From Getting McDonald’s with Brad Pitt to Fox News Commentator

Not only did acting help Hyman learn to be more “outgoing,” she also has fun memories of meeting other actors, including a before-he-was-famous Brad Pitt.

“I met Shalane McCall who was on Dallas and, ironically enough, Brad Pitt was her TV boyfriend before he was Brad Pitt,” says Hyman. “He was a sweet guy.”

She remembers going to McDonald’s with McCall and Pitt after an event in Studio City.

“Shalane’s mom, Sherry, took photos of us there,” says Hyman, who adds, “I remember him telling me he was from small place in Missouri and there was a local newspaper doing a story about him. And I was like, ‘That’s great.'” Read more.

Before ‘Almost Famous’ Exit, Brad Pitt Used PlayStation to Form Connection with Patrick Fugit

Russell Hammond in “Almost Famous” is one of Billy Crudup’s career-defining roles, but there was a four-month period where writer-director Cameron Crowe worked with Brad Pitt developing the character. Pitt was Crowe and casting director Gail Levin’s first choice for the role. When young Patrick Fugit got to the screen test round of auditions to play protagonist William Miller, Brad Pitt was still attached to the role. Fugit recently spoke to Uproxx about his first meeting with Pitt.

“I went in and Cameron introduced me to Brad,” Fugit said. “He was sitting in Cameron’s office and Brad could tell I was nervous, but I was also excited to get into things. Brad started talking about PlayStation, and he was like, ‘Hey, man, I’ve been playing this game, ‘Cool Boarders.’ Do you play ‘Cool Boarders?” I, by the way, had been playing a fuck load of ‘Cool Boarders.’ So I was like, ‘Well, Mr. Pitt, I can do these tricks.’ And he was like, ‘Wow, you can land that trick? I’ve only got this one and that one.’ And he’s like, ‘You’ve got to show me how to land that trick.’ Just loosening me up and geeking out about ‘Cool Boarders,’ but really just spending the time to get to know me, make me feel comfortable and that sort of thing.”

Fugit continued, “By the way, Cameron had left the room. He sort of introduced us and he left the room and let us talk for about 15 minutes. Then he came back in and it was time to do some scene work. I remember it being a lot of fun. And then, I think by that time, Kate Hudson was being considered for Penny. I did a screen test with Kate and we did some scenes together and then I flew back to Utah.”

Read more.

Tarantino On His ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ Novel, Retirement, Fatherhood, And Other Great Tales

Quentin Tarantino long has taken his encyclopedic cinematic influences, including genres and actors from the past, and blended them through his filter to create wildly inventive films that have influenced many up-and-coming filmmakers. Now, he has done a similar thing that I bet will not be copied by other filmmakers. After steeping himself for a half-decade in the lore of ’60s films, stuntmen, Western TV series and the Manson family to create Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino harkened back to his love for movie novelizations and wrote one for his own movie, after the fact. The book becomes in a way its own singular Tarantino creation: Using his film as a springboard, Tarantino heads into many unexpected directions while satisfyingly expanding and fleshing out the mythology of the world and the characters populated by Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and others. If you are a fan of the movie, you’ll find it hard to put down a novel that first was published in paperback. Here, Tarantino discusses why he put the same painstaking detail in the book as he did the movie, and where he goes from here.

Read more. Great read, lots of mentions of Brad’s character Cliff Booth.

CinemaCon Footage Reveals Brad Pitt Vs. Bad Bunny Fight

Footage from John Wick director David Leitch’s Bullet Train debuted at CinemaCon, and introduces Brad Pitt as a drifter assassin.

The first footage from John Wick director David Leitch’s Bullet Train debuted at this year’s CinemaCon event, and features Brad Pitt going toe-to-toe with global hip-hop star Bad Bunny. While the sequence shows was reportedly quite brief, especially when compared to other reels shown at the event, it does give us a good idea of what to expect, as well as some interesting insight into Pitt’s character.

While many no doubt expected Brad Pitt to be suited up and looking stylish, this is apparently far from the case, with the actor reportedly looking more akin to his stoner character in 1993’s True Romance. Pitt’s character, named Ladybug, is shown in the footage as “a drifter rocking hiking boots and a faded tweed coat,” with the titular transport looking “gorgeous and claustrophobic.”

The footage then broke into a fight between Pitt and Bad Bunny, whi sports “a white pinstripe suit, killer boots and an edge weapon.” The pair then “slap each other around a luxury cabin on the speeding train,” with the fight scene being rather “fun” as the tussle over and tussling over a briefcase. Unfortunately, the fun times come to a brutal end when “someone gets stabbed.” Mortal Kombat star Hiroyuki Sanada is also featured in the short clip as an “ominous passenger.”

Read more.

PS. Re: Brad’s True Romance character Floyd was just hilarious and I just personally digged the stoner look, he was amazing in that movie!

Plan B Entertainment Hires Carina Sposato & Ernest McNealey As TV Executives

Scott Free’s Carina Sposato and Netflix’s Ernest McNealey have joined Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment as the company’s first dedicated, senior-level TV executives. The expansion of Plan B’s television division is part of the ongoing TV ramp-up at the company, run by co-presidents Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, whose current series slate is its largest to date. Sposato and McNealey will work on developing TV projects for Plan B, which has an exclusive overall television deal at Amazon Studios.

“As we continue to grow and expand the business, we do so with an eye towards building for the future with the next generation of storytellers,” said Plan B’s Pitt, Gardner and Kleiner. “Carina and Ernest will be two great additions to Plan B as we head into our next decade.”

Read more.

Oh and Thank You!

The last few months I have been quite neglecting the website, not on purpose though. I have had to have two big surgeries that both had quite an impact on my stamina and mood overall. Besides that I have two young boys in the age of 1,5 and 3,5 years old and somehow made promotion at my work amidst this all. This caused me to put SB on a pause. Thanks to my dear friend Shann, who is mainly focused on our social media (Instagram and Twitter: links above post), SB stayed up to date. I am so thankful for her friendship, commitment, mutual admiration for Brad and craziness.

However, I am very aware that a lot needs to be added and while I am in recovery at the moment from my latest surgery, I have already worked through our email account and will now slowly add all the news and pictures like you are used to.


Some time ago I asked you all that if you could help with our website bills and some of you donated graciously!

A big, big thank you to Monaki53 (twice!), Shann, Laura and Beth for their donations. It is overwhelming to realise that people actually want to contribute to the funding of my website. It is so needed and helpful, THANK YOU!

If you could spare a few bucks… then please donate. All donations are welcome and of course not obligated. It would make life a lil easier on the webmiss however. All donations go straight into SimplyBrad.com. Thank you!

Esquire

Brad Pitt is adamant that he is not a style guy. “If I have a style, it’s no style,” he tells me over the phone. I, for my part, disagree. There’s a damn good reason Esquire has covered his red-carpet and off-duty looks with some regularity over the years, and it’s not just because he’s Brad Fuckin’ Pitt, one of The Last True Movie Stars. It’s because, whether he’s hitting the red carpet in classic black tie or teaching an impromptu master class on casual dressing while popping out for coffee, the man seems to have an innate idea of what works for him when it comes to getting dressed. (Being Brad Fuckin’ Pitt does help, though.)

I’m about to jump in and tell him just that when he starts expanding on this idea of “’no-style’ style,” and I realize we don’t disagree—we’re just dealing with a good old-fashioned language barrier. “I like monochrome, without it being a uniform,” he explains. “I like simplicity. I like the details in the stitching, the way it feels. If anything, that’s the only divining rod I have.” In other words: unlike so many guys who care about the façade first and foremost, Pitt is tapping into something deeper. He’s focused on how he lives in what he wears. How it works with his own idiosyncrasies and predilections. It’s personal style, distilled—he just doesn’t call it that.

“It’s led by comfort,” he continues. “I like the feel of a Lecia camera or the way a watch feels. I don’t want to look ostentatious, but if you come close, you notice. I like how the lining feels. It’s those details that are important to me. It’s too exhausting to follow trends. And I despise billboards; I just don’t want to be billboard.”

Read more

Brad Pitt Named De’Longhi’s New Global Ambassador

“To me coffee is not just a drink. It creates connections, it allows you to carve a moment for yourself; to pause and enjoy the moment,” the Oscar winner shares with PEOPLE.

The 57-year-old Oscar-winning actor is teaming up with De’Longhi, known for its luxury coffee and espresso machines, for the company’s first international “Perfetto” campaign—and PEOPLE has an exclusive behind-the-scenes video of the filming and making of the commercial.

In the new cinematic ad, viewers get a look at a “day-in-the-life” of the star, who picks up coffee beans, rides his motorcycle along the California, and makes a trip to the gas station before returning home to relax with a cup of his home-brewed cappuccino.

Read more.

‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ Never-Before-Seen Footage Debuts in Trailer for Tarantino’s New Book

Harper Perennial has debuted an official trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming novelization of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” and it’s jam-packed with never-before-scene footage from the director’s ninth feature film. “Hollywood” was a critical and commercial hit when it opened theatrically in July 2019 following a world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The film grossed $374 million worldwide and picked up 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Brad Pitt won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” novelization trailer, which can be viewed exclusively on Entertainment Weekly (check the video here), showcases footage Tarantino left on the cutting room floor for the movie’s theatrical cut. “Hollywood” ran 161 minutes in theaters, but Tarantino’s assembly cut was around four hours. Never-before-seen footage featured in the trailer includes new scenes with Al Pacino’s Marvin Schwarz and Damon Herriman’s Charles Manson. Herriman had a lot of buzz going into “Hollywood” for playing the infamous serial killer, but he only appeared in one brief scene in the theatrical cut.

One part of the book Tarantino touted was several chapters fleshing out the backstory of Pitt’s stuntman Cliff Booth. The “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” novel releases June 29 via Harper Perennial.

Read more.