With the current A’s team off to the second-worst start in Oakland history, fans might prefer to relive the 2002 season, when the A’s made the playoffs and also ran off a 20-game winning streak. Ex-A’s manager Art Howe and coach Rick Peterson will play…Steven Soderbergh will lead the “Moneyball” project.

That season will be celebrated on the big screen in 2011, when Steven Soderbergh’s “Moneyball” movie is released – with Brad Pitt playing Oakland general manager Billy Beane but many of the other principals playing themselves. Former Oakland manager Art Howe is on board, as are pitching coach Rick Peterson, several scouts, ex-scouting director Grady Fuson and first baseman Scott Hatteberg. Read more…

The script for the ‘Sex and the City’ sequel might not be out yet, but Mario Cantone has his own ideas about where his character, Charlotte’s sassy sidekick Anthony, should be headed. ‘I’ve always said I wanted Brad Pitt to play my lover, but that’s never going to happen because he’s much better looking. Either him or Ashton Kutcher!’ the actor told In Touch at the DKMS’ 3rd Annual Star-Studded Gala in New York on May 7, which featured music by country crooner Cooper Boone. Read more…

The economic downturn may take its toll at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, which opens Wednesday night. But as always, the show will go on.

Studios are cutting back on parties and all the glitz that goes with them, according to news reports. Moreover, there will be fewer people around to cover Cannes, as news organizations around the world trim costs. (Several, in fact, have tightened up by eliminating their movie reviewers.)

Nevertheless, those who attend may see a bumper crop of good and intriguing films, Variety’s Jay Weissberg told Reuters. “We’ve all been hoping Cannes would pull something out of the bag to make us feel good again. On paper, they have.” Read more…

Brad Pitt is a Basterd! The Weinstein Company and Universal have co-debuted (via Ain’t It Cool News) a brand new character poster for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. As you might’ve guessed, it only features Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine (and his huge neck scar), with the tagline mentioned above. I really hope they make a series of eight of these, because I’d love to see the poster that says “Eli Roth is a Basterd” and every other Basterd from this as well. Word is that these will start showing up around Cannes soon, which is where I’ll be located starting May 10th onwards. Check this out in all of its full-size glory below.

During World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as “the Basterds” are chosen to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris that is targeted by soldiers.

Inglourious Basterds is both written and directed by the infamous Quentin Tarantino, of everything from Reservoir Dogs to Pulp Fiction to Kill Bill to Death Proof previously. The Weinstein Company and Universal have partnered to bring us Tarantino’s WWII masterpiece in all of its brilliant glory. Inglourious Basterds will officially hit theaters worldwide on August 21st later this year after its world premiere at Cannes.
Source: First Showing

More than 100 New Orleans civic activists and leaders will present $150,000 donation today to actor Brad Pitt’s Make it Right Foundation, to underwrite the building of a house in the Lower 9th Ward.

The group has also commissioned a “New Orleans Oscar” to give Pitt, along with a director’s chair. Both were created by local sculptor Luis Colmenares.

The A-list actor has been invited to the 11:30 a.m. gathering near the intersection of Tennessee and North Derbigny streets, but the group said they are unsure whether he will attend. Read more…

Brad Pitt filming a Japanese Commercial for the company “Softbank” in Midtown, in the scene Brad Pitt is lifting and carrying a big Sumo Wrestler.

GALLERY LINKS:
• Candids from 2009 – 04-29 – Filming a Japanese “Softbank” commercial in NYC

Brad Pitt is spotted at his midtown hotel in New York City.

GALLERY LINKS:
• Candids from 2009 – 04-27 – At a midtown hotel in New York City

Brad Pitt take his sons, Maddox and Pax, and his parents, Bill and Jane Pitt, to the airfield after getting coffee from Dunkin Donuts.

GALLERY LINKS:
• Candids from 2009 – 04-25 – At the airfield with Maddox, Pax, and his parents

Quentin Tarantino’s wartime thriller starring Brad Pitt will be the only U.S. film in competition this year at the Cannes Film Festival.

Organizers on Wednesday released a list of the 20 films to be shown in competition at the 11-day festival that opens May 13.

In addition to Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds,” the competition for the prestigious Palme d’Or includes a look at the Woodstock era by Oscar-winning Taiwanese director Ang Lee, the latest Penelope Cruz-Pedro Almodovar vehicle and a romance about poet John Keats by New Zealander Jane Campion, the first women to ever win the Palme d’Or. Read more…

Actor Brad Pitt take a visit to the set of girlfriend Angelina Jolie’s newest project, “Salt”.

GALLERY LINKS:
• Candids from 2009 – 04-23 – Visiting Angelina on the Salt set

Brad Pitt inspects an airplane as part of his training to be a pilot on Wednesday (April 22) in New York.

The 45-year-old actor was also spotted with his wife Angelina and their daughters, Zahara and Shiloh, at Stop & Shop in New York this past weekend.
Source: Just Jared

GALLERY LINKS:
• Candids from 2009 – 04-22 – Taking a flying lesson in NYC

I just uploaded photos of Brad, Angelina, Shiloh, and Zahara leaving a grocery store in New York City. Click here to read what one of the store’s employees said about them.

GALLERY LINKS:
• Candids from 2009 – 04-18 – At a grocery store with Angelina, Shiloh, & Zahara

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie hit up a suburban grocery store with two of their kids Saturday afternoon, a Stop & Shop employee tells Usmagazine.com.

“They were here for 30 minutes and left,” Monira Ahmed, who works in customer service, tells Us of the pair — who are staying on New York’s Long Island while she films thriller Salt.

See a photo of Brad and Angie at the grocery store!

“They were very friendly,” continues Ahmed of the couple, who were joined by Zahara, 4, and Shiloh, 2. “They gave autographs and allowed people to take pictures of them inside…very nice.” Read more…

Comedy Central star Demetri Martin has been cast opposite Brad Pitt in “Moneyball,” a professional baseball drama that Steven Soderbergh is directing.

Steven Zaillian wrote the screenplay of the Columbia film, which adapts Michael Lewis’ nonfiction book about Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, who assembled a contending ball club despite having a payroll much lower than that of other major-league teams.

Martin will play Paul DePodesta, a Harvard graduate who is into stats and probabilities and helps Beane (Pitt) develop his system. Read more…

While Brad is in Europe prepping for Cannes (yay!), I’ve added promotional materials from ‘Snatch’ including posters and stills. Enjoy!

GALLERY LINKS:
• ‘Snatch’ – Stills [HQ]
• ‘Snatch’ – Promos [HQ]
• ‘Snatch’ – Posters [HQ]