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

German actor Til Schweiger, one of Brad Pitt’s costars in the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds, personally blames Pitt for the terrible hangover he suffered after their cast party in late September. Schweiger was photographed looking incredibly wasted that night as he left at 2am. He explained in a recent interview that it’s not that Pitt particularly forced anyone to drink, but he did insist that they drink sweet wine, which made him feel awful the next day.

Schweiger also praised Pitt as a co-worker and said he’s a great guy with an excellent sense of humor and very down to earth. Here’s a translated transcript of his interview.

Reporter: You were out with BP and probably relaxing from the day at the set. How is the guy? Did you have some beer or is he really so introverted because nobody sees him, nobody hears him. How would you describe that?

TS: He is an incredibly congenial coworker, extremely funny, likeable, zero pretentiousness, a truely awesome colleague. I only can say the best about him.

Rep: And the big party, was it really such a binge? It was said the last people left at 5 am. Was the there until the end, did you both really take off?

TS: I cannot really judge on that because I was the one who was knocked out the most. The next morning I saw everyone and none of them looked fresh. I think I was shot the most.

Rep.: How did that happen?
TS: How did it happen? Because Mr. Pitt wanted us all to drink sweet wine, he compelled everybody. I never drank sweet wine before and it somehow killed me.

Rep: Is Quentin Tarantino a a good director? Is he rather dominating or more collegial?
TS: both, a mixture

[Translated from interview at TIKOnline.de by my husband]

Til Schweiger has incredibly rugged good looks and is often called “the German Brad Pitt.” You may not be able to understand what he’s saying, but if you want to check out the video of that interview you might become a fan. He is one fine specimen of a man.

Exclusive: filming details and how Brad Pitt arrives on set
This is a pretty weak exclusive or I would make it the headline, but remember when I waited for like 4 hours on the set of Inglourious Basterds near my where I live in Berlin only to be told that they weren’t filming that day? Well now they’re “filming” down the street at the old American Embassy on Clayalee and I stopped and talked to some of the workers there. They have half the street blocked off and guards posted to keep cars away, but one of the guys I talked to yesterday said they’ve been there for a few days and no one has shown up to film yet. Apparently Quentin Tarantino is good for business because people are hired to guard the potential set even if no one films there. The day I was waiting last week they even had a whole catering truck but the filming was still canceled.

The worker also told me that when they were outdoors (I think he said Nauen, but it could have been another town that started with an “N”) that Pitt arrived by helicopter and was able to evade the paparazzi that way. The crew was advised to make sure that no paparazzi captured photos of the cast in uniform, which is probably why they released that official photo of Pitt last month. Schweiger arrives on set by car, though.

Til Schweiger is shown on 10/31/08 at the party for his new shoe line with Birkenstock, Footprints, at Kosmos in Berlin. He is shown with Gedeon Burkhard and Wotan Wilke Mohring. Credit: WENN

Brad Pitt out at dinner last night with his castmates. Credit: WENN
The German press is closely following Brad Pitt’s every move, but he has only stepped out alone since arriving in Berlin Tuesday afternoon with his family. Angelina and the kids are probably holed up in that giant house.

Pitt went to the doctor yesterday – it looked semi-urgent, but he went out afterwards
Brad Pitt went to an orthopedic doctor in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district yesterday. He was seen holding a large envelope on his way in which was presumed to have been X-Rays. It was thought to be urgent as he interrupted a meeting with Quentin Tarantino to go to the doctor, where he was for about a half an hour. Maybe he was just hanging out with Tarantino though and there was an opening at the doctor’s office so he took it. [Details from German language Bild.de, translated by my husband]

Pitt went out to dinner with director Tarantino and castmates, left at 2:00 am
Pitt went out to dinner last night at the Italian restaurant Vino e Cucina in Berlin-Mitte, or central Berlin, with Quentin Tarantino and his castmates from the film Inglorious Bastards. The future co-workers were there for several hours and Pitt didn’t emerge until 2:00 am, looking slightly tipsy, according to reports. He just looked tired to me. Also at dinner were Diane Kruger, Christian Berkel, Daniel Brühl, Michael Fassbender, Gedeon Burkhard, and Till Schweiger, who is often called “The German Brad Pitt.” (And here’s why – the guy is hot!) [Details from German language pressporte.de, translated by my husband]

Rent on their estate is €30,000 Euro a month, around $44,000 USD
The monthly rent on the Palais Parkschloss is said to be €30,000 Euro, which works out to 10 Euro a square meter, which is average for rental rates in desirable areas of Berlin. Limousines were seen entering their compound many times today and a few curious onlookers drove by. There wasn’t much to see though. The Palais was built in 1907 and the main mansion has 20 rooms. As we reported yesterday, the estate is 130,000 square feet, with three mansions totaling 30,000 square feet of living space.

German reaction to ‘Brangelina Fever’ is muted
Just about everyone knows where the Jolie-Pitts are staying, it’s in all the papers and is big news, but they’re not really flocking there except for the paparazzi. Germans are not a celebrity-obsessed culture in general, and tend to be pretty low-key about this sort of thing. They don’t make a big deal out of things or hype it like the US media is apt to do. Here’s a German-language video from Stern.de that only shows the house and footage of the last time they were in Berlin in the spring of 2006. The people on the street interviewed say things like ‘It doesn’t matter [that Brad and Angelina are here],’ and ‘Even if you got to see them, you don’t know them.’ I have a four year old in Berlin and he’s visited Bambooland and Aquadom, the two places the family is shown during their 2006 visit, multiple times.

Brad Pitt is shown out to dinner last night and this morning at the studio in Potsdam. Also shown are Quentin Tarantino, Christian Berkel, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Gedeon Burkhard, and Til Schweiger. Credit: WENN