On Saturday night, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie decided to fight the rumors by making a big public outing. Unfortunately for all, Brad and Angelina often decide to make their big public outings when very few photo agencies are set up, so I can’t find anything of Angelina beyond these two Getty photos below. Brad, however, spoke on stage about Quentin Tarantino (his Basterds director, and a nominee for Best Director last night), and Brad and Quentin posed for many, many photos. Also, Quentin didn’t end up winning last night - but Avatar director James Cameron didn’t win either! Shocking! Instead, the Best Director prize went to Kathryn Bigelow, for The Hurt Locker. It was the first time a woman won the big prize, and it means that the Best Director and Best Picture Oscar races are wide open.

So much for those breakup rumors!

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie stepped out Saturday night to attend the Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles – and observers say the couple were as happy as can be.

“They looked very giggly,” an onlooker tells PEOPLE.

Pitt, who was at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza to introduce his Inglourious Basterds director Quentin Tarantino, was an attentive companion to Jolie, a surprise guest, who wore a gray, single-shoulder Elie Saab gown with gold hoop earrings by Ofira Schwartz, Stuart Weitzman shoes and a vintage bag.

Pitt, whose curious beard has been trimmed, pulled Jolie’s chair out for her and touched her back throughout the night as they chatted animatedly with Tarantino at a table of colleagues from the film.

“They look like they are having a fun time,” says an onlooker of the couple as they worked the room. “It’s definitely a date.”

And the Winner Is …
Pitt gave a warm introduction to his director, complete with a spot-on Tarantino impersonation, but Basterds didn’t take the top prize. Instead, it went to The Hurt Locker’s Kathryn Bigelow, who is the first woman to win the feature film award, which almost always predicts the Best Director winner at the Oscars.

Jolie wasn’t the only unexpected star to show up Saturday. The other one was Cher, who was a surprise “trophy girl” for lifetime achievement winner Norman Jewison, her Moonstruck director.

It was a long night, lasting more than four hours, but Pitt and Jolie, who stayed close the entire time, didn’t seem to mind.

“They were extremely affectionate,” says an onlooker.

[From People Magazine]

From the two photos of Angelina, she was wearing a rather lovely shade of green. I like when she wears something other than a sack, and something other than black. I wish I could see it better!

In related news, Angelina’s dad Jon Voight still won’t shut up about his daughter. He attended one of the pre-Grammy events on Saturday (for what reason? I have no idea), and when asked about the Brangelina-split rumors, Voight told reporters, “Anyone can say anything these days.” He also claimed that he “just” spent time with Angelina and his grandchildren, and that Angelina “She doesn’t pay attention to it. She has enough to worry about—she has six kids!”

UPDATE: As many have pointed out, the BBC has compiled some footage from the event, so if you’d like to see part of Brad’s speech about Tarantino, or a quick cut-away of Brad and Angelina sitting next to each other, go to BBC online. Here’s a screencap of the Brangelina cutaway:

I have a bizarre confession: I’ve been having naughty thoughts about Quentin Tarantino lately. I’ve always liked him in a non-sexual way, always appreciated his eccentric brilliance and his filmmaking genius, but before a few months ago, I had never really thought about him in a sexual way, ever. But lately he’s made my sexual fantasies, and how. Am I crazy for thinking Quentin would be hot in bed?

Okay, back on topic: Quentin participated in a Q&A session in London a few days ago, sponsored by BAFTA. The topic was probably supposed to be about Inglourious Basterds, which continues to pick up a slew of awards and nominations. Recently, Quentin himself picked up some of the big nominations: for Best Director at the Directors Guild of America (a union which he’s always had a difficult relationship with), the Golden Globes, and a slew of critics awards. Unfortunately and oddly, Quentin’s script for Basterds wasn’t given a nomination by the Writers Guild of America, which some are calling a huge upset. Anyway, Quentin was at the Q&A, and he went off on one of his typical Tarantino-esque tangents about how violence in film is great, because “’I feel like a conductor and the audience’s feelings are my instruments. I will be like, ‘laugh, laugh, now be horrified‘. When someone does that to me I’ve had a good time at the movies.” Okay then:

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, famous for the bloodshed and high body counts and of his films, says extreme violence is the best way to control a viewer’s emotions.

The man behind Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs said what he wants to see when he goes to the cinema is a man ‘bleeding like a stuck pig’.

Tarantino, 46, detailed during a speech at the British Academy of Film and Television how he uses gore to ‘play’ his audiences.

‘I feel like a conductor and the audience’s feelings are my instruments,’ he said. ‘I will be like, “laugh, laugh, now be horrified”. When someone does that to me I’ve had a good time at the movies,’ he said.

‘If a guy gets shot in the stomach and he’s bleeding like a stuck pig then that’s what I want to see — not a man with a stomach ache and a little red dot on his belly.’

He also claimed violence was the best thing about film, saying: ‘In general cinema, that’s the biggest attraction. I’m a big fan of action and violence in cinema. That’s why Thomas Edison created the motion picture camera — because violence is so good. It affects audiences in a big way. You know you’re watching a movie.’

The writer and director, who conceived breakthrough film Reservoir Dogs while working in a Los Angeles video store, also revealed that he hopes to one day make a movie in London.

‘I’ve never made a movie in London, I’d love to do that,’ he said. ‘If ever I had the right story that would be a dream to have an excuse to come out here and live here for a while.’
To those who want to following in his blood-spattered footsteps, he said film school was an inferior way to learn the artform to trial and error.

‘That was my film school,’ he said, ‘and it was pretty goddamn cheap. Rather than studying the film industry aspect, just pick up a camera and shoot a movie.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I guess I understand the point he’s trying to make. Something about how the visceral reaction is good for us, and eliciting strong emotions, bad or good, is what makes a great film. But… anyone can horrify. Anyone can shock. I think Quentin is selling himself and his films short if he thinks that his films are great because they’re violent. His films are violent for a reason, within a context, within a good story told well. Oh, and I would love to see Quentin’s take on a British gangster film.

Quentin Tarantino in London for a Q&A session on January 11, 2010, and at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 5, 2010. Credit: WENN and Adriana M. Barraza/WENN.com.

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 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.

Earlier, we saw the gorgeous red carpet pictures from the premiere of Inglourious Basterds. Now we’re getting some of the quotes from the stars as they were interviewed on the red carpet. OK! Magazine managed to get Angelina to give them a small exclusive - they quote her as saying the twins “are great, they’re walking.”

Meanwhile People Magazine got the exclusive with Brad. Brad talks about his thick Southern accent for the film, and how Maddox even copied it up for a short time. This is because, according to director Quentin Tarantino, Brad stayed in character most of the time. Tarantino told Rotten Tomatoes: “Brad was a blast. He was a blast in this role… one of the things that was so cool was, a lot of his character is about rhythm - the way he speaks - and he loved that character so much, he would stay in character for the most part during the day. It wasn’t some method-y, psychotic kind of thing, or some unnerving kind of thing. He could always respond as Brad, but there was always a little Aldo in there. And I loved the character of Aldo, so to be able to hang out with him all day long was a joy!” Brad also joked to People that he’s a total drunk. No joke, Brad:

Brad Pitt had no trouble getting into the good ol’ boy spirit of his WWII Tennessee hillbilly lieutenant screen character at Monday night’s Hollywood premiere of director Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.

Asked at Grauman’s Chinese Theater if he ever took his role home and do it for his kids, Pitt– who plays Aldo “The Apache” Raine, leader of a troop of eight against the Nazis – told PEOPLE: “I did! I’d tell those little ‘basterds’ to get out there and start scalpin’!”

The proud papa noted that his children proved to be quick studies, especially the eldest, son Maddox, 8. He “picked it up a little, the accent, and it was pretty funny,” said Pitt. “He got pretty good, actually.”

As for the raucous after-hours spirit while making the movie, which also stars Eli Roth (as Staff Sergeant Donny Donowitz) and Til Schweiger (as German psychopath Hugo Stiglitz) – it was, well, spirited, often being fueled by six packs and even 12 packs.

“Oh,” Pitt joked, laughing, “I’m just a drunk!”

[From People]

MTV also had some good interviews with Tarantino and the cast on the red carpet. MTV’s red carpet interviewer pointed out that the film is about a group of soldiers who conspire to kill Nazis at a film screening, so in effect, they were all at a film premiere for a film about a film premiere. Brad responded: “Interesting, I didn’t put that together… That’s surreal. I’m going to go have a little ‘Nam flashback now!”

According to multiple sources, Brad and Angelina not only walked the red carpet arm-in-arm for the photographers, but they actually broke protocol and ran through traffic to greet their fans, pose for pictures and sign autographs. Brad also told MTV that he considers Tarantino, “one of the greatest directors in the world… He’s one of our auteurs. He’s got a very specific voice, and there’s no one like him. He’s changed the game a few degrees, and continues to do so.” It really seems like Quentin and Brad have some kind of hardcore bromance going on, doesn’t it? I love how much they’re talking each other up in interviews. Just yesterday, we heard Quentin describe Brad as: “What’s really cool about Brad right now is that the pretty boy is gone. He’s a man now. He can bear the weight. Brad is at the zenith of his iconicness.” Ten bucks says that Quentin and Brad make out before this publicity tour is over.

Images thanks to WENN.com and Images thanks to Fame Pictures .

These are just a few pieces of vaguely Brangelina-related news. First up, Quentin Tarantino was interviewed recently, and of course he was asked about his Inglourious Basterds star, Brad Pitt. Quentin was all compliments, saying, “What’s really cool about Brad right now is that the pretty boy is gone. He’s a man now. He can bear the weight. Brad is at the zenith of his iconicness.” While I’m not sure about the whole “zenith of his iconicness” stuff, I do agree that Brad no longer carries that “pretty boy” trophy. He’s aged the past few years, and I believe he’s grown tremendously as a man and as an actor. He’s attractive in the way a 45-year-old man with crow’s feet, a graying goatee and six kids is attractive.

Apparently, Brad is still attractive enough for his Basterds costar Diane Kruger to be lusting after him. Diane told The Sun that in her second film with Brad (the first being Troy), she still didn’t get any sex scenes with him, and she was totally disappointed. But Diane did joke, “I did get tortured by him which I guess is the next best thing when it comes to someone like Brad Pitt. Everyone has their tastes and preferences but I’m sure lots of girls wouldn’t say no to that.” Ooohhh… so he tortures her in the film, does he? That’s interesting. I’m completely in the dark about the plot of this film, so any news is interesting to me.

In one last piece of news, it seems Brad and Angelina had an adults-only date night on Saturday, when they enjoyed a “romantic dinner” at Vincenti in Brentwood. Apparently, Brad had just flown back into Los Angeles that day, after spending Friday in New Orleans, where he checked on the progress of the Make It Right Nola homes. Brad brought along sons Maddox and Pax, and Friday night the three boys went to a Kaiser Chiefs and Green Day concert. Kaiser Chiefs’ Nick Hodgson told Spinner, “Brad Pitt was there! It was totally cool. We met Brad Pitt. He had his kids with him… [There were] a couple security and that, but he was just sat in the normal seats. We had a photograph taken just like regular nerds… We had the camera set to video so we had to call him back. He was cool. It’s not the first time [that's happened].” I bet the concert was a boys-only birthday present for Maddox. Who knew that Maddox liked Green Day? I would have figured him for Nine Inch Nails.

Here’s Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino, and Diane Kruger attending the premiere of “Inglorious Basterds” in Berlin on July 28th. Images thanks to Fame Pictures .

Apparently Quentin Tarantino gets a huge kick out of waiting until people he’s working with fall asleep and then taking their picture with a dildo held up in front of the camera like it’s headed for their mouth. The dildo looks huge and menacing in the photos, but I think he’s really missing an opportunity not sticking the dildo in a more incriminating place on his victims - I don’t mean he should uh, invade their personal space or anything, just place the dildo in their hand like it served its purpose and the person forgot to put it away before they passed out. This scenario scares me which is why I’m usually pretty careful about hiding the sex toys before I fall asleep.

The picture of Brad Pitt isn’t done with much artistry and you can’t really see his whole face, but Tarantino was probably wasted when he took it and at least you can tell it’s Brad. The source article by our friends over at The Bild is in German, but I know just enough German to be dangerous. I’m pretty sure it says the dildo’s name is Gerry after someone Tarantino worked with named Geraldine, and that it’s accompanied him on every filmshoot since Kill Bill. It’s always there on a chair when he’s filming, waiting for someone to fall asleep. Brad’s co-star Gideon Burkhardt tells The Bild “I fell asleep and had to pay the price.” That would make me shudder if I all I knew was that there was a dildo and a camera involved.

In related news, the Bild also has some hot photos of Tarantino’s date (semi NSFW) at the Berlin Basterds premiere, Tallulah Freeway. I mentioned that she looked really sexy to me and it turns out that there’s a good reason for that - she’s a burlesque dancer on the level of Dita Von Teese and has performed at the prestigous Admiralspalast in Berlin. Now she’s with Tarantino, or she’s at least seeing him when he’s here. I hope they’re using a separate set of sex toys. That Gerry has seen better days.

Thanks to The Bild for these photos and to A.Z. for the tip!