It’s not every day that you can casually say ‘Hey, I just breathed the same air as Brad Pitt in Japan, how was your day?’ We were in Tokyo last week for the Japan premiere of Netflix original film ‘War Machine’, a satirical war film directed by David Michôd based on the non-fiction book 'The Operators' by Michael Hastings. ‘War Machine’ sees Brad Pitt playing General Glen McMahon, a fictional character based on the real-life Gen Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan who was sacked by President Obama in the months following a Rolling Stone profile piece in which he slammed his own bosses.
Here are five things we learnt from almost meeting the movie star in Tokyo.
Photo: Netflix
1. We heard plenty of people at the red carpet premiere of ‘War Machine’ at Roppongi Hills Arena shrieking ‘Buraddo Pitto!’ the moment Brad Pitt (all in white, channeling some serious ’90s vibes) got out of his limo. Why ‘Buraddo Pitto’? Here’s why: in Japanese, every word ends in either ‘n’ or a vowel – the letter itself represents a syllable (ha, hi, hu, ka, ki, ku, etc), which means any foreign word written in Japanese requires a vowel sound added to the end (interestingly, there’s an entire separate alphabet for imported words). So yes, they can pronounce it as ‘Brad’, but as there’s no written equivalent in Japanese, the closest is ‘Buraddo’. Now you know what to say when you’re telling a newfound friend in Japan that your favourite actor is Brad Pitt.
Photo: Netflix
2. If you thought scoring a press pass to a red carpet premiere meant we got a guaranteed selfie with Brad himself, we have to let you down gently. Our allocated spot was a distance away from all the action, so while the sea of Pitto-san fans squealed for an autograph and photo, we were stuck struggling to take a photo of him from afar with our (nearly) obsolete but trusty three-year-old Samsung smartphone. Most of the Japanese media hauled impressive huge cameras with telephoto lenses (as well as handy portable stools), so they had no problem getting photos, lucky them. Lesson learnt: speak enough Japanese to convince hardened media to lend you their professional cameras for high-res shots, or tear off your press pass and leap over the barrier to join the swooning crowd of fans for a better chance at a selfie.
Photo: Netflix
3. Screams, declarations of love, general chaos; elements more than expected and actually welcome when an A-lister like Brad Pitt makes an appearance, but his fans at ‘War Machine’s premiere in Tokyo were surprisingly polite. No one shoved their way to the front for a better vantage point, no one accidentally clobbered others with Brad Pitt film posters or poked each other in the eye with a Sharpie, nor were there any long piercing shrieks (the occasional cheer of ‘Buraddo Pitto!’ doesn’t count). In fact, it almost seemed as if the crowd had met up earlier at Roppongi Hills Arena before the event started, and made a pact to be as nice as possible and take their turn in cheering on their beloved star when he stopped at certain sections of the red carpet. We tip our hat to Brad’s Japanese fans for maintaining their cool.
Photo: Netflix
4. At the press con at The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo – held a day before the red carpet event – we expected a serious drawn-out affair filled with questions that would leave us with a deeper understanding of the film and what it set out to be. We did get that, albeit in shorter form. Highlights from the press con: Brad Pitt, director David Michôd and producers Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner talking about General McMahon's iconic running shorts pulled up as high as he could, the story of the general's rise and fall, how working with Netflix was like, and ‘War Machine's obvious anti-war message. Good stuff.
Photo: Netflix
5. What with the press con and red carpet event turning out shorter than expected, we had some time to walk around Roppongi, Shibuya and other areas in Tokyo. While we now regret not seeing the tuna auction at Tsukiji Fish Market (the early hours scared us off), the long scenic walk from Shibuya station to Daikanyama for the beautiful three-building Tsutaya Books was worth the sore feet. That, and recalling seeing Buraddo Pitto all smiles in person.
‘War Machine’ is out now on Netflix. Watch the trailer.
