Are Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie willing to make a comeback movie despite all the controversies that keep stacking up between them amid their long-running divorce battle? Well, one film producer is about to find out if the former Hollywood power couple could put their personal differences aside, and professionally act together on the big screen.
Danny Rossner, best known for his B-movie hits 2001: A Space Travesty and The Ultimate Weapon, recently claimed he’s secured a $60 million budget for his passion project — a sweeping World War II-era romance set in Cannes, France. The twist? He wants Pitt, 60, and Jolie, 49, to portray a pair of lovers, complete with steamy, intimate scenes.
“There is a love scene … It’s a torrid one, too. It’s not salacious, but there are very heavy love scenes,” Rossner said while teasing the script for the project, according to Page Six.
The project, which allegedly took him over 20 years to make, is based on the real-life owner of the Hotel Martinez in Cannes, named Emmanuel Martinez. Rossner wants Pitt to play Emmanuel and Jolie to portray the hotel owner’s mistress, Emma Digard.
However, Rossner admitted in his interview with Page Six‘s parent company, the New York Post, that he hasn’t ironed out the financial details yet, and this could be a potential dealbreaker for Jolie, given that Pitt’s $20-$25 million per-film fee dwarfs her $15 million rate. But Rossner is prepared to offer 50% above their usual rates, which could see Pitt pocket $37.5 million compared to Jolie’s $22 million.
The idea of Pitt and Jolie reuniting on screen is enticing, but fraught with complications. The duo famously met on the set of 2005’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and their fiery onscreen chemistry translated into real life and led them to become Hollywood’s golden couple, “Brangelina.”
Over the years, they welcomed six children — Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 16. But their picture-perfect family image crumbled in 2016 when Jolie filed for divorce and ignited a bitter, years-long battle over custody, finances, and their lucrative French winery, Château Miraval. The fallout has been particularly devastating for Pitt, who has become estranged from his children. Some of the older kids have even dropped his surname.
The latest update on the embattled exes claimed Pitt has been “begging” to spend time with his younger children ahead of his 61st birthday on Dec. 18. “Brad is missing his kids and wishes he had a closer relationship with them, particularly with celebrating the holidays and his birthday this month,” one insider told Page Six in early December.
“They used to have a good relationship, but that’s in the past, and it breaks his heart. Brad feels like Angelina has turned his kids against him,” a different source added.
Despite the palpable tension between Pitt and Jolie, Rossner is reportedly determined to cast them for his film, and he is even willing to adapt to the pair’s possibly volatile dynamic. He could make changes to the screenplay and the production so they wouldn’t even have to appear in the same room, let alone film the steamy scenes together.
“If we can have a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, [Pitt and Jolie] can put their differences aside and come together to build a bridge and make this movie,” Rossner quipped.
Critics might dismiss his proposal as a publicity stunt, but the producer is more focused on the “guaranteed success” of the project if Pitt and Jolie were to share the screen again. According to him, no other pairing could compare to Brangelina’s allure at the box office.
Published: Dec 11, 2024 07:42 pm