Earlier this week, Sarah wrote about Dwayne Johnson’s donation to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation and her opening sentence made me laugh:
“…it’s a battle of the A-listers as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made a seven-figure donation to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Relief Fund, while everyone wonders if Brad Pitt is a scab.”
This is because production seemed to be continuing on his F1 film, Apex, last week in Hungary. To be clear, Brad was not seen on set, but Apex is an Apple film and Apple is a struck company; if filming is continuing, even without SAG members, it still gives the impression that the production isn’t quite in solidarity with the unions – and Brad being one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, even if he’s not in front the camera, at best he’s staying neutral in this specific circumstance. And neutral isn’t where you want to be when so many people in the industry are pushing just for the opportunity to make a decent living.
In other words, not a great look.
So… squirrel! Why not focus on his love life instead? Late yesterday PEOPLE published an exclusive about Brad’s relationship with Ines de Ramon. The headline reads “Brad Pitt and Ines de Ramon Are Still ‘Doing Great’: They ‘Are Very Into Each Other’". Sources close to both Brad and Ines say that they’ve been spending a lot of time together this summer and that Ines has been travelling to Europe to see him, sometimes at Chateau Miraval.
Interestingly enough, PEOPLE’s article (and at this point we all know PEOPLE is very friendly with celebrities and their publicists, right?) included this paragraph:
“A source close to Pitt, 59, tells PEOPLE that he’s spent the summer in Europe, where he was filming a Formula One racing movie until the SAG-AFTRA strike forced the production to go on hold.”
Ummm…nope, that’s not entirely accurate. The Hungarian GP was LAST WEEKEND. Even ESPN reported that the movie was filming there “despite [the] strike”. Prior to that it had been inaccurately reported that production had shut down – only for cameras to appear on the track in Hungary, unmistakably confirming that production had NOT been halted.
SAG-AFTRA officially called the strike on Thursday, July 13. The Hungarian GP was the following weekend, July 21-23. What PEOPLE is reporting here is not true, the strike did not “force the production to go on hold” because production was happening after the strike. If you’re just going by their article though, it’s misleading at best.
That’s the subtle ingredient in the story though. The main ingredient is the romance – and this is the takeaway, OK? Don’t think about whether or not Brad Pitt is a scab. Think about Brad Pitt, the boyfriend.
