Brad Pitt went to the premiere a screening of his film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in LA last night but avoided the red carpet and tried to sneak in about a half an hour before the film was supposed to end start. Photographers went crazy following him and in the melee that ensued a security guard grabbed Pitt around the waist in a misguided attempt to keep him safe or something. Pitt looked kind of rattled by the incident and then escaped up a back staircase like Jason Bourne. The staircase led to nowhere though, and he just hung out up there anticlimactically until the lobby was cleared out for him and it was ok to go back downstairs. (Update: details corrected were from US Weekly’s version, which contradict details in People’s version, shown in the update below.)

Brad Pitt was grabbed, pushed and spun around by a plainclothes security guard at the premiere of his new movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in L.A. on Monday.

Pitt arrived at the Bruin Theatre in Westwood about a half hour before the film was scheduled to end, as he was supposed to talk to the audience and answer their questions about the film.

Some photographers knew he’d be there, and as he entered the lobby, they followed him in and attempted to take photos.

Seeing the commotion, the plainclothes security guard went after Pitt in lieu of shooing away the photographers. Oddly, the guard appeared to be clutching a brochure for a karate studio in his teeth as he manhandled the actor.

Pitt looked bewildered and shaken, but he was able to pull free and go up a stairway to escape.

The stairway only led up to bathrooms.

Pitt had to wait a bit while the lobby was cleared before he was able to walk back down without any problems.

[From US Weekly]

Do you remember when that crazy fan grabbed Pitt at the Venice Film Festival last year? He said in an interview in September of last year that he’s seen the other side of fame and that it can be scary both for himself and for his children, who he tries to protect:

“I understand the essence of paranoia. I understand being hunted, to some degree. It’s rare, but there are imbalanced people out there. I’ve had break-ins in the house,” Pitt said. “I’ve had some of these abnormal incidents that can be a bit frightening.

“It’s something that I want to be aware of and be cautious about, especially with the family, that everybody’s protected,” he told the AP.

[From People.com]

I bet Pitt didn’t think that a security guard would be the next person to grab him inappropriately and maybe he’ll make sure that he has his own security detail with him next time to protect him from overzealous rent a cops.

Update: People Magazine has more details including a brief statement from Pitt. It was a screening of the film, not a premiere as US Weekly stated, and People says that Pitt got there a half hour before the screening was set to begin, not before it ended. Pitt kind of blows off the incident and blames it on the paparazzi. An eyewitness says it was an accident and that Pitt’s arm was grabbed hard by the security guard:

“Though they were exceptionally more aggressive than usual,” Pitt describes the paparazzi to PEOPLE, “breaking through a security barrier and into a private holding area, ultimately [it was] just another day in the life…”

The unflappable star had arrived half an hour early for the screening at the Bruin Theater in Westwood, where paparazzi rushed into the building.

“Brad didn’t seem to mind having his picture taken and he instead seemed excited for the preview and was smiling,” says one of the photographers there. “While the theater security tried to push all the photographers out of the theater, one of the security guards accidentally grabbed Brad by the arm really hard.”

Pitt reportedly remained calm throughout the incident.

[From People]

Header image is from Buzzfoto, where they have many more photos of Pitt getting grabbed and looking less than happy about it.