TORONTO - Is Brad Pitt really an airhead? Hardly. But when the Oscar-winning Coen brothers wrote the part of a clueless fitness trainer specifically with Pitt in mind, the "Burn After Reading" star admits the gesture left him and Angelina Jolie feeling a little disturbed.
"It's a mystery to me and I was somewhat disturbed by it -- including my other half," he quipped before journalists at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Pitt shouldn't feel bad. When Frances McDormand read this dark comedy about a gym employee (Pitt) who blackmails a CIA agent after finding his memoirs, she too scratched her head. Like Pitt, the Coens wrote McDormand's part just for her.
In the first scene for her dim-witted, plastic surgery-crazed character, the script read "Close Up On A Woman's Ass. Pale. Bare. Middle-Aged." "Why should one even read on?" McDormand has said.
"Why should one even consider the job?"
Four words: Joel and Ethan Coen.
Known for such critically acclaimed movies as "No Country for Old Men," "Fargo" and "Miller's Crossing," the Coens' powerful and irreverent brand of filmmaking has made them the toast of Hollywood. To say that most actors would trounce their grandmothers with their Manolo Blahniks to work with them is no exaggeration.
Cashing in on that Coen brother magic
"The thing about working with these guys is that it's playful and the scripts are just so rock solid.
Everything you need is on paper. You mess with that and you do it at your own peril" says Tilda Swinton, who stars as John Malkovich's wife and George Clooney's nutty lover with the crazy red hair.
"Yes, she laughs, "We had a bit of a competition on set for worst hair. We were all going for that Javier Bardem look. But the point is this. Working with Joel and Ethan is like this invitation to come and play with them. It's like come on down and let's see how we can amuse ourselves."
"Plus the days are short," Pitt jokes.
The two actors will appear again later this fall in David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." In fact, Pitt, Swinton and "Burn After Reading" co-star George Clooney make no secret about their mutual admiration for one another.
"I'm working on having George Clooney in every contract. The consolation prize is Brad Pitt," the statuesque redhead joked at the "Burn After Reading" press conference alongside Pitt.
It's a deal Swinton can live with, unlike walking up to the Oscar podium should this new caper score her another Academy Award. Swinton's performance in "Michael Clayton" earned her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2007.
"Sometimes people remind me that there was this peculiar night once when, like in a nasty dream, I had to stand up in front of three billion people," Swinton muses about her Oscar win.
"Frankly it would be alright if they just sent it to you in the post."
Mailing in a less-than-worthy performance, however, is nothing Swinton, Pitt, Clooney and company need to worry about in "Burn After Reading.
With the Coens at the helm they deliver a blithe, bombastic romp that's as full of crazy energy as Pitt's cardio workouts.
And if the dour message of the film is that everything is meaningless -- the Coens turn it into a meaningful hoot.
As for playing a part that's downright dense, Pitt makes his time in fitness club la-la land a wild ride.
"The leading man role is the guy who has got all the answers. He can figure things out. He can diffuse a bomb. He's all experienced. That's pretty good for the ego sometimes," says Pitt.
"But it's much more fun to play the guys who make the wrong choices, have limited experience and make the wrong assumptions. That's were all the fun is."
