Brad Pitt Steps in for Angelina Jolie at Unbroken Event As She Suffers Chickenpox

 

 

Brad Pitt attended an Unbroken event with Roger Deakins and Josh Brolin Credit: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages via AP Images

 

Brad Pitt takes his husband duties seriously. The Fury actor, 50, covered for his wife Angelina Jolie on Sunday, Dec. 14.

Pitt hit Los Angeles for the Unbroken Roger Deakins Image Exhibition, representing the Jolie-Pitt family at the event for the upcoming Jolie-directed drama Unbroken. The Counselor star stood in his wife's place, mingling with guests and stars such as actor Josh Brolin and cinematographer Deakins.

Jolie, 39, was unable to attend Sunday's event as she is currently suffering from chickenpox. She recorded a video on Friday, Dec. 12, explaining her absences from upcoming promotional events for Unbroken.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images 

 

PHOTOS: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie: How Their Love Has Evolved Since 2005

"I just want to be clear and honest about why I will be missing the Unbroken events in the next few days," she said in the clip. "I found out last night that I have chickenpox. I will be home, itching and missing everyone. I can't believe it cause this film means so much to me… I just can't believe it, but such is life. There it is."

The two superstars, who quietly wed this past August, have been outspoken about their bond in their almost 10 years together.

"He has expanded my life in ways I never imagined," Jolie told Marie Claire about Pitt in 2011. "We built a family. He is not just the love my life, he is my family. I hold that very dear. I suppose what I've learned from Brad is to be able to have the kind of family whose happiness and well-being comes before your own."

Brad Pitt Charity Work, Events and Causes

Golden Globe winner, film producer, owner of production company Plan B Entertainment – which produced the 2007 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, The Departed -, father to six children and cited as one of the world’s most attractive men, Brad Pitt has become increasingly involved in social issues both in the United States and internationally.

A man of many talents, Pitt’s knowledgeable interest in architecture is focused on worldwide efforts to build environmentally friendly structures through sustainable architecture and design. This led him to convene a group of experts in New Orleans to brainstorm building green, affordable housing on a large scale to help those families most in need after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. That same group now formally comprises The Make It Right Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to the object of financing and constructing 150 new houses in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, rebuilding lives and communities with an emphasis on sustainability and affordability.

Thus environmental organization Global Green, a national environmental non-profit fostering a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future by reconnecting humanity with the environment, are involved in the project.

“We’ve got to push to get these levees taken care of in the correct fashion,” Pitt told reporters at a news conference in the hurricane-ravaged working class neighborhood. Pitt has committed $5 million in donations.

In October 2008, the first six homes were completed. In March 2009, Pitt met with U.S. President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, promoting his concept of “green housing” as a national model, and discussed possibilities of federal funding.

In September 2009, Pitt received an award from the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built and operated, in recognition of the green housing concept used for the Make It Right foundation.
 
This steady commitment to aid humanitarian causes around the world has lead Pitt to show his heart through the giving of time and resources to countless causes. According to tax records, in 2006 alone, Pitt and Angelina Jolie donated more than $8 million to charity.

In November 2005, Pitt traveled to Pakistan with Jolie to see the impact of the Kashmir earthquake. The following year, they flew to Haiti, where they visited a school supported by The Yéle Haïti Foundation, a charity founded by Haitian-born hip hop musician Wyclef Jean, using music, sports and the media to reinforce projects that are making a difference in education, health, environment and community development. In May 2007, Pitt and Jolie donated to three relief organizations in Chad and Darfur affected by the crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Along with George Clooney, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and Jerry Weintraub, Pitt is one of the founders of Not On Our Watch, an organization that tries to focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent genocide such as that in Darfur.

In June 2009, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, dedicated to eradicating extreme rural poverty, protecting natural resources and conserving wildlife, donated to a U.N. refugee agency to help Pakistanis displaced by fighting between troops and Taliban militants. In January 2010, the foundation donated to Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971, providing aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters, for emergency medical assistance to help victims of the Haiti earthquake.

Design jury chairman for Global Green's Sustainable Design Competition.

Newsweek Magazine named Pitt as one of “15 People Who Make America Great” for bringing attention to causes in Africa.

Travelled to Africa to raise awareness for the Make Poverty Histo
ry campaign.

Pitt and Angelina Jolie took time to help Wyclef Jean with his Clean Streets project.

According to tax records, the couple donated more than $8 million to charity in 2006 alone.

Brad took part in the America: A Tribute to Heroes charity telethon for victims of 9/11.

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Brad Pitt To Play General Stanley McChrystal

The Benjamin Button star has signed on to produce and star in the movie adaptation of the late Michael Hastings' explosive behind-the-scenes account of the former Army general's fall from grace, detailed in his book The Operators and a Rolling Stonearticle in 2010

A movie about the rise and fall of General Stanley McChrystal is in the works and Rolling Stone reports that Brad Pitt has been tapped to star and produce.

The film, called The Operators, is based on the late Michael Hastings’ book The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan, which goes behind the scenes with Gen. McChrystal while he was still the commanding general of international and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The book itself is based on Hastings’ 2010 Rolling Stone article, “The Runaway General,” which revealed that McChrystal and his staff had openly and crassly disparaged the White House administration and its handling of the war in front of Hastings. The article earned Hastings the George Polk Award and led to McChrystal’s firing by President Barack Obama. Hastings died in a car crash last summer at the age of 33.

There’s no production date set for the movie adaptation, though David Michôd, who helmed 2010’s Animal Kingdom, has reportedly signed on to write the script and direct.

A look at the story behind War Machine, starring Brad Pitt

The exciting news that Hollywood star Brad Pitt will arrive in Abu Dhabi soon to shoot his new project, War Machine, has somewhat overshadowed what looks like a very interesting premise for a film.

The production, which is being funded by the global internet streaming platform Netflix to the tune of about US$60 million (Dh220m), is expected to spend a month filming in Abu Dhabi.

The film is based on the career of American general Stanley McChrystal, who was appointed to command the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan in 2009. The general wanted US President Barack Obama to implement “COIN”, a ­counter-insurgency policy that involved politics, diplomacy, years more of involvement in Afghanistan and a dramatic increase in the number of troops needed. In his first year in the job, he is widely held to have ­alienated many of the key people involved in the conflict.

In 2010, McChrystal was the subject of a candid and controversial Rolling Stone article, “The Runaway General”. The piece, which captured McChrystal and his boisterous staff repeatedly slamming their government counterparts, ultimately resulted in the general resigning from his position.

Rolling Stone writer Michael Hastings received the George Polk Award for the article. In 2012, he published a book based on his month-long stay with the general in Afghanistan and Europe, called The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan. The book, written in the critical tone Hastings used for much of his coverage of American government military and surveillance activity, became a New York Times bestseller. The writer, however, died in a car accident in Los Angeles in 2013.

Pitt announced in April of last year that he had bought the rights to the Hastings book and would play the lead role in the film adaptation, with the name of the character changed to “General McMahon”. Pitt is riding high as a producer – his company, Plan B, proved that it could handle difficult material and produce critical and commercial results with the success of the Academy Award-winning 2013 film, 12 Years a Slave.

Also in the cast is John Magaro, who appeared in Unbroken, the based-on-fact prisoner-of-war drama that was directed by Angelina Jolie, Pitt’s wife. Magaro will play Cory Burger, a special ops soldier and close adviser to General McMahon.

Interstellar and That ’70s Show star Topher Grace – who will return to the capital after promoting his film The Double during the 2011 Abu Dhabi Film Festival – is set to play McMahon’s civilian press adviser, a character likely to be based on Duncan Boothby.

Emory Cohen, who played a younger version of Bradley Cooper in The Place Beyond the Pines, will play a member of the platoon. Other cast members include British star Will Poulter and The Breakfast Club star Anthony Michael Hall. The big question remains of who will play Obama and vice president Joe Biden – or whether they will even be included in the script. Pitt quickly snapped up Australian filmmaker David Michôd to bringWar Machine to the big screen. A former entertainment journalist, who once edited a film magazine, Michôd is best known for his intense Australian gangster thriller Animal Kingdom, which was inspired by the notorious Pettingill family. It launched the international careers of Joel Edgerton, Ben Mendelsohn and Jacki Weaver, who received an Oscar nomination for her performance. Michôd followed this up with the post-apocalyptic road movie The Rover, starring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson.

Judging from the Netflix synopsis, War Machine will pick up the story as Pitt’s character takes up his position with ISAF.

“War Machine concerns a four-star, ‘rock star’ general whose lethal reputation and impeccable track record vaults him to command the American war in Afghanistan,” it says. “Determined to win the ‘impossible’ war once and for all with a radical new approach, the general and his motley staff of commanders and press advisers race across the globe navigating delicate international alliances and troop requests, the charged battlefield of Washington politics, the voracious appetite of the media, and the day-to-day management of the war itself – all the while struggling to stay connected to the lives of men and women out in the field.”

So the film will be a biting satire, something not seen in Michôd’s previous films. However, when I met the director in London last year, while he was promoting The Rover, he said that he hoped to make a comedy – despite his fascination with the depths of the male ego.

“There is something that fascinates me about the sadness of men,” he said. “Underneath the power and status, the muscularity and the violence, there is always a bubbling sadness, a broken child. I don’t know why, precisely, I’m attracted to that stuff, but I find it fascinating.”

Looks like War Machine could be the perfect blend of all his filmmaking interests.

Brad Pitt’s satirical take on Gen. Stanley McChrystal lands at Netflix

Brad Pitt poses with a group of soldiers during a reception after the Washington premiere of “Fury” at the Newseum on Oct. 15, 2014. (Kris Connor/Getty Images)

Netflix, the global streaming service that brought Washingtonians — er, the world — “House of Cards,” has acquired “War Machine,” starring Hollywood vet Brad Pitt as Gen. Stanley McChrystal. This is a major deal for the former DVD-to-mailbox company that has plunged head first into original and critically-acclaimed programming, according to Deadline.

Originally pegged as a “based on true events”-type drama, “War Machine,” which is based on the 2010 Rolling Stone article “The Runaway General,” is actually a satirical send up of the sausage-making of warfare featuring a fictionalized version of McChrystal, the former commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Remember McChrystal and Co. jokingly referred to themselves as “Team America.”

Pitt, who’ll also wear his producer’s hat on the project, will no doubt have a lot of fun playing “the Boss” and saying things like, “I’d rather have my ass kicked by a roomful of people than go out to this dinner. [dramatic pause] Unfortunately no one in this room could do it.”

It was McChrystal’s colorful candor that cost him his job. Less than two days after the splashy magazine article was published, McChrystal, who openly criticized Vice President Biden (“Who’s that?” the general jokingly asked his Rolling Stone profiler, the late journalist Michael Hastings) was summoned back to Washington and dismissed by the president.

The movie is expected to have an Oscar-qualifying short theatrical run followed by Netflix’s major global release in late 2016.

Game Changer! Netflix Lands ‘War Machine’, Brad Pitt’s Next Star Vehicle

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has acquired distribution rights to War Machine, the David Michod-directed drama which will star Brad Pitt as a four-star rock star U.S. military general. The character is patterned after Gen. Stanley McChrystal, for a time the commanding general of international and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The film is a satirical comedy inspired by the bestselling book The Operators: The Wild And Terrifying Inside Story Of America’s War In Afghanistan, by the late journalist Michael Hastings. Script was written by Michod, whose credits include Animal Kingdom and The Rover. Pitt and his Plan B cohorts Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner will produce with Ian Bryce.Getty Images

This picture package was on Deadline’s list of his Cannes titles, but Pitt and his reps have for several weeks been down the road with Ted Sarandos and his Netflix cohorts on an alternative strategy. With this deal, Sarandos has an opportunity to make the kind of seismic move in features as he did with TV series like House Of Cards. This will be the biggest investment Netflix will have made so far in a feature film, in the $30 million range. It is also the first time Netflix has really gotten hold of a film with one of the biggest global A-list movie stars, in his prime, along with his producing cohorts whose recent credits include Best Picture winner 12 Years A Slave and Best Picture nominee Selma.

The streaming service continues to establish itself in countries around the world — it just announced Italy, Portugal and Spain to raise its penetration to more than 150 countries — and is expected to be in even more by the time this movie is ready for a qualifying theatrical run, and then a big Netflix worldwide bow late in 2016.

Plan B acquired the Hastings book last year and originally it seemed like a straight nonfiction film. It has instead been turned into a fictionalized satire. The book captured McChrystal in his cocky glory, and focused on the backrooms and politics of war and the high-stakes maneuvers and political firestorm that shook the country. Hastings, who followed McChrystal around Europe and Afghanistan for a month in 2010 for a Rolling Stone article, quoted the general badmouthing the White House and its handling of the war. That proved to be his undoing; after Rolling Stonepublished the article “The Runaway General,” McChrystal was ordered back to D.C. by President Obama, and McChrystal tendered his resignation there.

Even though this is sophisticated subject matter and not the popcorn fare that studios covet, any studio or independent distributor would have salivated over releasing a movie with Brad Pitt as its star. But it is also the kind of movie that is often hard pressed to find a large theatrical audience, and P&A is exorbitant to chase that business. Pitt and his advisers instead decided to experiment with the idea that potentially more people would see the film through the Netflix global streaming subscriber base, while still having it eligible for Oscar consideration just like any other theatrical release. Deadline has reported that when Netflix makes a deal like this — or on a movie like the Cary Fukunaga-directed Idris Elba-starrer Beasts Of No Nation or the four movies that will star Adam Sandler and be produced by his company — its model eliminates the possibility for overages because the priority is the streaming service. We’ve heard that Netflix will pay 130% of a film’s budget. In order to get this coup, it paid at least that much or more, but it potentially knocks down a wall that could give Netflix a real shot at movie-star-driven pictures that want one-stop shopping. Netflix will also heavily market the movie.

“War Machine is a rip-roaring, behind-the-facade tale of modern war decision-makers, from the corridors of power to the distant regions of America’s ambitions,” said Sarandos, the chief content officer of Netflix. “Brad and David are a perfect team to make this timely, compelling and entertaining film.”

Said Pitt: We are so excited to be a part of the inspiring commitment by Netflix to produce cutting-edge content and to deliver it to a global audience.”

Said Michod: “I’m humbled to be making a big, bold movie about the whole sprawling, complex, cumbersome and crazy machinery of modern war and the many lives it touches.”

Pitt has hardly abandoned the traditional theatrical release that launched his star. He wrapped By The Sea, the Universal film with Angelina Jolie, who directed. After he wraps War Machine, Pitt will join Marion Cotillard in an untitled Steven Knight-scripted period spy thriller that will be directed by Robert Zemeckis for Paramount. He will then reprise in a sequel to the zombie apocalypse hit Wold War Z, which is being scripted by Knight and will be directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, with Plan B producing.

Pitt is repped by CAA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Alan Hergott. CAA brokered the deal. UTA reps Michod.

Netflix Nabs Brad Pitt Film About Gen. McChrystal

Originally titled 'The Operators,' the film is now dubbed 'War Machine' and will be directed by 'Animal Kingdom' helmer David Michod.

Netflix has scooped up rights to the Brad Pitt film about the rise and fall of General Stanley McChrystal that was being shopped at the Cannes film market.

Animal Kingdom helmer David Michod wrote the screenplay and will direct the satire, originally titled The Operators and now dubbed War Machine, which will be produced by Netflix and Pitt's Plan B. New Regency and RatPac Entertainment, who were once onboard the project, are no longer involved.

The film, which begins shooting in August, will be streamed in 2016 on Netflix and get a theatrical release as well.

Based on the late Michael Hastings' controversial best-seller The Operators, the story centers on the commanding general of international and U.S. forces in Afghanistan and offers a behind-the-scenes portrait of our military commanders, their high-stakes maneuvers and the ensuing political firestorm that shook the United States when he was forced to resign. But the film has changed course from its original dramatic vision when the rights were bought, and will now be tonally in the vein of Wag the Dog. Pitt will star as Gen. McChrystal.

“War Machine is a rip-roaring, behind-the-facade tale of modern war decision-makers, from the corridors of power to the distant regions of America’s ambitions,“ Netflix chief content officerTed Sarandos said. “Brad and David are a perfect team to make this timely, compelling and entertaining film.”

Added Pitt: “We are so excited to be a part of the inspiring commitment by Netflix to produce cutting-edge content and to deliver it to a global audience.”

The project has been around since Pitt optioned Hastings' book, which stemmed from a Rolling Stone article, in 2013. Michod boarded the project a year ago and began adapting the screenplay.

“I’m humbled to be making a big, bold movie about the whole sprawling, complex, cumbersome and crazy machinery of modern war and the many lives it touches,” said Michod, who is repped by UTA and attorneys Alan Wertheimer and Kimberly Jaime.

Plan B partners Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner also are producing alongside Ian Bryce.

CAA, which reps Pitt alongside Brillstein Entertainment and attorney Alan Hergott, handled domestic rights.