comedy Central's blast at The Park. "I got up at 7:20 this morning, and I voted for Barack. I haven't had this much optimism in a long time. Tonight is historic!"...

Amber Lee Ettinger aka Obama Girl burst into tears at the barelypolitical.com party at Haven when her man was named the new president of the United States. "This is the day I've been waiting for," she told us.

Jessica Alba, "I was surprised that McCain brought race into his speech. I guess he was trying to bring people together."

But "30 Rock" star Jack McBrayer was smiling, and not because he'd won a political tee. Summing it up, the funnyman told us, "We're all winners tonight."

Oprah: "There are not even words to talk about what this night means. It's one of the greatest moments I could ever imagine. That's how great it is."

Madonna: "I'm so f--ing happy right now"

Lindsay Lohan: "YES WE CAN."

Samantha Ronson: "YES WE DID!!"

Kanye West: "HI MOM, OBAMA WON!" (His mom passed away about a year ago.)

Usher: "Isn't this incredible news? Man, this is incredible. It's so incredible to see that this historical thing has happened."

Harold Pollack: Trick or Treat for UNICEF!

2008-10-30T21:58:50Z

Faithful readers may recall that back in April, I raised a lot of money for mosquito nets to mark World Malaria Day.

Well it's that time again. Trick or Treat!

Back then, before I knew Barack would do so well, widespread public interest in global health was one of the few bright spots. Bono, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and the rest of my buds were ahead of the wave. They are all using their celebrity to promote public health. OK I put these names in so people would find me on Google. But it's true. UNICEF is certainly a rare bright spot on Holloween--an otherwise rather wretched occasion to all reasonable people.

For some of you, this comes not a day too soon. You might fear you will collapse from psychological whiplash the day after November 4. You might fear that you will have no place to donate money to channel aggressions stimulated by William Kristol and FOX News. You know who you are.

Fear not, There is a thirsty, mosquito-bitten Sudanese toddler who is here to help.

OK she's not here. She's a little busy trying to find clean drinking water. She asked me to stand in and help.

It takes seconds to make a donation. And don't worry about maxxing out. If you hit the legal limit, you can always contribute to my UNICEF Victory fund.

Yeah I know. Some of us asking for money are like that guy with the hockey mask, or was it that guy from "Holloween" part whatever who climbs out of the grave when you hoped he would stay dead. My bad, but it's for a good cause. Kids around the world really need you.

Did you know that Barack's campaign raised enough money to run UNICEF's global operations for three months? Don't get me wrong. Senator Obama's impending victory is a wonderful, wonderful thing. I've been canvassing in Indiana.

We must be equally jazzed about bringing the world's children basic sanitation, nutrition, and who knows: maybe a few reading lessons. Seven dollars protects a kid against malaria--not to mention the itchy bites. Fifteen dollars buys a carton of high energy protein biscuits--not the crud people hawk on cable TV--the kind that supports three severely malnourished kids for a whole month. Twenty dollars vaccinates nine kids against polio. To quote PBS, Forty-five hundred thousand dollars.... well, you get the picture.

Last time around, many economists donated through this post, because they realized that UNICEF and related charities are among the most cost-effective strategies to improve the world.

To donate, click on my tacky personal donation webpage

If that's too tacky for you, the UN foundation's website is pretty cool, too:

PS: Your kids might like this fun time-wasting flash link.

PPS: Please comment and spread the word.

Angelina Jolie Talks Family, Hints Marriage

2008-10-23T11:25:31Z

Asked if she plans to make an honest man out of Brad Pitt, the actress hints that they may end up tying the knot - under pressure from the kids.

"Usually people fall in love and everything revolves around the ritual of marriage, children are an afterthought. We did everything backwards," says Jolie.

"But sooner or later it will be the kids who ask us [to get married]. You know, they see films and start asking questions. Such as, 'Why are Shrek and Fiona married and you're not?' "

First Look: Brad Pitt In "Inglorious Basterds"

2008-10-20T17:58:22Z

In Brad Pitt's upcoming World War II movie, he plays a vengeance-seeking Nazi hunter -- and he looks the part.

The first portrait of Pitt's character, Lt. Aldo Raine, in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (yes, the misspelling is intentional), was released Monday. Clad in tough-looking fighter gear, Pitt portrays the leader of the "Basterds," a group of Jewish-American soldiers who scalp and brutally kill Nazis.

Pitt's character is described on Tarantino.info as not "your Warner Brothers 1950's WW2 hero ... this is a hillbilly straight from the mountains of Tennessee."

More Angelina Jolie Photos From W Released

2008-10-13T13:19:59Z

After the media frenzy created last week with the release of the W cover showing Brad Pitt's photo of Angelina Jolie breastfeeding, more of the photoshoot has been released. On W's website is a slideshow of seven photos showing Angelina making fish faces, Maddox laughing, Pax with facepaint, Shiloh and the Jolie breastfeeding shot. The rest of the issue is out in a week.

Also online is the accompanying article, which talks about Angelina's role in "Changeling," out Friday, and how the kids are welcome in her bedroom with Brad - if they knock first. She also says she plans to start flying again this fall and is taking her plane to Germany where Brad is filming "Inglorious Bastards."

Scroll down for a few pictures, or click here. Here is the interview. Here is the Angelina breastfeeding cover. Here is Angelina in Vanity Fair talking about how Obama would be good for her family.

Angelina Jolie: "Obama Would Be Great For My Family"

2008-10-10T15:28:45Z

Angelina Jolie won't officially endorse a candidate, despite one being actively sought from both campaigns, but she had nice words for the Democratic nominee in the the German edition of Vanity Fair:

"Obama is fighting for international justice, he wants to intervene militarily in genocides abroad, and he wants to close down Guantanamo Bay. They are things which could move me to vote for him, not his roots. Of course, an American president like Barack Obama would be great for my family."

But that isn't "reason enough to vote for him."

On being American:
"I am very proud of being American, and all my children have got American passports.

"For me, our family is just what America is - a melting pot, a mixture of many different races and nations," she says. "My children should be proud of their Asian and African roots, but that in no way means [is] a lack of respect for the fact that they and their parents are Americans."

On having twins:
"It's a damned arduous business, and we are often simply whacked out because it is twice as hard with two babies as with one.

"But it also makes for double the fun. After we flew back from Europe, we were all suffering a bit from jetlag. We were all in bed early, but at half past four, they were awake and making a real racket.

"Brad took care of them. He said to me, 'Go back to sleep, you're back to work in the morning,' and moved into the kids' room with them. He is an astounding father, full of devotion.

"Every three hours they get hungry, then I have to satisfy them. But that's OK, the two of them are totally sweet.

"When you see them, you think they were made for each other. They laugh together, they sniff each other, touch each other. It is beautiful."

On her relationship:
"Sometimes, at the end of the day, we try to retire to the bathroom to be undisturbed. But then [the kids] hear the water running and want to come in and, yet again, we are all together. But that doesn't disturb us because they are great kids."

On fame:
"I would like to have more freedom, especially to have the chance to be more spontaneous with my kids.

"Would I like to be able to walk through the streets with my kids? Of course. Would I like to be able to wander around Manhattan and buy them an ice cream like other mothers? Of course. But it is not possible.

"On the other hand, every morning I wake up with the people who are the most dear to me in the whole world. That's why I don't feel isolated from that, which is important to me. It helps, of course, that Brad knows all about it, but he's experienced it even more than me. We often talk about it and try to make the best of things. But I am very grateful for our life and everything that we have."

Angelina Breastfeeding: Pitt's Private Photo And A New Interview

2008-10-10T08:53:26Z

UPDATED WITH TEXT:
Brad Pitt's long-awaited photos of Angelina Jolie for W , shot in August, are finally coming out. Today the cover, featuring Jolie breastfeeding one of the new twins Knox and Vivienne is out. The whole thing hits newsstands next week and was shot at the house the couple and their six kids have leased in France, Chateau Miraval.

The black and white cover of the November 2008 issue is below. Here are some excerpts:

On Brad changing her mind about giving birth to her own children: "I think one of the life changing things that he did, one of many, is that I was absolutely never going to get pregnant. I never felt that it was the right thing to do... I suppose I just looked at him and loved him and just felt open to (getting pregnant). I suddenly wanted to. It's one of those things you can't explain."

On Brad seeing adopted children Maddox and Zahara: "I knew that he would never see them as different, and that gave me a certain peace."

On having three children with Brad: "I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. It taught me a lot about life, just the process of it, and now we have three other beautiful children that wouldn't otherwise be here."

On baring her body for the intimate W pics taken by Brad just weeks after the twins' birth: "I'm with a man who's evolved enough to look at my body and see it as more beautiful, because of the journey it has taken and what it has created. He genuinely sees it that way. So I genuinely feel even sexier."

On Brad being perfect for her: "[I have] a lot of respect [for Brad. He helps me] to be better and fight hard for the things that I love. I do think that I'm in a good partnership now. I think it just needed to be the right man."

Brad Pitt's First "Make It Right" Homes Completed

2008-10-10T07:59:42Z

NEW ORLEANS — The first homes in Brad Pitt's Make It Right rebuilding project are complete, and some three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, 68-year-old grandmother Gloria Guy was on hand to give the actor a big hug.

Pitt, his partner Angelina Jolie and their family of six children privately toured the hard-hit Lower 9th Ward district earlier this week. The celebrity couple bought a home in New Orleans about a year after Katrina struck and became involved in launching the project to help rebuild the city's hardest-hit neighborhood.

Lisa Derrick: Vast Leftwing Conspiracy as An American Carol Goes To The Dogs?

2008-10-08T13:03:47Z

Put on your tin foil hat and heat up a bag of microwave popcorn. The cinematic geniuses who brought you An American Carol are convinced that a Vast Leftwing Conspiracy is behind the not-so-hot box office debut of their conservative yuk fest.

Other movies playing last weekend? Along with liberal sex symbols Pitt, Mortensen and Gere, new movies wrassled Carol for B.O. supremacy: The docucomedy Religulous and Beverly Hills Chihuahua, a capitalist family comedy with a far more sinister agenda -- La Raza for small yappy dogs!

If making movies people want to see isn't enough of a celebrity-studded plot to corrupt American small town values -- and based on Palin's family, I'd say those are drug addiction, drug dealing, underage drinking, unprotected sex, and pre-marital pregnancy -- there seems to be a more nefarious scheme afoot!

Mpower pictures and Vivendi are starting to hear complaints about unorthodox treatment of An American Carol by employees of theaters that are carrying the movie. So far, ten theaters have been implicated in irregularities regarding the handling of this movie in cineplexes and other theaters--particularly as regards ticket sales...document everything you can. Put those cell-phone cameras to use whenever possible...

If [the tickets] have the wrong movie title on them, please take a picture of them and send them to the investigative team at An American Carol: complaints -- AT -- AnAmericanCarol -- DOT -- com . Please place the original tickets in a safe place and fill out the info on the AAC complaint site. They may need your ticket as evidence, should this turn out to be part of a larger pattern.

Could this be happening? Armies of pinko theater managers and their teen minions meeting in butter scented back rooms to destroy the rightwing feel-good comedy of the year?

Well, according to an anonymous source who works at an 18-screen multiplex in conservative Southern California city, it'd be pretty darn hard to rig such a vast conspiracy at the box office:

All tickets are barcoded. If a newbie at the box office prints out the wrong ticket, we'll catch it when we direct customers to the screen. Then they'll be sent back for a reprinted ticket. Or if the customer notices and cares they can go back and get a reprinted ticket. If this happens or than once or twice in a shift, the manager is gonna find out and the box office staff is gonna catch sh*t.

"Catch sh*t" is code for being put on bathroom clean up duty. Or getting fired.

So today in the interest of investigative journalism, I will be going to a multiplex, seeing An American Carol, and interrogating, uh... chatting with the staff. And I'll scan my actual ticket stub just to prove it.

Remember: Your $9.50 is gone -- don't let them take our democracy as well.

Angelina Jolie And Brad Pitt Step Out, Show New Baby Tattoos (PHOTOS)

2008-10-05T10:26:24Z

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Angelina Jolie made her first post-twins red carpet appearance at the New York premiere of her film "Changeling" on Saturday night. Accompanied by Brad Pitt, Jolie showed off the latest 2 additions to her body art, the tattoos of her new babies' birth longitude and latitude. Born in July in Nice, Vivienne and Knox's tattoo join the four she already had on her upper left arm, where she once had ex-husband Billy Bob Thorton's name etched in above a dragon. The first four are Maddox's (Cambodia), Zahara (Ethiopia), Shiloh (Namibia), and Pax (Vietnam).

Jolie said on the red carpet that "The babies are getting big and healthy and developing personalities... I run around with all the other kids, and I'm breastfeeding, which I think is a part of your body's recovery," Jolie said. "I feel great [and] feel very happy that they're healthy."

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PHOTO: Brad And Angelina Arrive In New York With Their Kids

2008-10-02T10:35:46Z

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have arrived in the Big Apple.

Jolie was spotted holding daughter Shiloh, 2, in New York City early Thursday morning, while papa Pitt was photographed pushing a covered-up stroller.

Jolie is in town to promote her buzzed-about Clint Eastwood drama Changeling.

Palais Parkschloss: Brad And Angelina's German Villa (PHOTOS)

2008-09-24T17:46:45Z

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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are decamping from their French hideaway Chateau Miraval for Germany, where Brad is due to film "Inglorious Bastards," a World War II film by Quentin Tarantino. According to reports, they have taken a 90-day rental on Palais Parkschloss, Reuters called it Palais Schlosspark.

The 12,000 square meter pad comes with a staff of 14 people, a full security system, a dock on Wannsee Lake, and (as does Miraval) a private helicopter landing pad.

German media reports the pair arrived in Berlin Tuesday afternoon with their six children on a private plane. "Brad lifted the kids out of the plane and brought them to the transporter," an eyewitness told PEOPLE. "I saw him lift out Shiloh and Zahara."

Action star Steven Seagal rented the same mansion in 2001 and reportedly caused thousands of dollars of damage.

Here are some photos of the Palais Schlosspark/Parkschloss:

Brad Pitt Donates $100,000 To Fight Gay Marriage Ban

2008-09-17T17:25:03Z

LOS ANGELES — Brad Pitt has donated $100,000 to fight California's November ballot initiative that would overturn the state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

It's the first time voters will be asked to ban same-sex marriage in a state where gay couples already have won the right to wed. Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts and California.

Mike Miley: The Coen Brothers' Mean Streak

2008-09-17T11:26:18Z

Something's happened to the Coen Brothers. Maybe it's success going to their heads (they've got my vote for Smuggest Oscar Acceptance Speech), maybe they're losing their touch, or maybe they're just plain cruel. This decade has been mostly uneven for them. There's O Brother Where Art Thou? (fun but lightweight), The Man Who Wasn't There (an underrated return-to-form), Intolerable Cruelty (intolerable, natch), The Ladykillers (forgettable), No Country for Old Men (strong moments in an overrated whole), and now there's Burn After Reading, which is the darkest and least gracious film of the Coens' careers. After watching it and No Country for Old Men, one has to wonder whether or not the Coens are growing misanthropic, nihilistic, and ugly in their middle age.

The Coens have almost always built their stories around idiots -- Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men -- and Burn After Reading is no exception. This assortment of "heroes" is the dimmest the Coens have ever created, and while that should be the recipe for Coen comedy gold, the Coens forget the element that makes their films work: sympathy. Sure, their films have always been slightly cold and self-consciously clever stunts about dumb people doing dumb things, but what made the films so engaging was that the film (and the filmmakers) seemed to have a genuine love for these people who had good intentions but lacked the brains to carry them out correctly.

The characters in Burn After Reading are short on both brains and good intentions, and the film offers them no sympathy or redemption. If the audience does get any kicks out of the film, they come from feeling intellectually superior to the characters and taking pleasure in their failure. In this film, the Coens seem to have contempt for the characters, monogamy, the government, and the general populace. They now look at goofiness not as something to smile at but as something to punish.

By the end of the film, it's uncertain whether or not the audience is lumped in with the characters -- we're given nothing except the feeling that everything we just experienced was really meaningless. In short, Burn After Reading doesn't give a crap about anyone in it or anyone watching it. As much as it pains me to say this about two filmmakers I admire, it seems as though the Coens have to make everyone in this film completely stupid and pathetic in order to shed light on the only geniuses in the film: the Coen Brothers.

This could explain the sudden ultraviolent streak in Burn After Reading as well as the overall nihilism of No Country for Old Men. The Coens have always used fatal violence in their films, and while it hasn't always been used seriously, there's something different, something meaner about the violence in their two latest films (Miller's Crossing comes to mind as a film that balances using violence for irony and drama). Burn After Reading (and No Country) seems to look upon suffering and gunshot wounds as the highest form of comedy. They even craft one scene that attempts to outdo the "I Shot Marvin in the Face" scene from Pulp Fiction. Death and misery have become a joke to the Coens because the people in their films are no longer worth their emotional attachment; they used to love these people, now they just love to laugh at the futility of their petty existence. The Coens have replaced the custard pie in the face with a gunshot wound as the biggest gag there is, and in doing so, they have become the kind of nihilist they mocked in The Big Lebowski.

By the end of the film, nothing is of any importance. Not the characters, not the plot, not the comedy, and certainly not the resolution. The Coens have completely upended the Hollywood storytelling formula here, only they have replaced it with a smug void. It's hard to tell whether or not they do this out of outrage for the ineptitude of the intelligence community or out of contempt for the human race. Sadly, the film makes a much better case for the latter, with characters so vain, cruel, deceitful, conceited, or just plain stupid that there is no room for a sunny outlook or a constructive statement. Like its title suggests, Burn After Reading is destructive and disdainful, and when it's over, there is little left to take home but smoke and ash.

Brad Pitt: The Most Dangerous Man To Google

2008-09-16T08:31:57Z

Dabble with Brad Pitt in cyberspace if you dare.

The Hollywood hearthrob Brad Pitt has overtaken Paris Hilton as the most dangerous celebrity to search for in cyberpace, according to the second annual study of by Internet security company McAfee.

The company found Web users searching for "Brad Pitt," "Brad Pitt downloads," and Brad Pitt wallpaper, screen savers and pictures had an 18 percent chance of having their computer infected with online threats, such as spyware, spam, phishing, adware, viruses and other malware.

Read more: Brad Pitt, Entertainment News