From Vanity Fair: “Brad Pitt has been busy this summer making his press rounds for his new film Bullet Train – you may have seen him rock a fabulous linen skirt on the red carpet. But behind the scenes, the actor has been quietly working on a new passion project all together: designing a fashion line. Pitt is the co-founder of a new luxury cashmere line titled God’s True Cashmere, along with close friend Sat Hari, a jewellery designer and holistic healer.

Their new collection has officially launched in Selfridges. It’s the first major department store, and first retailer in the UK, to carry the line marking a new chapter for the brand. (The brand was first carried by Paola Russo’s curated boutique Just One Eye in LA. The boutique proved to be a key supporter for the brand and integral to its growth.) “It felt like a natural evolution,” Pitt tells Vogue over Zoom of the line’s expansion. “[Selfridges] curates really well.”

The origin story for God’s True Cashmere – which soft-launched in 2019, but started selling products in 2020 – is not typical. “I had a dream on a Tuesday where Brad was standing in front of me getting dressed by a stylist,” says Sat Hari. “He was wearing all green cashmere, and he told me, ‘I need more green and softness in my life.’ I told him that a couple days later, and he said, ‘That’s weird, because on Tuesday, I did tell a stylist that I wanted more green cashmere and softness in my life.’” The pair took it as a sign from the cosmos, and decided to enter into business together. “We started having fun with it and expanding the idea,” notes Pitt.

The line evolved into a luxe offering of 100 per cent cashmere pieces made in Italy, with the yarns sourced from various ethical goat farms. “We’d love to have our own goat farms [one day],” Sat Hari says. “And to name all our goats,” adds Pitt. Pieces include tracksuits and button-up shirts; the latter, in various plaid colourways, has become their signature offering. “It could be your main travel shirt, or something you want to wear on a cold Sunday,” Pitt says. The duo’s focus on cashmere comes down to its nice soft feel. “I grew up in India, and I really love [cashmere] pashminas,” Sat Hari says. “I find that softness really comforting. When I wrap myself in it, I feel really held.” Pitt adds that it’s a wardrobe staple for people of all genders, ages and sizes too. “[Cashmere] has elegance, quality and comfort,” he says. “It’s also something that you can keep for a lifetime – something you can hand down and become heirlooms.”

Even though the God’s True Cashmere line has a narrow focus, the co-founders have incorporated special flourishes that make it shine. For one, they’ve put importance on the quality of yarns and the fun colour combos. “Brad and I pick all the yarns and patterns together,” Sat Hari says. “There’s a lot of time and energy that goes into it. The most challenging part was finding [plaid] patterns that both men and women can wear.”

Pitt – who has made waves recently for his more daring style choices – agrees that fashion shouldn’t be bound by gender. “I say just wear what makes you feel good,” he says. “Wear what’s fun, do it and get on with it!” Stepping into the design process has been a fun learning experience for him, as well as for Sat Hari. “The colour combinations are endless,” Pitt says. “Sometimes we’ll argue – I’m a tomato red, she’s a cherry red.”

Given Sat Hari is a holistic healer and the jewellery designer of Amrit, she also wanted to infuse the collection with ornamental details that are focused on wellness. All the shirts, for instance, have 11 snaps – seven down the front, and four on the pocket and cuffs – made of gemstones hand-carved in India. “We have seven chakras in our body,” Sat Hari says, “so why not put seven down the front of the shirt, so that all of your chakras are activated?” Each shirt has different gemstones, but they include tiger’s eye, moonstone, amethyst, rose quartz, emerald and more – all varying in different hues and representing different qualities including wealth, love and wisdom. “She worked really hard on it – I didn’t,” Pitt jokes. “She did all the heavy lifting.”

Despite its infancy, the line has already amassed a steady cult following (and with shirts at over $2,000 a piece, it’s an impressive feat). They saw sales grow especially during the pandemic. “People were home, and they wanted something that was warm, cozy and effortless,” says Sat Hari. “You can wear it as pyjamas, or with a pair of jeans or a skirt.” It’s even been recently worn by celebrities such as Jennifer Garner and Mary-Kate Olsen, whose own line, The Row, also masters discreet luxury. “That was cool,” Pitt says. “The Olsens are so talented.”

Looking to the future, the pair has plans to expand their product offering, but they’re in no big rush. “Maybe some blankets, hats and socks made of recycled cashmere,” says Sat Hari. “It was intentional to start really slow, because neither of us have done garments before.” For now, they’re comfortable continuing to keep their business plan low-key – just like their quietly elegant clothes. “We both have day jobs, so there’s no grand design of dominance or takeover,” Pitt says. “As long as we’re having fun with it, we’ll just keep going. We’re not hype masters in any way – in fact, we’re probably kind of crappy at it.””

From The Wrap: “Josh Brolin will star in Amazon’s “Outer Range,” a drama from Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment.

The series is part of Plan B’s overall deal with the retail giant that was signed in January. From writer Brian Watkins, the thriller centers on a rancher fighting for his land and family, who discovers an unfathomable mystery at the edge of Wyoming’s wilderness. Brolin will star as the rancher, Royal Abbott.

Brolin is also an executive producer on the series. Watkins executives produces with Brolin, Zev Borow and Heather Rae. “Outer Range” is the first series for both Watkins and Borow.

Brolin is set to star in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” remake that will come out later this year. He also recently wrapped production on Sean Penn’s “Flag Day,” where he will star opposite Penn and Miles Teller. Watkins is a Brooklyn-based playwright and screenwriter. Brolin also has an untitled project on Hulu.

Plan B is currently producing Amazon’s adaptation of the Colson Whitehead novel “Underground Railroad,” which is set to premiere later this year. The company is also working with Amazon and Legendary Television, to develop “Paper Girls,” an adaptation of the Brian K. Vaughan graphic novel.”

From The Wrap: “Apple Studios has officially acquired the Formula One racing feature starring Brad Pitt, with seven-time F1 champion Sir Lewis Hamilton coming on board the film as a producer.

As TheWrap previously reported, Apple has been in talks to snag the still-untitled feature since January. In addition to Hamilton and Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Omen will produce, with Copper CEO Penni Thow as executive producer.

“Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski and screenwriter Ehren Kruger have been attached to the project from the beginning.

Pitt is set to star as a veteran driver who comes out of retirement to compete alongside a fresh-faced racer against other legends of the sport.

He will also co-star with George Clooney in an upcoming Apple film about two fixers given the same job. Jon Watts of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” will direct the untitled feature.

In March, Apple also landed the rights to a documentary about Hamilton’s life and distinguished career as Formula One’s only Black racer, to be directed by Matt Kay.

Pitt and Kosinski are both represented by CAA, with Kosinski also represented by Grandview and Pitt by Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

The project comes as Formula One has developed a wider U.S. fanbase from the popularity of the Netflix docuseries “Drive to Survive.” The series, which is streaming its fourth season now, gives fans an inside look into the various teams and racers for a 72-year-old racing league that had largely been closed off compared to other American sports.”

From The Hollywood Reporter: “David Leitch’s action-packed Bullet Train, starring Brad Pitt as a hellbent assassin, easily stayed atop the box office chart in its second weekend as no new Hollywood summer even pic opened nationwide.

In normal times, studios would continue to release event films throughout August. This year is different as the entertainment business emerges from the pandemic and grapples with production and post-production delays. Overall revenue for the weekend was around $66 million, a low point for summer 2022.

Bullet Train is considered the last big Hollywood studio title of summer 2022. The film is doing OK business and earned $13.4 million in its second outing weekend from 4,357 theaters for a 10-day domestic total of $54.2 million. One hitch: even with little competition, Bullet Train fell 54 percent from its opening weekend, although that isn’t unusual for a male-skewing action pic.

Overseas, Bullet Train also continued to speed along, earning another $17 million fro a foreign tally of $60 million and global total of $114.5 million.”

From IndieWire: “Don’t get on Brad Pitt’s bad side.

The Oscar winner apparently keeps a “shit list” of actors he won’t work with, according to “Bullet Train” co-star Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

“He is in a new chapter of his life, I think,” Taylor-Johnson explained of Pitt during the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland (via Variety).

While Pitt is a “humble and gracious human being,” Taylor-Johnson added that the actor expects the same from co-stars in return. “He just wants to bring light and joy into the world and be around people who are there to have a good time,” the “Kraven the Hunter” lead said. “You work with many actors and after a while you start making notes: ‘I am definitely not working with this person ever again.’ Brad has this list too: the ‘good’ list and the ‘shit’ list.”

The star-studded, cameo-filled “Bullet Train,” directed by Pitt’s former stunt double David Leitch, additionally stars Brian Tyree Henry, Sandra Bullock, Joey King, Zazie Beetz, Michael Shannon, Andrew Koji and Bad Bunny. As a zen hitman named Ladybug, Pitt’s performance in the stunt-driven action comedy is just another iconic role for the “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” Academy Award winner.

While Taylor-Johnson sustained an intense on-set injury leading to hospitalization, Pitt performed 95 percent of his own physical stunts and left production without any “war wounds.”

“Oh, I certainly went home and went ‘ahh,’” Pitt joked to Variety at the red carpet premiere. “But no. Aaron, on the other hand…Brian [Tyree Henry], on the other hand…The young’ins, you know.”

“We were in a fight sequence and I get drop-kicked across the room. And the one sharp bit of the corner where there wasn’t any padding took a chunk out of my hand,” Taylor-Johnson said of his injury. “And I literally went wham, passed out. And then I came back and was like ‘Should we go again?’ And they were like ‘No, no, no. You gotta go get stitches at the hospital.’ So then I spent the night in the hospital.”

IndieWire’s David Ehlrich praised Pitt’s dedication to the zaniness of the role, writing, “Pitt is having a truly palpable amount of fun in it, and the energy that radiates off of him as he fights Bad Bunny over an explosive briefcase or styles his hair with the blow dryer function of a Japanese toilet is somehow magnetic enough to convince us that we’re having fun, too.””

From The Hollywood Reporter: “David Leitch’s Bullet Train easily topped the North American box office chart with an estimated weekend haul of $30.1 million, including a Friday haul of $12.6 million.

Overseas, the R-rated pic earned an impressive $32.4 million for a global start of $62.4 million.

Brad Pitt leads a star-packed cast in this tale of an assassin roaming a high-speed Japanese bullet train. Other names on the marquee include Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon and Sandra Bullock.

The movie opened in line with expectations following an aggressive marketing campaign on Sony’s part. Critics haven’t exactly embraced Bullet Train, which currently holds a 53 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences bestowed the film with a B+ CinemaScore.

Bullet Train is the last major studio offering of the summer, putting increased pressure on the movie’s performance. Generally, the summer box office season lasts until Labor Day, but delays due to the pandemic continue and studios are seeing some of their films delayed in postproduction.

The weekend’s other new offering is Jay Chandrasekhar’s comedy Easter Sunday, starring stand-up comedy sensation Jo Koy as a struggling actor and comedian who attends a raucous holiday meal with his Filipino family.

Easter Sunday opened to an estimated $5.2 million, likewise in line with expectations. Asian moviegoers made up more than 35 percent of ticket buyers, according to PostTrak.

Jimmy O. Yang, Tia Carrere, Brandon Wardell, Eva Noblezada, Lydia Gaston, Asif Ali, Rodney To, Tiffany Haddish and Lou Diamond Phillips star in the Universal film, which came in No. 5.

Elsewhere in the top 10, DC League of Super Pets tumbled 51 percent to an estimated $11.2 million for a 10-day domestic total of $45.1 million.”

From Variety: “Before he was a director of spectacles like “Deadpool 2,” David Leitch did stunts for dozens of productions, often doubling for Brad Pitt in films including “Troy,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and “Fight Club.” Leitch puts his stunt background to good use in the action film “Bullet Train,” in cinemas now, in which he reteams with Pitt, this time as director.

Based on a Japanese novel, the action comedy revolves around five assassins from around the globe who find themselves on a fast-moving train. Pitt stars as Ladybug, alongside Sandra Bullock, Brian Tyree Henry, Michael Shannon, Zazie Beetz, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Bad Bunny. Leitch aimed to deliver a character-driven story that captures the action in camera rather than relying on CGI and green screen. It was up to Greg Rementer, the film’s second-unit director and stunt coordinator, to deliver the helmer’s vision.

In designing a fighting style tailored to Pitt’s character, Rementer worked closely with Leitch to understand Ladybug’s backstory and motivation. The character frequently carries a briefcase, so Rementer had the fight choreography include the prop. “He wants to avoid fighting at all costs,” Rementer explains. “He’s there to obtain his objective and escape unseen. There was a lot of defending, swift evading, moving silently and tactically. We drew on inspiration from Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton in the way that we wanted Brad to do the majority of his hand-to-hand choreography.”

Pitt was eager to do his own fight sequences, and Rementer had no objections: “He’s a natural athlete, and there was no reason why he couldn’t do his fights based on his background.” Moreover, Pitt’s preference fit well with Rementer’s philosophy. “Whenever I design action, I always try to get the cast to perform their fight scenes as opposed to their stunts” and help them to “safely push those boundaries,” he says, explaining that he’d rather not see a star in scenes where their character gets hit by a car or thrown out a window.

Rementer had more than 16 weeks to prep. While a few scenes shot in Japan, much of the work came together at Sony’s soundstages in Culver City. “We would bring in the stunt team, our wire team and camera team. We’d put up two-by-two boxes so that it was like train seats and film it,” Rementer explains. “It was so we could understand the space.”

He worked with the whole cast, with each member learning their own skill set. “We put the cast through fight boot camp,” Rementer says. He taught actors how to throw punches and kicks from either side to allow Leitch the freedom to move set-pieces around. “If David wants to put a chair over there and a punch with the left hand would be better, well, if we’ve only taught them how to punch with the right hand, then we’re in trouble.”

The weeks of prep included Rementer working with the film’s production designer David Scheunemann and costume designer Sarah Evelyn Bram. “Sarah gave us more stretch in the pants so we could put a wire harness in if we needed to,” Rementer says.

Once on set, Rementer could push the boundaries on the moves Pitt and the cast had learned. “We’d teach them to Brad, and he would work on them maybe two moves at a time. He could work on two or three beats or whatever was achievable.” The idea, he adds, was to let Pitt focus on acting and not worry about punching. But Rementer notes that Pitt was able to combine seven or eight moves and praises the actor, who he says performed at least 95% of the action in his fight scenes. “Brad leading pushed everyone to excel,” he says. “It was a great marriage of trust and safety.””