Pitt plants a Tree

Brad Pitt must have a thing with trees of life. First he’s long attached to star in Darren Aronofsky’s THE FOUNTAIN, which prominently features a “tree of life.” He, obviously, dropped out of that film but he still had a jones for a tree of life movie so he decided to star in, well, TREE OF LIFE. Hey, why bother with subtlety? Pitt is in talks to replace Heath Ledger in Terrence Malick’s upcoming drama. Pitt would star alongside Sean Penn in the film that is being kept highly secret. It’s unclear why Ledger dropped out of the film but maybe he’s too busy doing DARK KNIGHT viral stuff. And you can say what you want about Brad Pitt but here’s a cool little tidbit: he dropped out of STATE OF PLAY where he would’ve made $20 million against gross to star in TREE OF LIFE where he’ll make “nearly no upfront money.” It’s all about the love of the game people. Filming on Malick’s TREE is expected to begin this spring after Penn wraps production on Gus Van Sant’s HARVEY MILK. Pitt recently wrapped filming on the Coen Bros. film BURN AFTER READING and has THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON set for release late next year.