OK! Magazine’s cover story this week is “Angie Tells Brad: Sleep on the Couch”. Angelina also “attacks Brad’s drinking, partying and embarrassing weight gain”. The online story isn’t really that controversial, even if it is true. It seems like a budget Star Magazine story. Brad and Angelina had a fight as soon as they got to France, Angelina locked herself in the bedroom and Brad slept in another room. The next day Brad and Angelina made up when he made her breakfast. Then they went to buy goldfish and gerbils. Meh. Plus, does anyone else think it’s weird that Brad would “sleep on the couch” when there are like thirty-something bedrooms in the chateau?

While Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt headed to France to work on their relationship — after all, it’s where they shacked up when Angie was expecting their twins, Knox and Vivienne — a Jolie-Pitt insider reveals that the couple’s retreat has gotten off to a very rough start. “Brad has been adamant that Angie spend time with the family and focus on them with as much passion and energy as she does all her project,” the source explains to OK!.

However, “right after they got to France, Brad found a box of scripts that Angie had said she wanted to read. She and Brad got into a fight over it. Angie stormed out of the room and went into the bedroom.”

In fact, the Wanted star was so mad that she demanded Brad sleep on the couch! Angie walked away from the fight to keep the kids from witnessing it — Maddox, Pax and Shiloh were there while Zahara and the twins napped in another room — while Brad did his part to downplay the spat.

“He played video games with the boys all night and made breakfast for the family in the morning, including fresh grapefruit juice for Angie,” says the source. While reconciliation isn’t always easy, the two seem to be doing their best to make their kids feel that all is well, including taking Maddox and Pax to the pet store the next day, Aug. 20, to expand their brood with gerbils and goldfish.

[From OK! Magazine]

The other stories floating around are some of the same old stuff – Brad wants Angelina to “stop working so much” (she’s done one film in 20 months) and she’s pissed about his drinking (which I do think is a legitimate story). Here’s an oldie: Angelina might be coming back for a sequel to Wanted. Yeah, to explain why that would be difficult would include a big spoiler, so read this report at your own risk. Angelina’s return would involve those mystical mud baths. And maybe a kiss of life from James MacAvoy?

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting piece up about the Oscar chances for Inglourious Basterds. Basterds did better than expected critically and financially in it’s first week of release, and now some critics and Hollywood insiders are wondering aloud if Basterds’ executive producer, Harvey Weinstein, intends to wage a major Oscar campaign on behalf of the film. The LAT’s Golden Derby column (which focuses on the major awards) is claiming that Basterds could pull a Crash. In 2005, producers for Crash memorably waged a stealth and effective campaign, even thought the film had come out in early summer. At the time, producers used the DVD release of Crash as the pushing-off point for the Oscar campaign, which is what the LAT is assuming Weinstein will do.

Surely, the question has occurred to you: Why isn’t Oscar-mad Harvey Weinstein releasing “Inglourious Basterds” in Oscar-friendly November or December? Doesn’t he have faith that “Inglourious Basterds” can run the derby? Hey, Quentin Tarantino proved himself in 1994 when “Pulp Fiction” was nominated for best picture and Tarantino won best screenplay.

Last year, Harvey held back “The Reader” to the last possible stretch, giving it a limited opening in Los Angeles and New York in December, then wide release in January. The strategy paid off with five Academy Award nominations — including a surprise bid (to some, not us) for best picture — resulting in the Big Win at Long Last for Kate Winslet as best actress.

Answer: Harvey plans to reserve that last-minute, ambush strategy he employed for “The Reader” for his other major Oscar pony, “Nine,” Rob Marshall’s adaptation of the Tony-winning musical starring Penelope Cruz, Daniel Day-Lewis and Marion Cotillard. For “Inglourious Basterds,” he plans to use the “Crash” campaign model.

By releasing “Inglourious Basterds” in theaters now, Harvey can give the flick a second wave of ballyhoo when the DVD comes out late this year. Because the DVD will be a mass release, it won’t need to be watermarked with numerals identifying each disc with the name of an academy member or other award voter. That’s one of the sneaky ways “Crash” beat front-runner “Brokeback Mountain” for best picture of 2005 — Lionsgate blitzed Hollywood with more than 120,000 cheap DVDs.

To manufacture and ship a watermarked DVD costs about $20. The cost for a non-watermarked equivalent: $5.

Beware, Hollywood. Given how red rivers flow in Tarantino pix, the town will be engulfed in a blood tide this December when Harvey unleashes his “Inglourious Basterds” DVD campaign. It will probably pay off with two Academy Award nominations: best screenplay (Tarantino) and supporting actor (Christoph Waltz). Maybe more. “Pulp Fiction” got nommed for best picture when there were only five slots; this year there will be twice as many.

[From the Los Angeles Times’ Golden Derby]

So, will Brad Pitt get a nomination for his role as the Apache “Naht-zi” scalper? Doubtful. The two actors getting most of the acclaim from Basterds are Christoph Waltz and Melanie Laurent, both foreign actors. They might have a decent shot at supporting actor noms, I think, Waltz especially since he already won Best Actor at Cannes. Most likely the biggest push will be for Best Picture, Best Director, Screenplay and maybe some of the technical awards, like costumes and make-up. But it’s always nice when Brad’s a contender!

Brad Pitt is shown on 8/13/09 at the premiere of The Time Traveler’s Wife. Credit: L. Gallo/WENN.com

On Friday, we reported on People Magazine’s interview excerpt from Stern, in which Brad Pitt allegedly said Tom Cruise Hitler-assassination film Valkyrie was “a ridiculous movie”. Within hours, it seems one of Brad’s reps contacted a few outlets and claimed that the statement was a misquote. A spokesman said, “Brad has never seen Valkyrie so this is not accurate.” Xenu got angry, and Brad succumbed. Either that, or it really was a misquote. It didn’t really sound like Brad, in my opinion. Throughout the years of Tom Cruise acting crazy, Brad has never said anything negative about Tom, so it did seem weird. I saw Valkyrie, and it was a strange movie. I wouldn’t call it ridiculous… just strange. The accents were all over the place. It’s maybe Bill Nighy’s worst acting jobs, he’s totally phoning it in.

Brad’s weird, random promotion of Inglourious Basterds did the trick at the box office though – Basterds made $37.6 million in America, and another $27.5 million overseas. Guess who’s taking credit? Harvey Weinstein, the executive producer. He needed a hit movie, and Pitt and Tarantino delivered. The media strategy for this film was so weird, I’m not even sure how it worked so well. Maybe people were just excited about seeing Pitt work with Tarantino, and everything else was just icing on the cake?

In one last piece of Brad Pitt-related news, the Mirror is reporting that the entire purchase and renovation of the Jolie-Pitt French chateau will cost around 45 million pounds – about $70 million. The numbers are a little screwy in this report – I think they’re saying that the purchase was one thing, and then Brad’s renovating the place to the tune of ten million pounds:

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are spending £45million transforming a French chateau into a dream home for themselves and their six children. The Hollywood golden couple have completed the £35million purchase of 17th-Century Chateau Miraval, set on a 1,000-acre estate in Provence. Now they plan to splash out £10million more turning the pile into the “love nest of all love nests”.

They have applied to renovate all THIRTY-FIVE bedrooms to give them a “contemporary feel”. They want to add jacuzzis, steam rooms and a spa, and to install a new gym, an expanded wine cellar – and even a motorbike track for Brad, 45. They also plan to improve its helicopter landing facilities, so they can fly in and out with their children – Maddox, seven, Pax, five, four-yearold Zahara, and biological daughter Shiloh, three, and their year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

“We’re trying to spend more time in the South of France, because our kids have a more normal life there,” Inglourious Basterds star Brad said earlier this month. But the hunky star also admitted he’s still struggling to master the language.

Security around the house will be improved hugely, to include a surveillance centre, spy cameras, alarms, and infra-red sensors. Some work has started, while more complicated renovations still need to be agreed by the local council.

Jean-Claude Sadion, mayor of the nearby town of Correns, said: “The application has been received for widespread work on their new house, and we are delighted that they will be here more permanently. They are a wonderful couple with beautiful children and we will hold a civic reception to honour them.”

Brad and 34-year-old Angelina, who met on the set of 2005 movie Mr And Mrs Smith, have reportedly had a string of bitter rows and spent much of their time apart recently.
But now the pair and their children are set to start afresh at the home which they have rented from a rich businessman for the last year.

A local property developer said: “They want to make sure this very romantic property becomes the love nest of all love nests. Brad is looking into local schools for the kids, and both he and Angelina are improving their French.”

Brad and Angelina flew from Los Angeles into nearby Marseilles on July 29 to inspect the start of the renovation work, and are keen to have security measures in place as soon as possible.

The couple looked at around 100 properties before settling on the Miraval. It comes with a vineyard, swimming pool, moat, lake and forest, and a three-mile long driveway up to the main house. The cascading stone-walled terraces have been replanted with 13 different varieties of olives, and there are 20 fountains and aqueducts.

Near-neighbour Christophe Meer said: “It’s very beautiful. You couldn’t find a better place to ensure a bit of romance in your life.”

The globe-trotting couple will split their time between France and their homes in California and New Orleans. Close friends with homes nearby include U2 stars Bono and The Edge, plus fellow actors Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis.

[From the Daily Mirror]

God, Brad has never met a property he doesn’t want to spend millions of dollars renovating. That would drive me up the wall, but I’m sure that just the sort of thing that relaxes him. Brad and Angelina are currently vacationing at the chateau for an unknown period of time. They even bought some “gerbilles” for their sons. I want them to get a cat. Maybe there’s already some sleepy housecat that came with the house, though.

Photos via AllMoviePhoto

Brad Pitt totally quit America a week ago. And when I say “totally” I mean “he and Angelina went on vacation to their chateau for an unknown period of time.” This is one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen an actor do – considering he left town one week before his big new film premiered stateside. Brad’s PR for the film hasn’t even been that hardcore for Inglourious Basterds. A few interviews here and there, no major magazines, two television shows. That’s not really any big media campaign. I’ll give you one comparison – when Megan Fox was promoting Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, she did more than seven magazine covers and cover interviews.

Maybe Brad thinks that Basterds is a good enough film to stand on its own. If that’s the case, he may be proven right – Rotten Tomatoes is giving Basterds an 88% positive rating, which is really good (Tarantino’s last films, Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 both got 85%). It looks like Brad is still invested in promoting Basterds oversees, though. And it turns out that when Brad is promoting a film overseas, he’s perfectly willing to talk some smack about other “Naht-zi” films. Brad spoke to the German magazine Stern (quotes via People) about where he thinks Basterds will fall in the history of WWII films:

As far as Brad Pitt is concerned, his new film Inglourious Basterds is the be all and end all of Nazi movies.

“The second World War could still deliver more stories and films, but I believe that Quentin [Tarantino, director] put a cover on that pot. With Basterds, everything than can be said to this genre has been said,” Pitt tells the German magazine Stern. “The film destroys every symbol. The work is done, end of story.”

As for another WWII Hitler assassination movie with a famous Hollywood star, he says there is no comparison. When the Stern reporter mentioned Tom Cruise’s recent turn in a film about a real plot to kill Hitler, Pitt simply said, “It was a ridiculous movie.”

Pitt also revealed what movie he does find note-worthy – even life-changing – Saturday Night Fever.

“When I was a teenager, I saw Saturday Night Fever at our drive-in, but it wasn’t the dancing that electrified me. It was the life and culture in Brooklyn. I’m from Missouri, the southern part of the Midwest in the U.S., and I never heard families talk that way to each other. From that point on, I wanted out to see more of the country and of life.”

[From People]

Xenu will not be pleased. Xenu will find the Jolie-Pitts and drown them with barley water. Xenu will audit them with tin cans and string. And dude, Saturday Night Fever? That must be why Brad wore that hideous white suit the other night. It was his homage to John Travolta. So sad.

In one other piece of Brangelina news, it seems Brad and Angie took their two oldest sons to a local pet store in the south of France. According to Us Weekly, they went to buy gerbils and goldfish:

While at the Brignoles, France, store — called Jardinerie du Centre Var — Jolie, wearing a black maxi-dress, reached into the cage to pet the “gerbilles” while Pitt perused the aisles. The couple stocked up on a cage and gear for their new pets and also bought Maddox a cactus.

One day earlier, the parents took daughters Shiloh, 3, and Zahara, 4, to lunch at the Auberge de Chatueauvert in Correns, France. Their meal consisted of a platter of cold cuts and a mushroom omelette, and the parents drank Rose wine. Both of the girls had stick-on tattoos.

[From Us Weekly]

Aw, sounds like a nice vacation. But who buys gerbils (or “gerbilles”) when they’re on vacation? It’s weird, yes? Anyway… I’ve never had any desire to own a gerbil. You shouldn’t even get me started on the animal thing, because I have very strong opinions. I believe in big dogs. I love big dogs. I don’t understand why people would get small dogs – if you want a small dog, get a cat. I love cats too, and that’s why I don’t get gerbil and hamster people. Do they think a cat would be too much work? Do they just long for something really tiny to love? Who loves their gerbil like a member of the family? Maybe it’s just because I’ve never seen or heard of a gerbil or a hamster having a good personality. As far as I’m concerned, they have no personality. This is why the Jolie-Pitts should get a cat.

Update by Celebitchy: Brad Pitt’s manager has denied this report, saying “Brad has never seen VALKYRIE so this is NOT accurate.”

Here are Brad and Tom in their respective posters.

Brad Pitt and Shiloh are show in Cannes in May, 2008.

When Shiloh Jolie-Pitt isn’t busy single-handedly rescuing a village of children in Nambia, it seems the three-year-old is dreaming of becoming an actress. The Enquirer is reporting that Shiloh has started telling everyone that she wants to do “what mommy and daddy do” and that Angelina and Brad are encouraging her. Shiloh’s first gig was in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, with her dad, and for now, Brad and Angelina want Shiloh to only work in their projects. They’re even considering enrolling her into a performing arts school:

[Three-year-old Shiloh] has already caught the acting bug – and has the full support of her movie star parents.

“Shiloh’s the product of the two best-looking actors in the world – she was custom-made to be in the movies,” enthused a longtime friend of the couple. “Her parents are already grooming her to be an actress. Brad and Angie were skeptical when Shiloh first started telling friends and family, ‘I want to do what mommy and daddy do.’ But they made a vow a while ago that they’d let each one of their six kids pursue their dreams and would encourage them to follow their passions.”

Asked at the LA premiere of Inglourious Basterds if they’d permit their children to follow in their footsteps as actors, Angelina promised she and Brad would “support” their youngsters’ career ambitions.

[Shiloh] made her big-screen debut in papa Pitt’s 2008 flick, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And she’s already receiving a steady stream of movie, TV and commercial offers.

“At first, Brad and Angie laughed off the interest, but as she’s grown older, they haven’t been able to help but notice how Shi constantly poses in the mirror and puts on her own mini-plays,” said the friend.

“As a result, they’re looking into getting her an acting coach, and they’ve decided to ease her into the film world by first securing her small roles in their own pictures. They’re even batting around the idea of putting Shi in a performing arts school program.”

Although Shiloh is a natural ham, her siblings don’t yet appear to share her fascination, say sources. When Angelina was filming Salt in NY this past spring, Shiloh pestered Brad about going to the set.

“When she got her wish to see her mom work, Shiloh sat in her own director’s chair – eyes glued to all the behind-the-scenes action,” confided the friend.

Concluded the friend: “Shiloh was born to be a star, and her folks are doing their best to give her an early start on her dream.”

[From the National Enquirer, print edition, August 31 2009]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Shiloh ended up an actress, that’s why I believe some of this. I’ll also buy that Angelina is the kind of mother who would whole-heartedly encourage this dream – after all, Angelina’s mother did the same thing. Marcheline Bertrand enrolled Angelina in the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute when Angelina was, like, nine years old or something crazy like that. As for Brad, I doubt he wants “daddy’s girl” Shiloh to jump into being some kind of crazy child actor. Although it’s said he was the one to suggest then-baby Shiloh for the small part in Benjamin Button. So maybe he would be cool with it, but only when Shiloh works with either him or Angelina. As for the other kids… well, my guess is that the rest of them are preparing for cabinet positions during Empress Zahara’s reign.

We’ve all been mislead into worrying about Brad Pitt’s drinking. Brad’s spent the better part of year talking about beer and getting liquored up and joking about being “a drunk”, but it looks like Brad’s real problem all along was the reefer. This is according to Dr. Drew, who has become famous for “diagnosing” celebrities without ever meeting them. He just judges them, with an aura of professionalism, by reading about them in Star Magazine or whatever. Last year, in a now infamous Playboy interview, Dr. Drew said that Tom Cruise exhibits the signs of “serious neglect in childhood – maybe some abuse, but mostly neglect.” Dr. Drew also insinuated that Angelina Jolie was probably using heroin while pregnant, and dismissed her work with the UNHCR as “global self-serving acts”. Back in June, Dr. Drew piped up again to talk some smack about Lindsay Lohan, saying that “she’s going to lose a limb or something before” she gets sober.

Now, some or many of you might agree with some or all of Dr. Drew’s opinions/diagnoses. Me? It’s one of my biggest peeves about the tabloids – I hate it when medical doctors or psychiatric professionals talk to the press about someone they are not treating. It lends a patina of medical credibility for what should remain in the realm of pure gossipy speculation. It’s cheap, it’s unprofessional, it’s unethical, and, in my mind, it’s libel. But there’s no stopping Dr. Drew. He just had to speak out about Brad Pitt’s reefer addiction, and why everything about Brad is just plain wrong:

Dr. Drew Pinsky — board certified addiction specialist & host of Celebrity Rehab — has some advice for actor Brad Pitt who recently revealed to Bill Maher that he no longer smokes marijiuana because he became a father.

Dr. Drew tells RadarOnline.com exclusively, “You have to wonder how much pot Brad was smoking. Was it a chronic problem? I don’t know. But to the extent that he had to quit because he felt it was interfering with his parenting abilities is bothersome.”

Drew says the number one mistake parents make is admitting to their children that they did drugs. “I see it all the time with my patients. Parents tell their son/daughter that they did drugs, and then they warn them about the hazards of drugs. But in the child’s adolescent mind, it’s hypocrisy. Their parents did it, and they are ok.”

Dr. Drew says the only time it’s acceptable to tell the children is if they, the parents, are in recovery. Drew has specific advice for daddy Pitt when one the members of the Brangelina brood inquires about his pot smoking days.

“Don’t lie to your kids. The horse is out of the barn. Here is what I would tell him (Brad Pitt) to say I wish I hadn’t said that, it would have been better for you to not know what I did or didn’t do. The fact is why is here is why I think you shouldn’t do it, or I would say I was so badly addicted I had to struggle with it, to stop to make sure I was available to parent you. It’s an unusual situation with this public conversation.”

Another concern Drew has for the Pitt children, are all of the moves the family makes.

“Multiple moves are very destructive for kids. I can’t say it’s necessarily going to harm them. They never develop any stable relationships with their peers. It’s very traumatic on many levels. A couple of VH1 programs coming up, some of the patients have moved 20 or more times.”

The third season of Celebrity Rehab is set to premiere on VH1 in early 2010.

[From Radar]

God, I couldn’t disagree more. Unless you (as a parent) are talking a child with significant mental disabilities, most adolescent kids get the difference between “mom’s being a hypocrite” and “mom’s being honest about her drug usage, I should listen and learn.” And I hate when anyone equates smoking pot to heroin or anything harder. It’s not. Stop it. This isn’t the first time Dr. Drew has been in utter disbelief that someone could smoke a joint once, and not immediately need rehab and a lifetime of out-patient recovery. He sounds like an out-of-touch idiot when his advice is to tell kids “daddy was badly addicted to the reefer.” Enough.

In one last Brad Pitt story, if you’ve ever wanted to know what it feels and looks like to stalk Brad, Star Magazine has the up close and personal experience for you. Self-proclaimed “Manhattan-based Internet personality” Justin Ross Lee was on a plane with Brad, and he spent the entire flight surreptitiously filming and photographing Brad. Now he’s sold the photos and footage to Star Magazine, including his own little personal insights on the actor. Stuff like: “Brad had zero attitude and seemed like a regular guy — the kind of guy you’d like to have a beer with. Brad ate a full four-course meal with relish. Brad couldn’t possibly have been any more down to earth. He was a first-class guy all the way!” If you want to see Brad attacking airline food like a hungry dog, check it out. It’s kind of boring, actually.

Header is of Dr. Drew on 5/31/09 and Pitt on 8/12/09. Credit: PRPhotos. Picture below is of Brad drinking whisky at the after party for The Time Traveler’s Wife on 8/13/09.

This story was too funny to pass up. Probably because I’m a little tired and punch-drunk, I keep thinking about CB’s post from yesterday, the one about Brad Pitt offering Quentin Tarantino a “slice” off of a hash brick and a coke-can bong. I keep imagining little Shiloh watching her daddy and yelling, “No, Daddy! I hate it when the nasty smoke monster comes to play. Waah!” And then Shiloh runs to Angelina, who takes out her “Keeping Brad In Line” whip and mutters to Shi, “Don’t worry, baby, Mama’s gonna take care of that nasty smoke monster.” And yes, I am referencing Lost in a Brangelina fantasy.

Anyhoodle, this story just made me think about that. Because it’s about Saint Angelina, and her holy progeny, Saint Shiloh. And before everyone jumps down my throat for saying the dreaded “saint” word – I didn’t say it first, and I have never said that about Angelina. I don’t think she’s a saint. I just think she’s a good, interesting person that is the target of some of the nastiest gossip out there. This is a fawning story from Life & Style about people referring to Angelina as a “saint”. The people are a group of kids that were helped by donations from the Jolie-Pitt Foundation to a Namibian school. Unfortunately, the tagline for this story is “Shiloh Rescued a Village of Kids!”

The children attending the Okanimekwa school in Namibia have never seen an Angelina Jolie movie or read about her and Brad Pitt in magazines.

Yet they’re certain how they feel about the star. “She’s a very special person, and we’ll never forget her,” 16-year-old student Emiliana Shikongo tells Life & Style.

“She must be a holy person,” adds another student, Andreas Kristofelius, 17. “I think Angelina Jolie must be a saint.”

The reason for their adoration? Angelina changed the lives of the 589 children at the school — along with thousands of other Namibians — after giving birth to daughter Shiloh in the African nation in 2006.

When Angie and Brad sold Shiloh’s baby pictures, they said that the proceeds, a reported $4 million, would go to help children in Africa and other parts of the world.

[From Life & Style]

Well, that’s lovely. I guess that the part about the donated money is true, but I would also guess the kids were probably coached to say certain things. Or perhaps Shiloh did don a cape and run into the school to save all of those kids. Anything’s possible with that little saint.

Brad Pitt is still making some news on his promotional tour for Inglorious Basterds, although he’s sort of disappeared. I’m pretty sure Brad and his family are in France now, and Brad didn’t even show up to the New York premiere of Basterds earlier this week. Fox News 411 has an exclusive clip of the movie, and it’s just added to my excitement. This movie looks like a lot of fun – of course, I’m a Tarantino fan, so I know what to expect. Lots of blood. Lots of humor that’s right on the knife’s edge of creepy.

The second part of his interview with Ann Curry aired yesterday. There’s wasn’t much in the second part, though. Not like Brad’s confession in the first part, about how “the greater the love, the greater the loss”. Brad talked about Basterds, and how he’s signed on for voice work in a new Dreamworks animated film, Oobermind. HuffPo has the rundown:

Brad Pitt plays a Nazi-scalping lieutenant from the Tennessee mountains in ‘Inglourious Basterds,’ Quentin Tarantino’s WWII epic/Nazi revenge fantasy that opens Friday.

“People lose some hair,” he told Ann Curry Tuesday on the Today Show. “I lead a renegade group who takes scalps.”

Probably not something he and Angelina Jolie will take their kids to see, but Pitt revealed another, less grisly project that will be family friendly.

“I’m doing a voice for an animation film. With Robert Downey Jr., Tina Fey. A superhero who wants out,” he said. “He doesn’t want to be a superhero anymore.”

“Is this autobiographical?” Curry asked.

“It’s not,” said Pitt. “But that sounded like an angle.”

Reports indicate the movie, due to hit theaters in November 2010, is called ‘Oobermind’ and that Will Ferrell has replaced Downey Jr. as the star. Pitt said his kids inspired him to take on the role. “It’s something they’ll enjoy, think dad’s cool,” he said.

[From Huffington Post]

Meanwhile, Quentin Tarantino has been making some major publicity rounds, giving all sorts of interviews. Tarantino told the New York Daily News that he’s already writing a prequel to Basterds, and he claimed, “A lot of the actors would really like to do it. If the movie proves to be very popular, then we’ll do it.” Eli Roth says the prequel is about his character and “Brad’s character in Italy. We’ve already signed up – we told Quentin we absolutely want to do it. On set, we’d be like, ‘Do a prequel!’ and Brad would be yelling ‘Prequel!’ in between takes.” It sounds interesting. I’ve always wondered why there haven’t been more Hollywood films about the Italian front of WWII – a lot of stuff happened in Italy, and soldiers on all sides fought bitterly.

Lastly, we have Tarantino’s appearance on David Letterman on Monday night. The part everyone is talking about is where Quentin talks about Brad, and how Brad would always fall asleep in the set of Basterds. Here’s the transcribed version:

Letterman: Honestly, we’re glad that you’re here. We would rather have Brad Pitt but…
Tarantino: [laughs]
Letterman: Getting back to Brad Pitt… there has to be some incumbent pressure, having a star of his magnatude under you control.
Tarantino: No, no, no! He’s a blast. There is that old adage: You treat actors like stars and you treat stars like actors. And it actually works out really good that way. But one of the things that’s kind of funny is we try to… usually, discourage sleeping on the set, alright, it can happen from time to time…
Letterman: [laughing] We do that in our audience, but it never works.
Tarantino: But… because Brad has a big family at home…sleeping on the set is the only time he gets to sleep.

[Transcribed from The Late Show with David Letterman, Monday 8/17/2009]

CB wants me to point out that it seems like Quentin “forgot” that whenever someone falls asleep in one of his sets, he photographs them with a giant purple dildo. I don’t even want to think about all the stuff I was photographed with when I used to pass out in college, so I’ll just skip over that part. I will say this – I do think Brad and Quentin got along really well, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they did more films together. Brad could become Quentin’s new muse, like Uma Thurman!

Quentin Tarantino is shown with Eli Roth an an Inglourious Basterds screening last night in NY. Credit: WENN.com

Fox News’ Pop Tarts talked to Brad Pitt at the premiere of Inglourious Basterds, and they’ve just got around to writing up his comments now. Brad doesn’t really come across as some brilliant artist as he pontificates on the joys of “kicking ass”. He also claims that after this role, he walks with “a little more swagger”. Brad jokes about the paparazzi, but the sarcasm is sort of lost and I took him seriously for a second when he started in about how the paparazzi are “kind, generous” people. Pop Tarts also got Diane Kruger and Quentin Tarantino to talk about the history of that WWII period, and whether present-day Germany still feels it:

Brad Pitt may have turned into a humanitarian hottie since hooking up with Angelina Jolie, however the star of Quentin Tarantino’s WWII flick “Inglourious Basterds” still gets a kick of it kicking others. Literally.

“I just like kicking ass, period. Didn’t have to be Nazi, I can beat any ass. Any ass I like kicking. I just kick it,” Pitt enthused at last week’s Hollywood premiere, adding that since playing an American commando out to demoralize the Nazi regime he has become “a little tougher” and now walks with “a little more swagger”.

But oddly enough, the pesky paps actually aren’t on Pitt’s hit list.

“Paparazzi are my friends, they take good care of me,” he said with a smile. “They are really kind and generous and thoughtful people who make the world a better place.”

On a somewhat more serious note, Pitt’s German-raised co-star Diane Kruger said that educational procedures have been put in place to avoid any more Hitleresque dynasties from coming to fruition, although she feels no guilt over the historic tragedy.

“Every kid has to go to a concentration camp and it’s definitely part of making sure it never happens again,” Kruger said. “It’s been 60 years, so my generation or younger, we really don’t have any reference or any guilt feelings in that sense to our ancestors. It’s funny because it’s come up so much, how is Germany going to react? But the truth is, we don’t like to hang on to dear old Adolf any more than the rest of the world and if anything, we would have liked to kill him ourselves.”

In fact, Tarantino said that so far it’s the Germans who have given the flick the warmest reception.

“They already love the piece because we made it there. With the possible exception of Jews, if there’s anybody that’s had fantasies of bringing down the 3rd Reich, it’s the last few generations of Germans that have had to live under this shadow,” Tarantino told Tarts. “A lot of the German actors in my movie, this isn’t the first time they’ve put on Nazi uniforms, it’s just this thing that hovers over them culturally. They’ve thought about it a lot so when they read the script and when they see the movie, they’re like ‘hell yeah!’”

[From Fox News]

I found Diane’s comments the most interesting. There really aren’t that many German artists who have reached a certain level of success in America, so I think we Americans look at someone like Diane and think “If she says it’s okay, it’s probably okay.” And really, why would present-day Germany be upset with Tarantino and the film? He brought the film production to Germany, he hired a ton of German actors and extras, and he many Germans are probably happy with the added industry. There are still many questions about how Taratnino treated the era as far as historical accuracy – but I tend to think that Tarantino wasn’t really trying to make a historial film, only a bloody, kick-ass revenge film that happened to be set during WWII.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are shown at the Inglourious Basterds premiere on 8/10/09. Credit: WENN.com

Brad Pitt has been opening up to the press while promoting his new film, Inglourious Basterds, out this Friday. He’s had some candid talk about his family, religion, and smoking pot. Pitt told both Parade and Bill Maher that he’d smoked up in the past but had given it up because “I’m a dad now. You want to be alert and my eyes used to glaze over when I did that.” It turns out that Pitt probably still enjoys the herb when he can. Director Quentin Tarantino told Howard Stern on his show yesterday that Brad gave him some hash in the summer of 2008 when he visited him in France. At first he didn’t say that Brad smoked it with him, just that Brad shaved some off and gave it to him before Quentin had to leave to go back to his hotel. Later in the interview Quentin admitted smoking the hash with Brad when the kids were asleep in the middle of the night. The time frame given was when Angelina was in the hospital waiting for the twins to be born, so that would have been the summer of 2008.

Howard asked if Angelina had come home while he was visiting with Brad. He said that she was in the hospital at the time having twins. Howard asked if they have help there at their house because Brad and Angelina claim they don’t. Quentin said they do have friends that help them out.

Quentin said he was at Brad and Agelina’s until about 3 in the morning. Howard asked if he ever worried that he was annoying them by staying so late. Quentin said that he had flown all the way to France to visit them so he didn’t think that would come up.

Quentin said that things eventually ended and he went to his hotel. He said that Brad had this big brick of hash and he was going to give him some for the night. He said that Brad whipped out a knife and cut up a big sliver for him and the stuff was pretty good. He said that he asked for a pipe to go with it and Brad handed him a Coke can to use instead. Quentin said that would make for a great scene in a movie and he may have to use that…

Howard was going to end the interview but Artie was wondering what kind of hash Brad Pitt could have had that was so good. Quentin said that he gets the really good stuff. He was also saying that the kids were asleep when they were smoking that stuff so it was okay. They ended the interview a short time later and went to break…

[After Quentin leaves, they talk about it on air]
Jon said that Quentin talked about hanging out with Brad Pitt. He had Teddy play a clip of that moment from the interview. That’s where he talked about the big brick of hash that Brad had that he cut off a sliver of for him.

Gary asked Jon how he thinks Brad is going to feel when he hears that he was talking about the hash thing on the show. Jon said he thinks that Brad will be fine with it. Benjy said that he read that since Angelina gave birth to his kids, he’s stopped. He didn’t stop for the adopted kids but he did for the biological kids.

Jon took a call from a guy who said that he was wondering if Brad is going to get pissed about that whole thing. Gary said they always heard rumors that Brad and Angelina were pot heads but they were just rumors. The caller told Gary that he got a Baba Booey license plate and wondered if Gary wanted one. The caller said he tried to get Baba Booy and Baba BQQY since it looks similar to that on the plate. Gary said that he has plates from all over the country with the Baba Booey thing on them.

[Recap of Howard Stern show, aired 8/17/09, from MarksFriggin.com via Perez Hilton]

I’d have to hear the interview to know if Quentin really admits smoking with Brad or if he’s just saying he gave him some hash he had. Either way, it sounds like Brad is still indulging occasionally. Many people think that occasional use is not a big deal, and I don’t believe it will be news to Angelina or anything. She was allegedly annoyed at Brad for his cigarette smoking habit, however, and I bet if he’s still smoking pot and/or hash she wants him to keep it to a minimum. I would guess that he saves it for special occasions, like Quentin’s visit. He’s pretty honest to the public about his drug use, and marijuana is often considered a benign drug that many people believe should be legalized and taxed. The tabloids are going to have a field day with this one. At least it’s Tuesday already so I doubt they’ll get on it until next week’s editions.

This is a screencap of Pitt in 1993’s True Romance. I took the photos below at the Berlin Basterds premiere on 7/28/09.