Brad and Angelina on 5/20/08 at Cannes. Credit: ANG/Fame pictures
My husband and I waited three hours at the premiere of Burn After Reading at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin last night. At least the location has plenty of restaurants and I was able to get something to eat as we waited in vain. The crowd was disappointed that Pitt didn’t show. It’s well known that he’s in town and the buzz was all about him. We only saw German celebrities without a glimpse of Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie or even Tilda Swinton – the only castmember who was expected to attend.

There may be a perfectly good reason why Brad Pitt didn’t make it to the German premiere other than the fact that he has six kids to help care for across town, which is a valid enough excuse on its own. According to German reports, Brad, Angelina and the kids flew out of Berlin at 10pm on a private jet. The premiere was at 8 so they still could have made it, but some last minute packing was probably in order. People reports that they’re now in New York city and are expected to attend the premiere of Angelina’s film The Changeling at the NY Film Festival on Saturday. It will be her first red carpet appearance post-twins.

Brad and Angelina have been adept at avoiding the paparazzi in Berlin. There’s a handful of photographers camped outside their estate, but the place is large and it’s hard to tell which of the blacked out vans leaving the compound is actually carrying them. This week the family was able to visit an indoor playarea and even go toy shopping without being photographed. Germans are not as celebrity-focused a culture in general as Americans. There are celebrity glossies here, but the attitude tends to be more subdued. That said, there would have been a lot of chanting and screams of excitement if Pitt had showed up at the premiere last night and the mood was expectant as people waited for him. We’ll have to catch our glimpse of Hollywood elite another time.

Update: There is a video on TMZ of Brad and the kids arriving at the Waldorf Astoria in NY last night, so they would have had to leave much earlier in the day and not at 10pm as some sources reported. [Thanks Kata!]