The head of a Somali aid group says that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $340,000 to help it expand its health services to the displaced mothers and children in Somalia’s war-ravaged capital.

The Horn of Africa nation has been suffering from its worst famine in 60 years, and the United Nations says 750,000 people are at risk of starving to death in the next few months.

Mohamed Dahir of Humanitarian Initiative Just Relief Aid said the donation from the Jolie-Pitt Foundation will allow his group to expand its lifesaving health services that serve 300 women and children each day in Mogadishu’s Badbaado camp for the displaced people.

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The ‘Moneyball’ actor – who is renowned for serious roles in movies including ‘The Tree of Life’ and ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’ – was inspired by the 1977 music-based romance movie starring John Travolta because it taught him about life outside of his home-state of Oklahoma.

He said: “Strangely enough, I loved ‘Saturday Night Fever’. I loved it. But it wasn’t, you know, the bad suits and the dancing, although I can do the hustle. It was the idea of people, well, I didn’t know people could live like that. This idea of a different culture.

“I’d seen only my corner of the world which was Oklahoma and Missouri, so it’s the idea that there are complete other ways to attack life out there.“

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It’s not a huge surprise, but today comes word from Fox Searchlight that the entire cast of The Tree of Life — notably Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain — will be campaigned in the supporting categories this awards season. It’s a strategy that’s been used for several ensemble films in the recent past, like Babel and Slumdog Millionaire. (Babel‘s Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi ended up scoring Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress, while Slumdog‘s Dev Patel earned a SAG nod in the supporting-male race.)

For Pitt, the move heads off any potential vote splitting between his performances in Tree of Life and Moneyball, since the latter is clearly a lead role. But for Chastain, it’s muddier: The actress, who’ll end up costarring in six films released in 2011, will now be the recipient of supporting campaigns for Tree and The Help, just for starters.

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“Brad jokes with me, because I”ll watch a movie and I’ll be asleep in five minutes,” she says in the interview. “I’m terrible. There’s some of my own I’ve never seen.”

She does admit that she manages to watch the ones Brad stars in, however, adding, “Since I’ve been with him I’ve seen all the ones we’ve gone to the premieres for.”

So what’s her favorite Brad movie?

“I think I liked Jesse [The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford] because I knew how hard he worked on that. It’s interesting: when you live with an artist, it’s not the film but the process you respect. I know he took a risk on that, fought for it, stood true to what he believe. He didn’t cave when people were pressing him, and he made a beautiful film.”

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Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment has come aboard to produce Ryan Murphy’s “The Normal Heart.”

Based on Larry Kramer’s semi-autobiographical play, pic centers on an activist’s attempts to raise HIV/AIDS awareness during the 1980s.

Murphy will direct and serve as producer; The “Glee” creator last directed “Eat Pray Love” in 2010.

“The Normal Heart” enjoyed a Broadway run this year, starring Ellen Barkin and Joe Mantello. Mark Ruffalo is attached to star in the bigscreen adaptation.

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The actor, 47, will be shooting scenes at the Essex and Suffolk Water treatment works.

Parts of the building will be transformed into a Korean prison for the zombie flick which has a budget of £125million. The Fight Club star, who famously has six children with Angelina Jolie, is expected to start filming at the end of this week.

The film is set to hit UK cinemas in December 2012.

Filming is only taking place at part of the site, which will remain fully operational while the cast and crew are there.

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You can watch it here.

“It was scarier to work with Phil, because his character didn’t like me in the movie,” Hill said. “Brad and I are the two leads of the movie and Phil, he doesn’t like us in the movie. He doesn’t like what we represent.”

Moneyball is the real-life story about Oakland A’s manager Billy Beane’s (Pitt) attempt to revamp the disgraced baseball team with the help of his assistant general manager (Hill).

Hill echoed what so many other celebs have told us about working with Pitt.

“He’s fantastic,” he said. “He’s so giving. He’s just, like, a guy you look up to for so many reasons. He’s the coolest guy! He started playing pranks on me like right off the bat.” Hill declined to say exactly what Mr. Pitt did, but we imagine whoopee cushions were not involved.

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“Brad thinks I’m going to be a nightmare,” Jolie jokes, telling how directing her new movie, In the Land of Blood and Honey, has changed the way she will approach her acting career. “I had such a good experience he thinks I’m going to be impatient with directors, which I already am. I get impatient with people working on a film that have their head in their hands like it’s the most complicated thing in the world.”

Jolie does elaborate on Brad’s supportive role throughout the project. “He’d come in and say what he liked or what he didn’t understand. Like any woman, I would listen to most of it and fight a few things. He’s been so supportive. But it’s hard to separate the person that loves you from the critic, so I don’t think he’s a fair judge.” But she goes on to say that “people will judge for themselves. I think if you make a good movie people walk away arguing.”

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Note: Webmiss is away for a couple days so im gonna update SB. If you have some tips, please email la_miga for keeping SimplyBrad.com updated!

Based on a true story, “Moneyball” is a movie for anybody who has ever dreamed of taking on the system. Brad Pitt stars as Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s and the guy who assembles the team, who has an epiphany: all of baseball’s conventional wisdom is wrong. Forced to reinvent his team on a tight budget, Beane will have to outsmart the richer clubs. The onetime jock teams with Ivy League grad Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) in an unlikely partnership, recruiting bargain players that the scouts call flawed, but all of whom have an ability to get on base, score runs, and win games. It’s more than baseball, it’s a revolution – one that challenges old school traditions and puts Beane in the crosshairs of those who say he’s tearing out the heart and soul of the game.

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Speculation is rife in Falmouth this morning that Brad Pitt has arrived in the town to start filming today.

Filming begins on the motion picture World War Z today, with hundreds of extras getting an early morning call.

In the last half an hour the yellow SD Salmoor, an admiralty salvage vessel, could be seen in Falmouth Docks with hundreds of people on deck, dressed in dark greens, browns and khaki clothing.

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The film opening the section won the Golden Palm at the last Cannes Festival, THE TREE OF LIFE, a poetic, personal reflection on the meaning of human existence directed by the North American Terrence Malick, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. With only five films on his filmography, Terrence Malick (Illinois, 1943) is a real cult figure in the history of American cinema, having won the Golden Shell at San Sebastian Festival with his very first work, Badlands (1974). With Days of Heaven (1978) he went on to secure the Best Director award at Cannes Festival followed by the Golden Bear at Berlin Festival for The Thin Red Line (1999).

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Ray Liotta is the most recent actor to join the cast of the crime thriller Cogan’s Trade.

Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Javier Bardem, Sam Rockwell, Casey Affleck, Mark Ruffalo, Vincent Curatola and Richard Jenkins also star in writer-director Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of the 1974 George V. Higgins novel.

Pitt’s Jackie Cogan is a professional enforcer who must investigate a heist that took place during a high-stakes poker game under protection of the mob. Liotta will play Mark “Markie” Trattman, the unfortunate hustler who runs the game in a motel room and finds things only going downhill from there.

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“Earlier this week, the Daily Mirror U.K. and others reported that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are in the process of adopting a child from Haiti. Rather, Ms. Jolie is focused on enhancing the welfare and legal protection of children within Haiti. As such, she has been meeting with government of Haiti officials, Haitian legal experts and non-governmental organizations regarding a new initiative of the Jolie-Pitt Foundation. The recently launched Jolie Legal Fellows Program will assist the justice system in Haiti to improve child protection.”

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Vince Curatola is joining his former “Sopranos” cast mate James Gandolfini on the big screen in “Cogan’s Trade,” which begins filming later this month in New Orleans.

Gandolfini stars with Brad Pitt in the flick. Andrew Dominic wrote and will direct the movie.

Curatola will play Johnny Amato, who’s described as “a middle-aged man recently released from jail who seeks revenge upon the people who sent him to prison.”

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