Bennett Miller’s adaptation of Michael Lewis’ non-fiction best seller Moneyball stars Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, a one-time phenom who flamed out in the big leagues and now works as the GM for the Oakland Athletics, a franchise that’s about to lose their three best players to free agency. Because the team isn’t in a financial position to spend as much as perennial favorites like the Yankees and the Red Sox, Beane realizes he needs to radically change how he evaluates what players can bring to the squad. After he meets Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), an Ivy League economics major working as an executive assistant for scouting on another team, Beane realizes he’s found the man who understands how to subvert the system of assessing players that’s been in place for nearly a century.

A Conversation with Academy Award Nominees Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill and Billy Beane Followed by a screening of Moneyball. February 06, 2012
2011/color/133 min. | Scr: Steven Zaillian , Aaron Sorkin /dir: Bennett Miller; w/ Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright.

Tickets are free and open only to Film Independent, LACMA Film Club and New York Times Film Club members.

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We sit in silent “Fiji” water in the Gulf of Mexico. Swim out and waving his children: “There is nothing that changes your life more than being a father. It’s such a wonderful change your life perspectives. Everything is relative. I would never trade youth for wisdom that I learn every day and go for it!”

He is considering a 50 step down from the canvas: “I want to realize many important projects.”

BILD: You have gray hair. Fear of old age?
“Grey I’m already long, I’m afraid of dying, but not before getting old.”

You can lead a normal life?
He laughs and itches his chin. “What is normal? You have to enjoy it. In New Orleans we can walk. I love the variety of noises and there to open a window and the feeling to hear the music. And to drink a beer on the balcony.”

They love Europe?
“Yes. Our fortress is our castle in France. Since we have our own protected world. A little paradise.”

Read more. Thanks Gabriella. Translation credit to Hefi!

Thanks Sara.

With his first two feature films (Shame and Hunger), Steve McQueen has already established a distinctive visual style, and that’s no mean feat. Most of the great directors have all taken at least double that amount to make their style completely distinguishable from others. Perhaps it’s because his style is so intense and visceral and doesn’t make any compromises. Whatever the reason, McQueen has broken the mould and is consistently working far outside the box to deliver harrowing but elegiac masterpieces, striving to make each scene perfect, making the audience take in every single minute detail.

Another star all set to play a role in the film is Brad Pitt. Until recently, we had no idea of the scope of his role. Unfortunately, it turns out that it’s only going to be a cameo, with a confirmation from the man himself:

“I’m only doing a small cameo, but it stars Michael Fassbender and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and there’ve been very few movies about slavery, certainly that had the impact of ’Roots.’”

Read more. Thanks Danielle.

A massive huge thank you to my much loved reliable long time Bradfan friend La_miga for taking care of my baby (SB) over the weekend and whenever I need a lil break from the world. Thanks sweetie <3

Everyone, I’m not feeling so awesome at the moment but I’m doing my best to go thru all the news and updates and adds to be done. If only to put a lovely smile on all your faces. Brad does that with people it seems, he does for me Enjoy! And hurray for La_miga please.

Actor recipients Kathy Bates, Jessica Chastain, George Clooney, Sir Ben Kingsley, Melissa McCarthy, Brad Pitt, Zoe Saldana, Owen Wilson and Kristen Wiig will be presenters at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Executive Producer Jeff Margolis announced today.

They join a growing roster of actors who will honor their colleagues at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards that already includes Kevin Bacon, Kenneth Branagh, Kyle Chandler, Matt Czuchry, Patrick Duffy, Jean Dujardin, Tina Fey, Linda Gray, Judy Greer, Larry Hagman, Armie Hammer, Ed Helms, SAG President Ken Howard, Regina King, John Krasinski, Julianna Margulies, Natalie Portman, Maya Rudolph, Kyra Sedgwick, Octavia Spencer, Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams and Dick Van Dyke.

Brad Pitt has earned his fifth SAG Award nomination for his lead performance in “Moneyball.” Pitt received an Actor in 2010 as a member of the cast in “Inglourious Basterds” and can next been seen starring in “Cogan’s Trade” and “World War Z,” films he also produced with his production company, Plan B Entertainment.

SAG Awards(R) will be Simulcast Live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 at 8 p.m. (ET) / 5 p.m. (PT)

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The superstar with multiple Oscar nominations has everything: a brilliant career, a partner he wants to marry and, in “Moneyball,” a seeming disaster he turned into a masterpiece. Still, Hollywood’s producer-actor confesses to earlier bouts of depression and a relentless need to question just about everything (himself included): “This idea of perpetual happiness is crazy and overrated.”

Try to set up an interview with Brad Pitt, and you instantly plunge into his almost Dada-esque world.

After all, where do you go? A restaurant rendez­vous would devolve into a scrum of gawkers and gapers; his suggestion that we meet at this reporter’s office creates such a stir among jaded journalists, it is rapidly nixed; and Pitt’s house in the Hollywood Hills is apparently out of bounds, reserved for his partner, Angelina Jolie, and their six kids — and those inquiring minds eager to know about a decapitated head found nearby only days before.

So it is, like participants in the witness protection program, that we find ourselves ensconced in a 14th-floor suite at Hollywood’s W Hotel this Jan. 20 — chosen because Pitt’s Cadillac Escalade can make a quick in-and-out to avoid the paparazzi thirsting to behold him.

Pitt doesn’t blame them. Media reports surfaced hours earlier that police had interviewed his bodyguard about human limbs scattered near the Hollywood sign. Still, he can’t help being bemused. “I was watching CNN, and they said, ‘Brad Pitt’s home!’ and, ‘Brad Pitt’s bodyguard!’ “ he laughs in disbelief. “I’m like: ‘Why? Why?’ “

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And the ‘behind the scenes’ of the cover photoshoot:

Brad covers the latest The Hollywood Reporter magazine with a lovely new photoshoot and online interview as well. Check out the video, thanks to Lynn. Also made some screencaps as he is looking oh so very lovely. Thanks Gabriella.

Saying he was “dizzy with joy … and caffeine,” Brad Pitt had plenty to celebrate early Tuesday morning after the Oscar nominations were announced in Beverly Hills.

Not only did he receive a nod for Best Actor in Moneyball, but that film, along with his movie Tree of Life, were both nominated for Best Picture.

But the star, 48, isn’t solely about celebrating himself.

“I am especially over the moon for Jonah [Hill] (and the other Moneyballers acknowledged today),” Pitt said in a statement. “Considering both films … nearly didn’t make it to the screen, this is especially sweet.”

Pitt’s plan to honor his fellow nominees this very special morning? “Pancakes for everyone.”

Read more. Thanks Danielle.

It’s been a good day for Brad Pitt. Not only is he Brad Pitt, but he also scored a Best Actor nomination for his work in Moneyball and watched both Moneyball and The Tree of Life nab nominations for Best Picture. So it’s no surprise that the actor is “over the moon” about the 2012 Oscars lineup. � Pitt tells EW. “So this is it, a great honor for everyone involved.” And Moneyball costar Jonah Hill’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor? “That’s just icing on the cake,” he says.

This year’s nomination is an especially meaningful one for Pitt. The actor, who has been nominated twice before for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Twelve Monkeys (1995), served as producer on both Moneyball and The Tree of Life. “I was working on both films from their inception,” he says. “And just what it took to get to the screen — all the artists and all the craftsmen, all the great talented people. And I’m just so happy that Tree of Life wasn’t forgotten.”

Of course, it has some stiff competition, especially from front-runners The Artist and The Descendants. But, for now, Pitt’s not focusing on Oscar’s Feb. 26 outcome. “At this point it almost becomes apples and oranges,” he says. “It’s a great, great group of films and I’m just so happy that our two films are recognized this way, because as I said, Moneyball was just dead in the water two years ago and The Tree of Life had its own difficulties.”

Speaking of The Descendants, how does Pitt feel about going up against good cane-stealing friend George Clooney in the Best Actor category? “It’s great fun having a friend in there and if it’s not me, then it might as well be him,” he says. I couldn’t be more happy.”

Read more. Thanks Danielle.