Tag: Brad Pitt

  • George Clooney, Brad Pitt’s film lands at Apple, Jon Watts to direct

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Filmmaker Jon Watts’ upcoming movie, fronted by Hollywood stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt, has landed at Apple Studios.

    Watts, the director behind actor Tom Holland’s three “Spider-Man” movies as well as indie hits like “Cop Car” and “Clown”, will write, direct and produce the thriller film.

    The project hit the market last week with major Hollywood studios like Sony, Lionsgate, Annapurna, MGM, Universal, Warner Bros, Apple, Netflix and Amazon vying for it.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Clooney and Pitt will star as two lone wolf fixers assigned to the same job.

    The two actors previously shared screen space for films such as Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean” trilogy and “Burn After Reading”, which was directed by Ethan and Joel Coen.

    The untitled movie will be produced by Clooney and Pitt through their respective production labels, Smokehouse Pictures and Plan B Entertainment.

    Clooney most recently directed Ben Affleck and Tye Sheridan-starrer “The Tender Bar” for Amazon.

    The film is set to open on December 17 in the US.

    Pitt, who won an Oscar for Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, will next star in “Bullet Train” and filmmaker Damian Chazelle’s “Babylon”.

  • George Clooney -Brad Pitt movie package sparks bidding war 

    By Express News Service

    A-list actors George Clooney and Brad Pitt are all set to team up again for a thriller film that is set to be written and directed by Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts.

    The project has started a bidding war amongst studios such as Sony, Lionsgate, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Annapurna, Universal, MGM, and Warner Bros.

    Though plot details are scarce, the film will reportedly tell the tale of two lone-world fixers assigned to the same job.

  • Angelina Jolie says she ‘fought’ with Brad Pitt for working with Harvey Weinstein

    By PTI

    LONDON: Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has revealed that she once “fought” with her former husband Brad Pitt for working with disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

    Jolie recently opened up her life and experience during an interview with The Guardian in support of her new book, “Know Your Rights and Claim Them: A Guide for Youth”.

    Written in partnership with child rights lawyer Geraldine Van Bueren QC and Amnesty International, the book is dedicated to ensuring the rights of children around the world.

    During the interview, Jolie was asked about her experience of being disrespected in Hollywood.

    “Well, no surprise, Harvey Weinstein. I worked with him when I was young,” she said.

    Jolie was 21 when she featured in “Playing By Heart”, the 1988 movie executive produced by Weinstein.

    In 2017, the producer was accused by numerous women of sexual assault and misconduct.

    Following the multiple accusations, Weinstein was fired by his own company.

    He is currently in prison after a New York jury convicted him for the rape and sexual assault of two women.

    Jolie had previously said in a New York Times piece that she had a “bad experience”.

    “If you get yourself out of the room, you think he attempted but didn’t, right? The truth is that the attempt and the experience of the attempt is an assault,” the Oscar-winning actor said in the new interview.

    “It was beyond a pass. It was something I had to escape. I stayed away and warned people about him. I remember telling Jonny (Lee Miller), my first husband, who was great about it, to spread the word to other guys, don’t let girls go alone with him,” she added.

    Jolie revealed that she was offered to star in Martin Scorsese’s 2004 movie “The Aviator” but she declined as Weinstein was involved in the project.

    “I was asked to do ‘The Aviator’, but I said no because he was involved. I never associated or worked with him again. It was hard for me when Brad did,” she said.

    Jolie and Pitt started dating soon after they worked on the 2005 movie “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”.

    The couple got married in 2014 but in 2016, Jolie filed for divorce, which was finalized in 2019.

    Pitt’s 2009 film “Inglourious Basterds” was distributed and co-financed by the Weinstein Company.

    Jolie alleged in the interview that against her wishes, Pitt approached Weinstein to produce his 2012 film “Killing Them Softly”.

    The Weinstein Company ended up distributing the film.

    “We fought about it. Of course, it hurt,” the actor said.

    In a 2017 report by The New York Times that led to the downfall of Weinstein in Hollywood, actor Gwyneth Paltrow had said she was sexually harassed by him.

    Paltrow had revealed that she told Pitt, her then-boyfriend, about the incident and he later confronted Weinstein.

  • Brad Pitt challenges ruling in custody battle with Angelina Jolie

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: As the back-and-forth continues in Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s heated custody case, lawyers of the ‘Fury’ actor have requested a review, after an appeals court effectively revoked his joint custody in July.

    According to E! News, Pitt scored a win in May when he was tentatively granted joint custody of their five minor children. The order, however, came from Judge John Ouderkirk, who officiated the couple’s wedding seven years ago.

    This led Jolie to try to discount the judge’s ruling; her team said the judge “exhibited bias.” A California appeals court in July approved her request to disqualify the judge.

    Ouderkirk failed to “disclose multiple professional, business and financial relationships, ongoing during the course of the matter, with Pitt’s counsel and their law firms,” according to Jolie’s legal team.

    As a result, Jolie retained full-time custody of their kids, while Pitt maintained only visitation rights.

    So, the ‘Moneyball’ actor has now responded in court, filing a petition with the California Supreme Court to review the case, which E! News obtained on September 1.

    The petition read, “The Court of Appeal effectively upended the constitutionally authorized temporary judging system in California and generated widespread confusion, uncertainty, and instability for judges, litigants, and the California judicial system as a whole.”

    Regarding the Oscar winners’ custody case, the petition stated, “After more than four years of contentious litigation, every day of which has harmed the children and their father, an important and considered custody decision will be entirely undone as a result of an administrative error that is wholly unrelated to the merits of the custody dispute itself.”

    Pitt’s camp has accused Jolie of waiting three and a half years to seek disqualification of Judge Ouderkirk, even though she was allegedly “made aware of Judge Ouderkirk’s significant professional history with Pitt’s counsel from the very start.”

    Pitt’s team has put forth the argument that the judge was “improperly disqualified after providing a detailed, fact-based custodial decision,” said his lawyer, Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., in a statement to E! News.

    The attorney said this type of “strategic” disqualification can “cause irreparable harm” to the children and families involved “by unnecessarily prolonging” the legal battle. Boutrous stated, “Allowing this kind of crafty litigation strategy will deprive parents of irreplaceable time with their children.”

    However, Jolie’s lawyer praised the appeals court for disqualifying the judge and giving the Maleficent actress full custody. In a statement to E! News, her lawyer Robert A. Olson said, “The Court of Appeal unanimously refused to tolerate the ethical violations of the private judge.” 

  • Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt divorce judge disqualified by appeals court

    By Associated Press
    LOS ANGELES: Angelina Jolie scored a major victory Friday, July 23, in her divorce with Brad Pitt when a California appeals court agreed with her that the private judge deciding who gets custody of their children should be disqualified.The 2nd District Court of Appeal agreed with Jolie that Judge John W. Ouderkirk didn’t sufficiently disclose business relationships with Pitt’s attorneys.”Judge Ouderkirk’s ethical breach, considered together with the information disclosed concerning his recent professional relationships with Pitt’s counsel, might cause an objective person, aware of all the facts, reasonably to entertain a doubt as to the judge’s ability to be impartial. Disqualification is required,” the court ruled.The decision means that the custody fight over the couple’s five minor children, which was nearing an end, could just be getting started.The judge already ruled the pair divorced, but separated the child custody issues.Like many celebrity couples, Pitt and Jolie opted to hire their own judge to increase their privacy in the divorce proceedings.”The appeals court ruling was based on a technical procedural issue. The facts haven’t changed. There is an extraordinary amount of factual evidence which led the judge — and the many experts who testified — to reach their clear conclusion about what is in the children’s best interests,” a statement by Pitt’s representative said. “We will continue to do what’s necessary legally based on the detailed findings of what’s best for the children.”Details of the custody rulings have not been publicly released.Jolie and Pitt have six children: 19-year-old Maddox, 17-year-old Pax, 16-year-old Zahara, 15 year-old Shiloh, 12-year-old Vivienne and 12-year-old Knox. Only the five minors are subject to custody decisions. Ouderkirk declined to disqualify himself when Jolie asked him to in a filing in August. A lower court judge ruled that Jolie’s request for disqualification came too late. Jolie’s attorneys then appealed.The July 9 oral arguments in front of the appeals court focused on exactly which ethical rules should apply to private judges, who, like Ouderkirk, are usually retired superior court judges. “If you’re going to play the role of a paid private judge you have to play by the rules and the rules are very clear, they require full transparency,” Jolie’s attorney Robert Olson said. “Matters that should have been disclosed were not disclosed.”Pitt attorney Theodore Boutrous said the attempt at disqualification was a stalling tactic by Jolie to keep Ouderkirk’s recent tentative custody decision, which is favorable to Pitt, from going into effect.The court cited several cases, including the divorce of “Modern Family” co-creator Steven Levitan, in which Ouderkirk either failed entirely to disclose a business relationship with Pitt’s attorneys or failed to disclose one quickly or completely enough. The panel questioned whether such an arrangement should be allowed in California at all, but their ruling applies only to Ouderkirk.Jolie, 46, and Pitt, 57, were among Hollywood’s most prominent couples for 12 years. Ouderkirk officiated the couple’s 2014 wedding, then was hired to oversee their divorce when Jolie filed to dissolve the marriage in 2016. They were declared divorced in April 2019, after their lawyers asked for a judgment that allowed a married couple to be declared single while other issues remained, including finances and child custody.In May, Jolie and her attorneys criticized Ouderkirk for not allowing the couple’s children to testify in the proceedings.The actress also said the judge “has failed to adequately consider” a section of the California courts code, which says it is detrimental to the best interest of the child if custody is awarded to a person with a history of domestic violence. Her filing did not give details about what it was referring to, but her lawyers submitted a document under seal in March that purportedly offers additional information.The ruling does not address whether the children should be allowed to testify in the case. 

  • Jennifer Aniston clarifies ‘there’s no oddness at all’ with ex Brad Pitt

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: ‘Friends’ star Jennifer Aniston in a recent interview clarified that she is on good terms with her ex-husband, Brad Pitt, sharing that there is no awkwardness between them and they are ‘buddies’.

    People Magazine reported that the Emmy star reunited with Brad in September for a live table reading of ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’. On Wednesday, she talked about the same when radio jockey Howard Stern questioned her about her equation with Brad.

    “It was absolutely fun. Brad and I are buddies, we’re friends,” Aniston said on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show, as she appeared alongside her Friends costars, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox.

    “And we speak, and there’s no oddness at all, except for everyone that probably watched it and was wanting there to be, or assumed there to be,” Aniston continued.

    Talking about the love interests they portrayed on the virtual reading session of ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’, she said, “We had fun, and it was for a great cause, [Sean Penn’s community relief nonprofit] CORE.”

    On a related note, the last time Jennifer and Brad acted together was for an episode of ‘Friends’.

    They were married from 2000 to 2005. The exes rekindled their friendship following Brad’s divorce with actor Angelina Jolie. Brad attended Jennifer’s 50th birthday in 2019. He and Jennifer also shared a friendly moment at the 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards.

    ‘The Morning Show’ actor was later married to Justin Theroux, from 2015 to 2017. The two remain on friendly terms and still FaceTime each other.

    Meanwhile, in recent weeks, Brad has been linked to model Nicole Poturalski.

  • Brad Pitt’s ‘Bullet Train’ to release in April 2022

    By Express News Service
    Brad Pitt’s new action entertainer Bullet Train will hit the screens on April 8, 2022. The announcement was made by Sony Pictures.

    The David Leitch directorial follows a group of assassins on a train in Tokyo. Pitt stars alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Shannon, Joey King, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benito A Martínez Ocasio and Sandra Bullock.

    Bullet Train is based on the Japanese novel Maria Beetle by Kotaro Isaka, which was adapted by Zak Olkewicz. Leitch produced the film with Kelly McCormick and Antoine Fuqua.

    Bullet Train is now scheduled to release alongside Hedgehog 2 and Robert Eggers’ The Northman. Apart from this film, Brad Pitt has The Lost City of D, directed by Aaron Nee and Adam Nee, and co-starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and Patti Harrison. The film is set to release on April 22 next year. 

  • Brad Pitt wins joint custody of children with Angelina Jolie after court war

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: Months after back-to-back court hearings with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie, actor Brad Pitt has officially won a huge victory over the joint custody of their children.

    TMZ reported that a judge made a tentative ruling in the case, awarding Brad and Angelina 50-50 joint legal and physical custody of their 5 minor children- Pax who is 17, 16-year-old Zahara, Shiloh who is 14, and 12-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

    However, 19-year-old Maddox, their eldest kid is not included in the ruling, as per the laws.

    The ‘Maleficent’ star had been trying to bring certain shreds of evidence in order to resist Brad from becoming his partner in their kid’s joint custody. She had been gunning for sole custody and bringing out numerous witnesses to prove Brad’s alleged history of domestic violence.

    According to TMZ, Angelina only wanted Brad to have supervised visitation, but the judge felt her arguments that ‘Brad was not a suitable parent’- lacked credibility. This judgment has been announced after analyzing numerous witnesses brought up by Angelina, including a testimonial their eldest son- Maddox submitted against Brad.

    A source connected to Brad told TMZ, “He is over the moon” knowing the fact that the ruling may be tentative at present but it is just a legal formality until it becomes final. The ‘Mr. and Mrs Smith’ actors who started dating after meeting on the set of the film in 2004, separated in September 2016 after two years of marriage. They were declared legally single in April 2019.

    According to TMZ, the divorce was filed by Angelina in 2016 after his now-estranged husband allegedly got into a physical confrontation on a private jet with one of their kids. At a point, he was estranged from all the kids and ultimately got supervised visitation.

    A source close to the ‘Troy’ star told in September 2020 that the actor was seeking “50/50 physical and legal custody of the kids.” Hence, after months of court trials, this turnaround judgment has proved to be a big legal victory for Brad against Angelina.

  • Angelina Jolie says judge in Pitt divorce won’t let children testify

    By Associated Press
    LOS ANGELES: Angelina Jolie criticized a judge who is deciding on child custody in her divorce with Brad Pitt, saying in a court filing that the judge refused to allow their children to testify.

    Jolie, who has sought to disqualify Judge John Ouderkirk from the divorce case, said in the filing Monday that he declined to hear evidence she says is relevant to the children’s safety and well-being before issuing a tentative ruling. The documents don’t elaborate on what that evidence may be.

    “Judge Ouderkirk denied Ms. Jolie a fair trial, improperly excluding her evidence relevant to the children’s health, safety, and welfare, evidence critical to making her case,” according to the filing in California’s Second District Court of Appeal.

    The actress also said the judge “has failed to adequately consider” a section of the California courts code, which says it is detrimental to the best interest of the child if custody is awarded to a person with a history of domestic violence. Her filing did not give details about what it was referring to, but her lawyers submitted a document under seal in March that purportedly offers additional information.

    Jolie sought a divorce in 2016, days after a disagreement broke out on private flight ferrying the actors and their children from France to Los Angeles. Pitt was accused of being abusive toward his then-15-year-old son during the flight, but investigations by child welfare officials and the FBI were closed with no charges being filed against the actor. Jolie’s attorney said at the time that she sought a divorce “for the health of the family.”

    Her new filing says the judge has “refused to hear the minor teenagers’ input as to their experiences, needs, or wishes as to their custody fate,” citing a California code that says a child 14 or over should be allowed to testify if they want to.

    Three of Jolie and Pitt’s six children are teenagers, 17-year-old Pax, 16-year-old Zahara, and 14-year-old Shiloh. The oldest, Maddox, is 19 and not subject to the custody decision. They also have 12-year-old twins, Vivienne and Knox.

    In response to Jolie’s filing, Pitt’s attorneys said, “Ouderkirk has conducted an extensive proceeding over the past six months in a thorough, fair manner and reached a tentative ruling and order after hearing from experts and percipient witnesses.”

    Pitt’s filing said the judge found Jolie’s testimony “lacked credibility in many important areas, and the existing custody order between the parties must be modified, per Mr. Pitt’s request, in the best interests of the children.”

    It says Jolie’s objections and further delays in reaching an arrangement would “work grave harm upon the children, who will be further denied permanence and stability.”

    It’s not clear what the current custody arrangement is because the court seals most files. When the divorce process began, Pitt sought joint custody and Jolie sought primary physical custody — meaning the children would live more than half the time with her. But changes have been made that have not been made public.

    Peter Harvey, a lawyer for Jolie who is close to the case but not directly involved, said the actress “supports joint custody” but the situation is complicated and he can’t go into detail because the court proceedings are under seal.

    Divorce lawyers for both sides declined to comment on the new filings.

    Harvey told The Associated Press that Jolie’s family struggles have prompted her to take a more active role in changing the law’s approach to custody issues.

    “Ms. Jolie has been working privately for four and a half years to both heal her family and to fight for improvements to the system to ensure that other families do not experience what hers has endured,” said Harvey, a former attorney general of New Jersey who has been working with Jolie on policy issues.

    Jolie has sought to disqualify Ouderkirk, a private judge she and Pitt chose to maintain their privacy, arguing that he has an improper business relationship with one of Pitt’s attorneys.

    She said in Monday’s filing that if the tentative custody decision is made final by Ouderkirk, she will appeal it.

    Jolie, 45, and Pitt, 57, were among Hollywood’s most prominent couples for 12 years. They had been married for two years when Jolie filed for divorce. They were declared divorced in April 2019, after their lawyers asked for a judgment that allowed a married couple to be declared single while other issues remained, including finances and child custody.

  • WATCH | ‘I didn’t smell him, I’m not a dog’: Youn Yuh Jung responds to media after viral moment with Brad Pitt on Oscar stage

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: Youn Yuh Jung, who bagged Oscar for Best Supporting Female Actor for ‘Minari’, has been hogging the limelight for the adorable remarks she made about Brad Pitt in her winning speech.

    It seems the ‘Minari’ star has a ‘fan girl’ inside her which shed its inhibitions after seeing the charming ‘Moneyball’ star in front of her.

    Youn, who delivered perhaps the most memorable acceptance speech of the 2021 Oscars, has been trending over social media since she made adorable onstage remarks about ‘Minari’ executive producer Brad Pitt after he presented her with Best Supporting Actress.

    “Mr Brad Pitt, finally. Nice to meet you. Where were you while we were filming in Tulsa? Very honored to meet you,” she said to Brad while he bashfully smiled at her.

    The limited crowd at L.A.’s Union Station laughed at Youn’s remark, perhaps thinking it was a playful flirtation.

    Not only this, the 73-year-old performer kept the quips coming backstage too. According to E! News, when a reporter asked what she talked about with Pitt and if she could describe how he smells, Youn replied with a laugh, “I didn’t smell him. I’m not a dog.”

    #Minari star and Academy Award winner Yuh-Jung Youn responds to a question backstage at the #Oscars about what Brad Pitt smells like: “I didn’t smell him, I’m not dog.” pic.twitter.com/eZs6YGq60V
    — Film Updates (@TheFilmUpdates) April 26, 2021

    She went on to say she has been a fan of Brad since he was “young,” and that she “couldn’t believe” it when he announced her name to present her with the Oscar.

    “Maybe I just blacked out a couple of seconds,” she continued. “What should I say, ‘Where am I?’ or something like that? But I kept asking my friend, ‘Am I saying it right? Do they understand what I’m trying to say?’” she added with a laugh.

    E! News reported that Youn also praised the ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ actor for the way he said her name during the ceremony.

    “I can tell he practised a lot–he didn’t mispronounce my name. That moment, when I got there, I [was] just lost. What I was supposed to say, ‘Should I begin?’ or something?,” she shared. 

    ALSO READ: China censors Oscars success of history-making director Chloe Zhao

    In Minari, Youn played the role of Soon-ja, “grandma” to young David, who comes from Korea to stay with the family on their farm in Arkansas. She brings with her the “minari” seeds that give the film its title.

    ‘Minari’ has been directed by Lee Isaac Chung and it stars Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Youn Yuh-Jung, and Will Patton. The film is a semi-autobiographical take on Chung’s upbringing and the plot follows a family of South Korean immigrants who try to make it in rural America during the 1980s.

    The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony took place two months later than originally planned, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the entertainment industry.

    The nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards were announced on March 15 this year. This is only the fourth time in history that the Academy Awards were postponed.