I Asked Brad Pitt A Question!

Ok, I admit it. When the guest list for this year’s TIFF had Brad Pitt on it I was all ‘Whatever!’ about it. I like Brad Pitt, and I think he’s a good actor, he just doesn’t make me weak in the knees, as, say, Colin Firth or Jim Sturgess might.

That said, I was thrilled to be among the members of the North American press attending this morning’s Burn After Reading press conference at the Park Hyatt. Not only was Pitt going to be there, but his co-stars, John Malkovich and Tilda Swinton, and the film’s directors, Ethan and Joel Coen (last year’s Oscar winners for No Country For Old Men).

I started to feel the jitters after passing through not one but two security checkpoints on my way to the press conference room. And when I arrived and took my seat in the second row, roughly 10 feet from where Mr. Pitt would soon be seated, I could feel a bit of starstruck-ness coming on. Having arrived early I spent the next half hour or so trying to come up with some intelligent questions to ask. And though I had plenty I wanted to ask the Coens (I’ve been a fan of their movies for ages), the teenage girl inside me emerged and I found myself wanting to ask Pitt something, anything, just to have him respond. How did you prepare for the role? How was it working with the Coens? What’s your shoe size? Fancy a drink later?

At about 10am, the chatter in the room was broken by Pitt’s amiable voice saying, “Good morning everybody,” as he, his co-stars and directors walked up the aisle and to their seats at the front of the room. He was looking quite sharp (Really, did I expect otherwise?) in a white button down shirt, grey buttoned vest and grey pants. Tilda and John looked fabulous too.

As per usual with press conferences, several mics are passed around the room so reporters can ask questions. You have to be fast if you want to get yours in before someone else does, and unfortunately most of my questions were posed in the first 15 minutes. Finally I caught the eye of one of the mic-holders and she motioned to me that I’d be next. I could feel my heart pounding, my throat threatened to close up, and even the prospect of saying my name and affiliation seemed a daunting task. All this over Brad Pitt! Anyway, when it was my turn I managed to get out all the pertinent information and ask Brad my lame-o question about preparing for the role. It wasn’t my brightest, shiniest moment as a journalist, but Brad answered, and was extremely polite (even if he was thinking ‘What a lame-o question.’)

The press conference wrapped just before 11 – I’ll be posting a story on it later in the TIFF08 feature section – and I floated out, thinking, ‘Wow. I just spent the last hour in the same room as some of the biggest names in Hollywood right now.’ I was so distracted I nearly bumped into Malkovich. As a souvenir of the experience, I was handed a Burn After Reading gym bag full of swag, including a water bottle, thumb drive, a copy of the screenplay, and a bottle of Kiehl’s biodegradable soap developed with Brad Pitt, the proceeds of which go to global green initiatives.

Nice guy, that Brad Pitt.

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