The looming Brad Pitt problem at the Oscars
According to court papers in September of 2016, Brad Pitt “choked one of (his) children and struck another in the face” and “grabbed (Angelina) Jolie by the head and shook her”.
At one point “he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children”.
The court filing, based on Jolie’s account of the incident, says the violence aboard a plane began when Pitt accused her of being “too deferential” to their children and yelled at her in the bathroom.
“Pitt grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her, and then grabbed her shoulders and shook her again before pushing her into the bathroom wall,” the filing states.
“Pitt then punched the ceiling of the plane numerous times, prompting Jolie to leave the bathroom.”
Jolie filed for divorce days later. Authorities in the United States declined to press charges against Pitt who has denied any wrongdoing. (In its final report on the investigation, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services ruled that Pitt did not physically abuse any of his children).
Pitt, is one of the most celebrated and acclaimed actors of his generation; an international heartthrob who oozes cool and whose mainstream reputation remains, at the moment, positive. His PR team earns their corn.
But there’s a problem on the horizon as the gossip columns cover every development of his increasingly acrimonious and allegedly violent divorce — a #MeToo problem.
Pitt set up Plan B production company with his wife Jennifer Aniston back in 2001. In their divorce he took sole control and it’s since enjoyed a string of success.
The Departed, The Tree of Life, Moneyball, Moonlight, and 12 Years a Slave are all Plan B productions.
And the company has two exciting films that will be pushing for awards this winter — both about violence against women, about believing women and about the dangers of powerful men.
Women Talking and She Said — both directed by women — are expected to be in contention for silverware, increasing the glare on Pitt, the accusations against him and his history with powerful men.
Women Talking is about a group of women in a fringe religious colony who must decide if they are can forgive the men who have been systemically drugging and raping them (or they must leave the colony and risk not being ‘saved’).
That may raise some questions for those involved but the real hand grenade is She Said, about the New York Times investigation which led to the downfall of sex predator and super-producer Harvey Weinstein.
It is a particularly messy film for Pitt to be involved in, given his own history with the disgraced producer, who once treated Hollywood like his own fiefdom.
Jolie has claimed she was sexually harassed by Weinstein while working on the 1998 film Playing By Heart.
“If you get yourself out of the room, you think he attempted but didn’t, right?” Jolie said. “The truth is that the attempt and the experience of the attempt is an assault… It was beyond a pass, it was something I had to escape.”
Jolie turned down a role in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator because of Weinstein’s involvement in the production. He denies ever harassing her.
Despite this, and apparently aware of his wife’s dislike of him, Pitt approached Weinstein to work as a producer for the noir thriller Killing Them Softly in 2012, which the Weinstein Company later distributed. “We fought about it. Of course it hurt,” Jolie said.
According to Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt threatened to kill Weinstein for allegedly sexually harassing her (she was Pitt’s girlfriend) when she was 22 years old. She alleged that he told Weinstein: “If you ever make her feel uncomfortable again, I’ll kill you.”
Pitt, like much of Hollywood, was well aware of Weinstein’s dangerous reputation but continued to work with him nonetheless.
Quentin Tarantino, who in 2003 defended child rapist Roman Polanski, said that “everybody” knew about Weinstein’s behavior, referred to him as a “fucked-up father figure,” and said “I wish I had done more” to intervene.
In the trailer for She Said one character says: “This is about the system protecting abusers.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5pxUQecM3Y
Was Pitt not one of those protectors by continuing to work with Weinstein?
Pitt is even represented by Matthew Hiltzik, who worked under Harvey Weinstein at Miramax for six years. Hiltzik said he had no knowledge of, or engagement with, any of the allegations against Weinstein at the time. He’s also worked with Johnny Depp.
The reality is Hollywood is still reckoning with the downfall of Weinstein: He was the industry’s most powerful producer and his lecherous behaviour was the worst kept secret in town.
It would be typical Hollywood to reward She Said with silverware — will those who take to the stage condemn Weinstein on the very same platform where so many thanked him? (At one stage was more thanked in Oscar acceptance speeches than God).
It’s doubtful Pitt will be among them, either way.
- Plan B is reported to be exploring deals with potential investors, including an outright sale.
