I’m going to assume Brad Pitt and Jim Jefferies are friends. And that that’s part of the reason why he showed up on The Jim Jefferies Show for a bit about climate change and Donald Trump’s decision to quit the Paris Agreement. If you’ve not seen it yet, here you go:

What was that? Like a total of 15 seconds of camera time? 20 tops?

I get it, I guess. That was the point – a surprise cameo, OH LOOK IT’S BRAD PITT TRASHING TRUMP!, and just his presence is supposed to be enough…but… is it?

As Sarah noted the other day in her review of War Machine, currently streaming on Netflix, the reviews weren’t great and, while they don’t release ratings information, you can tell it’s not a hype selection because we always know when Netflix releases a hype selection – by its very definition, “hype” means that you will hear about it, whether you want to or not. And not even the most hardcore Brad Pitt fan can deny that nobody really cares about War Machine. Which may be why he’s popping up like this, reminding us that he has a film out, and hoping you’ll care enough to see it.

OK. But how much does he care if we care? To me, showing up for 15 seconds of camera time is kinda half-ass. Especially since we were just talking earlier today about Tom Cruise and how f-cking hard that guy tries, man. He just keeps trying. And I know, I know trying too much isn’t attractive either. But I’ll always prefer the person who’s not too cool to try than the guy who wants to limit his trying to comedy bits on The Tonight Show and Colbert and now The Jim Jefferies Show because he’s Brad Pitt, he’s the top tier of talent and fame. And all of that sh-t is beneath him.

Ten, fifteen years ago, Brad Pitt wouldn’t have had to, no doubt. But Hollywood today is not the Hollywood of 2005. Today the biggest box office star in the world is The Rock. And when The Rock is promoting a movie, he is right up in your face, he is everywhere. Also? If you’re putting films out on digital platforms, like Netflix, and partnering with new media, does it make sense to remain old school? This is not a rhetorical question. It’s something I’ve been thinking about more and more as Netflix’s influence continues to spread through the business and whether or not it’s just affecting the way creatives are producing their work but also how they’re promoting it.