Before Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year, there were many, many Hollywood people who were already claiming that it was a shoo-in for all of the big award nominations, just for the sheer fact that it was Malick film, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. What could go wrong? Well, some critics hated the film (even booing it at Cannes), and some people held on to their “Masterpiece!” claims once they had seen the film. I still haven’t seen it, by the way. And I probably won’t for a while, just because it sounds like Malick was very self-indulgent and precious as a director, and I have issues with that kind of masturbatory “genius”. Anyway, Sean Penn has a new interview where he too criticized the film, but Hollywood insiders say it’s just sour grapes because Malick edited Sean’s part so much:

Film insiders are saying that Sean Penn’s criticism of director Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” is sour grapes over his role in the mystical movie being chopped.

France’s Le Figaro quoted the star as saying, “I didn’t at all find on the screen the emotion of the script, which is the most magnificent one that I’ve ever read … Frankly, I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing there and what I was supposed to add … Terry himself never managed to explain it to me clearly.”

But sources tell us Penn’s role was much larger in the script than what ended up on-screen. And critics noted that Penn’s part, which bookends the picture, is the smallest of the core actors’, including Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain.

Last winter, blogs buzzed that Penn would be an Oscar shoo-in as Best Actor. Now he’s left out of that conversation. Penn worked with Malick before in “The Thin Red Line.”

“You know what you’re signing up for,” said a source.

Adrien Brody’s role in “Red Line” was reduced to two lines, and Martin Sheen, Gary Oldman, Bill Pullman, Jason Patric, Lukas Haas, Viggo Mortensen and Mickey Rourke were cut out entirely. Malick’s rep declined to comment. Penn’s rep didn’t get back to us.

[From Page Six]

I don’t know if I can take anybody’s side in this case. Should I really slam Sean for offering a mild criticism (for HIM) when it’s obvious to many people that the film does have some issues, and that it’s not for everyone? The worst I can say about Sean is that he should stand up for his own work and not sh-t on a director he chose to work with AGAIN, knowing how it could turn out. Also, I suppose it is petty when Sean is probably peeved that his part was cut and no one is mentioning his name for awards anymore, while Brad’s part wasn’t cut that much, and Brad is still being discussed for awards. Still, I think Malick probably deserves more criticism than he’s gotten – people are walking on eggshells around Malick because everyone thinks he’s a “genius”.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill cover the new issue of New York Magazine, which means that the promotional tour for Moneyball starts now, at any moment. The film gets released a month from now, and I’m actually looking forward to seeing it. Long-term readers of the site know that my Brangeloonie status is mostly because of my love for Angelina Jolie – I could take or leave Brad Pitt most of the time. He’s grown on me through the years, and I think he’s grown into a pretty interesting actor who makes unusual choices for his career that often pay off. I think Moneyball will be one of his career successes – Moneyball could be seen as a standard-issue sports movie about some inspiring event. It’s the kind of movie that fathers will take their sons to, and mom will come along because Brad Pitt is in it and he doesn’t have a gross beard in this one. But the behind-the-scenes story of Moneyball, detailed in this NY Mag piece, is fascinating, and I think Brad should get a lot of credit for staying with a project that people weren’t gung-ho about, and a project that nearly ended Steven Soderbergh‘s career. Here are some highlights from the piece:

The closer we get to fall, the more we root for long shots. And Moneyball, which opens September 23, is one such underdog. Michael Lewis’s 2003 book focused on Billy Beane, the general manager of the then-impoverished Oakland A’s, who used a kind of quantitative analysis known as sabermetrics to create a winning team and, more miraculously, to combat the huge payroll inequities between baseball’s richest and poorest organizations. Beane’s quixotic ­attempts to reform a hidebound system and turn a ragtag starting lineup of last-chancers into champions forms Moneyball’s heart. But consider that the above summary hinges on words like sabermetrics and payroll inequities, and you begin to understand why—even with the dogged support of Brad Pitt—Moneyball took nearly a decade, three directors, three writers, an almost complete recasting, and a public collapse before it got made. “There were some hard days,” says Pitt. By which he means years.

…There were problems, beginning at the source. Lewis’s book is less a narrative than a riveting Gladwellian case study in which a single outlier occasions a series of meditations on the risk-averse institution of baseball. This is not something that screams adaptation, Pitt says, citing “the difficulty of making a movie whose front window is dressed with economics and science and math.”

Pitt came aboard in late 2007 to play Beane and quickly “became obsessed” as well. “I saw it as a story about justice,” he says. “How is a team with a $40 million payroll going to compete with a team with a $140 million payroll and another $100 million in reserves? Any talent they grow is going to get poached by the rich teams. That became really interesting to me.”

For Pitt, Moneyball also evoked “films about process,” particularly the seventies movies he loved. “I thought of The Conversation: How do you tap a phone? Or Thief, with Jimmy Caan: How do you crack a safe?” Pitt says. “And I saw in it a guy who had an obsessive quality like Popeye Doyle,” from The French Connection. “I don’t really like big character-arc epiphanies. What I most loved about those seventies films is that the characters were the same at the end as at the beginning. It was the world around them that had shifted.” In Beane, he says, “I saw a man going up against a system, questioning the reasoning: Just because we’ve been doing it this way for 150 years, why shouldn’t we change it?”

[Director Bennett] Miller knew Hill socially and felt he could thrive in the role. “Jonah is brilliant in a way that might not be evident from the roles he’s played before,” Miller says. “He has a near-encyclopedic knowledge of movies. And I also knew he was interested in breaking out of whatever box he was in.” For his part, Hill felt he’d found a project—and a director—that might allow him to grow up a little. “A lot of times you’re funny as a way of not having to say anything real about yourself. Bennett knew that there are whole days when I’m not funny at all,” he says, laughing. “And this character has sweet moments, but no jokes or wisecracks.”

“Jonah’s a revelation in this thing—he’s a study in reserve,” says Pitt, who saw Hill’s potential in his earlier films. “I think the most interesting work that’s been going on in the last couple of years is what the comedy guys have been doing. Guys like Jonah and Russell Brand and [Seth] Rogen and a few others … they picked up on an irreverence that started with Adam Sandler and continued with Will Ferrell, but they’ve been grounding it in a kind of pathos and humanity. I find it really strong work.”

“I don’t mind the struggle as long as the work amounts to something in the end,” says Pitt, who ended up with a producer credit as well. “It was really Bennett who finally cracked it. His anxiety not to do anything conventional ultimately formed what this would be. At the same time, everyone involved in Moneyball, at every stage, was very passionate. But what most everyone gleaned from the book was very different. I look at the movie now, and I feel everyone’s fingerprints are on it. It’s been … well, listen. It’s been an interesting process.”

[From New York Magazine]

That’s sweet what Brad says about Jonah – I hope Jonah and Brad are as tight as they seem, and it seems like Brad could possibly be a good friend and champion for Jonah to have in the coming years.

Sigh… I totally want to see this movie. And I don’t know anything about baseball.

Photos courtesy of NY Mag.

In this post, you will find some photos of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s gorgeous Scottish estate, plus some photos of Brad on the set of World War Z in Glasgow, with that same brunette assistant that may or may not be a big problem. First, the Scottish estate – they’re just renting it, but isn’t it beautiful? I love the shots of the gorgeous garden, and you can see Angelina and Knox (?) in the distance. Here’s more about the crib:

As if arriving in Glasgow by privately chartered train wasn’t special enough, the Jolie-Pitts are now settling comfortably into a rented country estate that includes a 16th century mansion.

Set among rolling Ayrshire hills, their latest homestead property is dotted with cows, horses and heather. Pheasants freely roam the 10-acre garden where the children can go trout fishing – something Brad was spotted doing with Maddox, 10, and Pax, 7, Wednesday morning – or frolic among the flowerbeds, as Angelina did with 3-year-old Knox on Thursday.

Should the family – which also includes Zahara, 6, Shiloh, 5, Vivienne, 3 – want to venture off-site for toy shopping or riding at nearby horse stables, they have until Pitt wraps his filming of World War Z in the next few weeks.

[From People]

I would love it. Not the fishing (I hate fishing), but I would just lay in the garden and look at all of the flowers and stuff. So pretty.

As for this assistant… the tabloids have already raised the alert about this chick, whose name we still don’t know. I’m actually kind of surprised that someone didn’t say something to someone and somehow Brad would get another assistant, this time a dude. The Scottish papers are taking note of this chick too:

SCOTS fans who have failed to catch a glimpse of Brad Pitt since he arrived in the country must wish they had his personal assistant’s luck. When the Hollywood hunk started filming in Glasgow yesterday, the pretty brunette got to keep a close eye on him – and she gets paid to do it.

Brad was sharing jokes with the sexy young woman in tight jeans and a figure-hugging black top. And it seems mirroring the star’s every move is one of the requirements of her job. While Brad was on set, his assistant was doing everything from bringing him drinks and escorting him back to his personal trailer to carrying his umbrella.

The first day of filming in Glasgow for his zombie blockbuster World War Z was disrupted by heavy rain. Brad, who had given hundreds of fans at Glasgow Central station the slip when he arrived on a specially chartered train with his family on Tuesday, arrived on set shortly before 9am yesterday.

He was quickly whisked from a blue Jaguar into private rooms in Glasgow City Chambers to avoid the public glare. The A-lister started filming a car scene in Cochrane Street – re-named J F Kennedy Boulevard for the purposes of the shoot – around an hour later. But filming was interrupted repeatedly after the heavens opened at 11am.

Several streets around George Square were closed to the public – but that didn’t stop passers-by from trying to get snaps of the movie idol.

Nearby offices buzzed with excitement and local pub The Piper got into the spirit of things by making staff wear zombie masks. Bar operator Brian Warwick even produced commemorative T-shirts.

While Brad was filming, Angelina and their six children spent the day at Carnell Estate near Hurlford, Ayrshire. The mansion will be their home for the next two weeks while Brad films the horror movie. The George Square scenes – which are thought to involve a battle between soldiers and zombies – are expected to feature prominently in the final cut.

[From The Daily Record]

So, with all of the serving and umbrella-carrying, do you think Brad ever gives this chick the eye and decides that he deserves a little strange? I don’t know. I think it’s a little weird that the girl hasn’t been reassigned, though. Go ahead and yell at me. Tell me that she’s just doing her job and the production shouldn’t be moved by the whims of the tabloids. But in my opinion, the situation looks like trouble.

Photos courtesy of Fame & WENN.

Stacy Keibler is back in LA, and I think Clooney is around town too, although there haven’t been many recent photos of him. Stacy, on the other hand, has been getting pap’d with more frequency. She really wants this, I think. Maybe she’s kind of meh on Clooney in particular, but she definitely wants to be seen as the kind of woman that Clooney would date, and she’s hoping to get some work out of it too. Maybe Clooney will pull some more strings and get Stacy a gig on Leverage too (haha). Anyway, The Enquirer has a funny/dumb story about how Stacy is only using Clooney to get to his BFF Brad Pitt. Dumb girl.

George Clooney‘s girlfriend has the hots for Brad Pitt! Former wrestler and Dancing with the Stars contestant Stacy Keibler fancies the actor’s longtime BFF, who raises six kids with partner Angelina Jolie.

“George is gorgeous, but I think Stacy thinks Brad is even better,” a source said. “She’s even day­dreamed on Twitter, posting: ‘Brad Pitt wouldn’t be bad to look at every day!’”

Stacy is best known for her gorgeous legs, and she desperately wants to be a big star, but her career has been at a standstill since her 2006 appearance on DWTS.

“She thinks her next career move should be getting an acting gig in an A-list movie. So she was quick to answer a call from old pal George Clooney when he broke up with his long-term girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis early in the summer.”

Stacy flew out to George’s Lake Como villa in mid-July, and then Stacy and Clooney jetted off to London before finally returning to LA.

“Stacy likes George, but friends won­der if she’s just hang­ing with him to get to meet his buddy Brad Pitt,” divulged the source. “She’s always daydreamed about Brad and has joked to friends, ‘Brad and Angelina won’t last forever. One day I’ll get my shot with Brad.’ She’s even made it known she’d like to meet him.”

[From The National Enquirer, print and online editions]

Yeah, I think she just has a crush on Brad, right? It would be like… say, when Michael Fassbender and I are dating, and you guys start selling your stories about my Gerard Butler crush to the press. Stories will come out, “Kaiser is only hitting the Irish dong to get to the Scottish dong.” Which isn’t true! You can have a crush on someone and it doesn’t mean you are just using your current dong as stop-gap dong.

Plus, once I get near the Fassdong, I’m tattooing my name on it. I’ll chain that Irishman up if I have to. I love The Butler and everything, but Jesus, it’s Fassbender.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Pacific Coast News.

Don’t believe the reports claiming that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie rented out an entire train so that they could safely travel to Scotland, where Brad will continue filming World War Z. I mean, a train was rented, but it wasn’t just Brad, Angie, the kids and the entourage on the private train. It was the whole crew of World War Z! So, about 250-350 people in total, it seems. These are photos of their arrival in Glasgow (which is standing in for Philadelphia, oddly enough). The journey from London to Glasgow is 350 miles, and takes five hours by train. Five hours with Brad, Angelina, the kids, the entourage and more than 200 crew members. That must have been a special experience.

Brad Pitt has described his family as being like “a military mobile unit” when they’re on the road.

Tuesday they proved it by boarding a privately hired train to take them and the World War Z crew from London to Glasgow, where Pitt, 47, is filming next.

“Three cars suddenly drove onto the platform from the street, pulled up alongside the train and then they all got out,” an onlooker tells PEOPLE. “Brad was in one car with some of the kids and Angelina was in another with the others. They were all smiling and looked really happy, but then I suppose it’s not every day that a kid gets to have their own train to play with!”

Adds the onlooker: “They had a huge entourage of about 20-30 people with them.”

The Virgin charter is a bespoke service regular used by English soccer clubs that allows clients to personalize the catering and station facilities. As with most English trains this one includes a shop, toilets and a counter serving hot food and drinks. But there is one thing missing: sleeping compartments.

“The price also depends on how far they are going, and the number of carriages they want, as some people want eight carriages and others nine ­– it all depends on the client,” a Virgin spokesperson says.

The sleek, silver-and-red Virgin train that had been specifically chartered for the Jolie-Pitts and estimated 350 associates and crew pulled into Glasgow Central Station at 2:30 p.m. And there were about 100 fans gathered to try to catch a glimpse of the famous family.

Welcome to Scotland
With the Scottish highlands now on their doorstep, Jolie, 36, can finally take a break from the hectic bout of sightseeing that has seen her and 10-year-old Maddox, Pax, 7, Zahara, 6½, Shiloh, 5, Knox and Vivienne, 3, visit a host of London toy stores and theaters in Surrey, where the family have been based during Brad’s filming.

For the next few weeks, the World War Z team will take over the main square of Glasgow (just a few blocks from the train station), which has been converted to look like the American city of Philadelphia to a convincing degree.

[From People]

Apparently, it costs $40,000 or more to “rent” a “private” train for this kind of journey. So… is that more or less expensive than flying everybody? Less expensive, right? It’s probably a nicer journey by train, though. I prefer trains to planes, any day of the week.

So what kind of trouble will Brangelina and the kids get into in Scotland? I’m sure Angelina will hunt out some kind of kid-oriented activity, some museum or theme park or something. I hope she eats something while she’s there too. Not haggis.

UPDATE: The Jolie-Pitts take the cover of People Mag this week:

They’ve munched on crickets in Cambodia and surfed the waves in Cancun, but for the six children of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, life in the boisterous family is as much about everyday bonding as it is the big adventure.

“The children are always playing, jumping on each other and sharing fun moments,” a source tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “They share a special bond.”

Leading the pack: oldest son Maddox, 10, who “is almost like a teenager now, the way he understands things,” says another source. “He’s grown up very quickly.”

But his younger siblings are rapidly growing up, too. Six-year-old Zahara and her 5-year-old sister Shiloh are especially close, while 7-year-old Pax “has become more independent in the past year,” says an insider. And with twins Knox and Vivienne now 3 – they help pack their own suitcases! – the family is settling into a lower-key, if still decidedly adventurous, rhythm.

“Now that all the children are older, things have calmed down a bit in the household,” says the source. “There’s a great family dynamic right now.”

[From People]

I don’t get why this is a cover story…? Conspiracy theory?

Photos courtesy of PCN, WENN.

The Empress! We’ve had so many sightings of The Empress lately. It’s a good omen – Zahara’s presence in England must have calmed down the rioters. Or maybe she just really likes England, probably because she carefully studies the British monarchy to prepare for her gradual global domination. God Save the Empress. Sidenote: I love her little fist. I feel like she’s photographed making a fist often enough to say that Zahara can take care of herself. She may be girly and she may allow Shiloh to carry the “tomboy” torch, but something tells me that Zahara will cut a bitch who steps out of line.

Anyway, these are new photos of Angelina out with the four older kids on Sunday. She took Zahara, Shiloh, Maddox and Pax to a matinee of Shrek the Musical in London’s West End. Brad’s already gone, by the way, having abandoned his family once again for what’s turning out to be a pretty long film shoot for World War Z. He’s in Scotland now – I wonder why Angelina and the kids didn’t go with him? Surely the Empress would have been the hit of Scotland.

By the way, look at the photos of this unknown child below. Who is it? I have a theory. It’s FAX CANNES JOLIE-PITT!! He/she has been spotted! I was just looking at photos of the kids the other day, and I thought to myself, “Damn, it’s been forever since Fax has been out and about.” He/she is really getting big! (Sidenote: In case you don’t remember, Fax Cannes “Mystery” Jolie-Pitt was my filler name for random Jolie-Pitt babies when I couldn’t identify them, and then Mystery/Fax became a whole other mythological child, The Hidden Jolie-Pitt, the one that only makes an appearance every so often.) Seriously, though, who is this kid? I guess he’s a friend of Maddox and/or Pax and/or Fax.

Photos courtesy of Fame.

How cute are these photos? Yesterday, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie took the Empress, Shiloh, and the twins to a puppet show in England. The show is called “the Puppet Theatre Barge” which takes place literally on a barge on the Thames. From the stuffed animals the kids are holding, my guess is that part of the puppet show involves dinosaurs, right?

Anyway, these are some of the first photos of Vivienne where I didn’t feel like she was on a cusp of a major hissy. I’ve always said that about Viv – she just has one of those faces where she always looks like she’s about to break out in an earth-shattering wail. But now she’s a big girl, and her mom even let her walk on her own, and she looks happier – Brad is carrying Knox, who definitely seems like the more easy-going twin. I think Knox looks a hell of a lot like Brad, don’t you? Although Knox’s hair looks like it’s got some ginger to it. I swear, Knox is going to end up looking like Michael Fassbender. And that’s going to be awesome.

Thoughts on Vivienne’s oufit? She seems to like more girlish ensembles – at her age, Shiloh was already dressing like a tomboy, so at least we’re going to be spared tabloid covers about how Vivienne is 3-year-old lesbian, because she wears dockers and likes to play rough with her brothers. I like Viv’s little Mary Janes! So cute.

The Empress! Such a face.

Photos courtesy of Fame.

These are some newish photos of Angelina Jolie choppering (Is “choppering” a verb? “To chopper”? Spell-check says it isn’t, but I think it is.) out of Richmond, England yesterday. I don’t know what this means for those rumors that Brad Pitt basically abandoned Angelina and the kids in Richmond, just miles away from the riots in central London, while he was off filming in Cornwall. Is Angelina abandoning the kids to the looters too? Probably not. I bet she was just off for a joy ride or something. Note the Louis Vuitton bag! The same GD bag that she’s been carrying for months. Surely Louis Vuitton sent Angelina some other purses, considering she’s the newest face of the brand? Right? Beyond the money, you become a spokesperson for the brand for the free stuff. Why is Angelina carrying the same old boring monogram bag?

In other Brangelina news, did you know that Angelina and Brad still have hot sex? True story. Angelina is so insatiable that Brad can barely keep up and Angelina might end up cheating on him because her need for O’s on demand is so strong.

Ever since she settled down with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie has been trying her hardest to transform her image from kinky sex fiend to earth mother. But as In Touch has learned, behind closed doors, Angelina is just as kinky – and insatiable – as ever.

“I really think Brad would do anything to sexually satisfy Angelina, because he would lose her if he didn’t,” an insider reveals, adding that for the sake of his relationship, Brad has tried lots of things in the bedroom he’d never dreamed of doing before. “Angelina likes it rough and playful.”

And she definitely likes to use props. “She has an antique chest in the bedroom where she keeps her sex toys,” the insider whispers. “She also likes bondage, to a certain point.”

But even with Brad working overtime in the sack, Angelina has trouble staying faithful. The woman who once bragged that she “likes everything: boyish girls, girlish boys, the thick, the thin” – craves sex constantly. And the insider reveals that she’s often “tempted” to cheat.

[From In Touch Weekly, print edition]

The rest of the piece is just an interview with Angelina’s old nanny. Not a nanny who used to look after Angelina’s kids, mind you, but a woman who used to look after Angelina when she was, like, 2 years old. There’s a lot of stuff about what a son of a bitch Jon Voight was to Angelina’s mom Marcheline, and how Angelina is more like her father, blah, blah.

As for the whole “OMG, Angelina is so kinky, she has handcuffs!!!” – ugh. Yes, the bitch likes whips and handcuffs and leather and knives. We already knew this! And if she’s making Brad “work overtime” to please her, than good for her.

Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.

Sometimes, when I’m looking at new photos of the Jolie-Pitt children, I do wonder if any of them will end up in the film industry, and if they’ll be able to carve out their own celebrity identities apart from their famous parents. I tend to think it will be easier for Vivienne and Shiloh, should they want to become actresses. They’ll end up pretty women, and if they get even one-tenth of their mom’s wild streak, they should pretty entertaining. But I’ve never really wondered about the boys – Maddox and Pax especially seem too quiet and thoughtful for the actor’s life. Angelina has even said, in several interviews, that Maddox seems destined for military life. So imagine my surprise at this odd report in this week’s National Enquirer. According to an insider, Maddox is obsessed with movies, he wants to become an actor, and Brad might cast him in a film adaptation of a graphic novel:

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are out to make son Maddox’s greatest wish come true – by turning him into an action-film star! Maddox “lives, eats and breathes” movies and animated features, said an insider, and he’s been begging his parents to help him land a big-screen role. Now it looks like Brad and Angie have found the perfect part for him!

According to the insider, Angelina is pushing hard to get Maddox the lead role in “Battling Boy,” a science fiction epic being produced by Brad’s Plan B production company. They hope to begin filming next year.

Based on a graphic novel, “Battling Boy” is about the young son of a god who leaves his immortal mountaintop home to fight monsters in the city of Monstropolis.

“Brad loved the project so much he bought the book almost a year before it was on the shelves,” revealed an insider. “Brad and Angie think this is something Maddox can not only handle, but would do a great job on.”

“Maddox has been begging Brad and Angie for the chance to star in one of their movies,” added the insider “They feel that this superhero project is the perfect first step for him.”

[From The Enquirer, print edition]

Empress Zahara does not approve, I fear. Sidenote: Zahara is the movie-star of the family, right? THAT FACE. Anyway, back to Maddox – I just don’t think that Angelina would want to throw any of her kids into a film project. Whatever you think of her, she’s not Dina Lohan, you know? Even if Maddox is begging to do something, I can’t see Brad handing him a lead role, either. I think it would be fine if Brad and Angelina let the kids take small parts in their movies, let the kids see what film-making is really like.

As for the industry side of this – The Enquirer isn’t The Hollywood Reporter. There’s an IMDB page for Battling Boy, and there’s industry gossip about the script (David Gordon Green was said to be working on the adaptation) and some legit outlets are going with the Enquirer’s rumor. I don’t know – it sounds odd to me.

Photos courtesy of Fame.

If you’ve been watching the news of the London riots with horror, thinking to yourself, “But what about all of the famous people that live in or around London?!?” this story is for you. Us Weekly has an “exclusive” story all about how the riots were affecting Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. I’m ashamed to admit that I actually found this story interesting. Here, let me put on my Brangeloonie tin-foil cap. There we go, safely secured with Empress Zahara-approved barrettes.

So the story is basically this: Brad has been filming World War Z in England for several weeks now. I thought they were filming in one of Britain’s famed studio sets, but someone decided to let Brad film in real locations, so he’s currently in Falmouth, Cornwall, which is “five hours away” from London (seriously?). While he’s filming in Cornwall, Brad simply abandoned Angelina and their kids in Richmond, which is only “six miles away” from central London. So Angelina has been on edge and Brad has been making phone calls (big protector, that one).

Angelina Jolie and the kids are staying calm and brave amid the violence and chaos in London. Although the British capital is experiencing some of the worst rioting in its long history, Angelina Jolie and her six children with Brad Pitt aren’t going anywhere — for now.

With Pitt, 47, filming World War Z in Falmouth, Cornwall over five hours away, Jolie, 36, left the family’s rented home in London’s Richmond neighborhood Tuesday afternoon for a visit to Pottery Cafe. At the nearby spot, she and the kids — Maddox, 10, Pax, 7, Zahara, 6, Shiloh, 5, and 2-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox — painted and decorated pottery items.

“Angie was a little nervous, but felt safe,” a source tells Us Weekly. “[Security] had an extra man on the job.”

Indeed, a source tells Us the shocking civil unrest in the city unnerved the actress. “This morning, she was really scared and worried about the safety of the kids,” the staffer tells Us. “But, as the day has gone by, we’ve been able to get a clear picture on what’s going on. She felt safe enough to take the children out. Of course, we are not going anywhere near central London.” (Located near a popular shopping thoroughfare, the family’s Richmond-area home is about six miles from the city center; rioting has broken out in London suburbs as well as other English cities.)

Pitt, meanwhile, checks in from his movie set on the coast. Adds a second insider: “Brad is…worried. He’s pretty safe because he’s in Falmouth, but knowing Angie and the kids are in London is what’s making him worried. He has been calling the house regularly, to make sure they are OK and calm.”

“People should be in no doubt that we will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain’s streets and to make them safe for the law-abiding,” Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters during a Tuesday crisis meeting. So far, over 500 arrests have been made in London alone, with several buildings going up in flames; over 100 police officers have been injured, and one person was found dead of a gunshot wound.

The trouble began last Thursday, when Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four and suspected drug dealer, was shot and killed by officers in London’s Scotland Yard; Duggan is believed to have fired no shots himself before being killed. The rioting itself reportedly grew out of an initially peaceful memorial vigil, held that night in Tottenham, Duggan’s North London neighborhood, that spiraled out of control.

16,000 police officers are currently patrolling the London streets. A soccer match set for Wednesday at the city’s huge Wembley Stadium has been canceled.

[From Us Weekly]

Granted, Angelina has been in much worse situations, so I have no doubt that worse comes to worst, Angelina will strap all of her children to her back, grab her machine gun and shoot her way out of London. But I can’t believe Brad just abandoned her and the kids and he’s only been checking in with phone calls! WTF? I would be pissed. She and the kids are only in bloody England because he’s filming there.

By the way, Angelina totally took the kids out yesterday – there were photos of her and all of the kids at a “Pottery Café” in Surrey, which you can see here. Some of the kids were dressed in costume. Can I just say – I love Knox. He’s such a funny little guy. A Vivienne is such a girly-girl.

Here are some photos of Brad Pitt NOT protecting his real family on the Cornwall set of World War Z. That redhead is the chick from The Killing (she’s playing Brad’s wife).

Photos courtesy of Fame & WENN.