I’m not sure how reliable this source is, but other than their recently revealed family trip to Kenya and Ethiopia, the Jolie-Pitt family has been pretty quiet and under the radar ever since they retreated to France for some peace and quiet (or as much peace and quiet as you can find with six kids!).

An article is claiming that Brad Pitt declared himself too much of a perfectionist and that it’s for that reason that he won’t direct a film. He said that because of his perfectionist nature it would just take up too much of his time and take him away from things that he truly loves and enjoys, like spending time with the kids.

I think that with all of his experience and his love of a good story that Brad would be an excellent director. He’s spent so much time in front of the cameras that he would be able to give good advice to actors on how to achieve the scene they want, and he would be able to put together a truly compelling story. However, it sounds like he’ll stick with telling the stories from the character’s point of view as an actor, and of course he does still help to being great tales to the screen in the capacity of a producer.

Whether it’s reliable or not (it could have come from snippets taken from the press junkets during all the Inglourious Basterds promotions), it’s an interesting topic to think about. I would personally love to see Brad direct a film for the reasons I mentioned above, but his reasons for choosing not to do so are perfectly valid.

If he changed his mind in the future, would you like to see a film directed by Brad Pitt, even if he wasn’t acting in it? I definitely would, just to see how he put it all together!

Image: Newscom

(source)

The other day, Angelina Jolie visited Dadaab, a refugee camp on the Kenya-Somalia border to do some humanitarian work for the UNHCR, but the trip to Africa was a personal pilgrimage as well.

After the camp visit, Angelina flew to Ethiopia with Zahara and Shiloh, marking the first time that Zahara has been back to the country of her birth since her adoption in 2005. Both Brad and Angelina have always said they wish to maintain connections to their children’s birth countries, helping them to remain aware of their cultural backgrounds.

While they were in Ethiopia, Angelina was looking for a good location for a TB clinic which will be built in Zahara’s name, much like the clinic named for Maddox.

Angelina, Zahara, and Shiloh were in Ethiopia for two days and during that time Brad Pitt remained in Kenya with Maddox, Pax, Knox, and Vivienne. People.com sources a quote saying, “The family has been having a wonderful time. The children are having so much fun.”

I love that Angelina was able to bring her family with her to Africa. Some of her work locations with the UNHCR are dangerous and she’s not able to bring the kids, so I’m glad this time was different. It’s such a great way to keep the kids immersed in the importance of charity, activism, and empathy for those in need.

Image:

Over the weekend news broke that – as always – Angelina Jolie had quietly slipped off to do more work with the UNHCR. This time her visit took her to Kenya to visit what she refers to as “one of the most dire” refugee camps that she has ever seen. I read Notes From My Travels over the summer and so many of the places she saw sounded awful, so I can’t imagine how much worse that makes the Dadaab camp near the Kenya-Somali border.

Here’s video footage shot by the UNHCR showing her visit while she narrates what it’s like in Dadaab.

It’s startling to hear that the camp is designed to provide space for 90,000 people and yet necessity makes it so that there are currently almost 300,000 people living there.

What’s especially frightening to me is that Angelina explains how efforts contained the most recent cholera outbreak in the camp but that there are about 7000 people arriving daily and the humanitarian teams are saying they won’t be able to contain the next one. That’s terrifying to hear. In our Western world, cholera is unheard of and to know that a lot of people will die the next time it hits Dadaab is devastating.

Angie goes on to tell us that toilets are all overflowing and refugees are living among their own trash because there’s simply not enough space for a more sanitary garbage dump. To make matters worse, things in Somalia are not improving in any way and that means more refugees fleeing their homes and having nowhere else to go but Dadaab.

I’ve read before – in her book, in articles from the UN – that it’s stunning how kind the refugees can be to one another under such incredibly horrible circumstances. Angelina says that the Somali families have been so generous with each other sharing the very little amount of supplies that they have, to the point where they end up living on 1/8 of the water they should have. It’s one of the few heartening things in this situation, to see people coming together as much as they can.

The video shows Angelina soothing a Somali baby while learning of their dehydration and depleted health. It’s so wonderfully typical to see her with one of the many children.

The video ends with Angelina saying she wishes more people could meet these Somali refugee families because then maybe more people would want to help.

You can learn even more by reading the full press release at the UNHCR site.

I love her movies, I love seeing her out with Brad Pitt and their kids, but in all honesty these are my favorite stories, the ones where she is doing what she is so passionate about and bringing much-needed attention to the people who need it the most.

In a previous post, PittWatch reader Kati posted a link to this absolutely beautiful, stunning video tribute to the relationship between Angelina Jolie and Marcheline Bertrand.

I’m a fairly emotional person and this video brought tears to my eyes, it was so touching. Check it out:

It’s unbelievable to see how much Angelina and her mother look alike. Right at the beginning there’s a picture of Jon Voight and Marcheline holding Angelina as a baby and for a split second I thought it was Angelina holding a baby because they looked so similar. It’s very striking.

Enjoy the video!

(Isn’t Maddox unbelievably tiny in that picture of Angelina and Marcheline up top? He was only about four months old!)

Image: BauerGriffinOnline

For this week’s Friday Flashback I thought I’d go with photos instead of videos. In my previous post I had linked to a really hot picture of Brad Pitt. I wasn’t entirely sure when it had been taken, only that it wasn’t a recent shot. Thanks to several of my amazing PittWatch readers, I found out that it was taken in November 2006. Brad and Angelina were in India while Angie filmed A Mighty Heart.

While they were there, Brad worked to build houses for the poor with Habitat For Humanity. It must have given him a good foundation for figuring out what to do with Make It Right to help the people of New Orleans.

And let’s just say that Brad looks really good when he’s wearing a hard hat and working up a sweat!

More photos of Brad Pitt building houses below the cut!

Read More – Friday Flashback: Brad Pitt in India

What makes one photo nicer (or hotter) than another is entirely subjective of course, but I think I have found the hottest picture of Brad Pitt I’ve ever seen. The story is questionable, because the source is British tabloid The Sun. It’s cute – it talks about how Brad is taking his love of architecture to a smaller scale, building a huge maze run for the kids’ gerbils, including seesaws and tunnels. The story would have been believable except for the fact that it claims they’re spending over $75K on the whole thing. While they don’t skimp on things entirely, the Jolie-Pitt family doesn’t strike me as the type to spend that much on a run for their pets.

But who cares about the story which is most likely to be false? What matters in this particular photo. It took my breath away for a second. SMOKIN’ HOT. And I’m sure Angelina Jolie would agree with me! Try not to drool too much!

Even though Inglourious Basterds is now in its third week, it’s still doing extremely well at the box office. Over the long weekend it took in over $15 million, landing in second place (after Final Destinations, another movie I’d like to see).

In total it’s made $95,226,000 which is excellent since they’ve now more than cleared the $70 million budget the movie had!

I wish I could remember where I read this so I could source it properly; I don’t even remember if it was online or in our local newspaper. Anyway, in the article it said that Quentin Tarantino could thank Brad Pitt for this film being his record-breaking opening. They said that Brad was the one who brought in all the women to the theater who might not normally see a Tarantino film.

I’ve mentioned it before but I’m a HUGE Quentin Tarantino fan so I’d be interested in Inglourious Basterds anyway, but I have to admit that the Brad Pitt Factor raises it up even higher for me!

I haven’t been able to see the movie yet because I’ve been too busy on vacation, but I hope to see it after I get back home. Who else still hasn’t seen it but plans to do so soon?

Image: Newscom

With Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie living in France with the kids right now, news is a bit slow. There are no premieres or films being shot right now, and that means that the family is just enjoying themselves and taking in some downtime, something that is good for anyone.

That means there are fewer pictures of the Jolie-Pitt family but that’s okay – it means they’re not being hounded and hey – that’s what YouTube is for. Then you can see great fan videos like this one.

I love these clips that show all the wonderful family interaction between Brad, Angelina, and their children. I hope you enjoy it and for those of you in North America, have a wonderful long Labour Day weekend!

I always find it to be a great testament to someone’s character when their ex will still say positive things about them. Break-ups don’t seem like the kind of thing that would bring about praise and adoration but not every relationship’s end has to mean bitterness.

Once upon a lifetime Brad Pitt was dating Juliette Lewis and although the relationship didn’t last, Juliette had some kind words for Brad, especially as a father.

She told People.com:

“When I run into [Brad] it’s like running into an old comrade. Good vibes. He’s grown into a fine man and father. Total super father. It’s pretty impressive. Their family unit is inspiring.”

That’s so nice to hear someone say, but especially someone who knew Brad so well!

(As an aside, isn’t that a gorgeous picture of Brad Pitt up there? Rawr.)

Image: Newscom

It looks like Zahara Jolie-Pitt and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt are pretty much like any other kids out there because they love Toys R Us! Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie took the girls to Toys R Us in Toulon, France. You can see the photos over here

Not long ago, Angie took the girls to a Toys R Us in Los Angeles too. Last time it was speculated that they were getting things for Maddox for his birthday. Maybe this time it was just for fun and to get some toys to enjoy while they stay at Miraval.

The photos of Brad and Angelina toy shopping are a bit blurry but that’s good because it means that they were shot from a distance through the windows, which gives them a bit more privacy. You can really only see the side of Zahara and you can’t see Shiloh at all but maybe she’s sitting in the shopping cart.

This trip was right before Brad flew to Spain to indulge in some architecture work.