Brad Pitt, at 45, not worried about old age

REFILE - CORRECTING SPELLING OF JOLIE'S FIRST NAME U.S. actors Brad Pitt and his partner Angelina Jolie sign autographs on the red carpet at the German premiere of the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" in Berlin January 19, 2009. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke (GERMANY)Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) - Actor Brad Pitt says he is not afraid of growing old, but is worried about how he will die.

Pitt, who turned 45 last month, was in Berlin for the European premier of 'The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button', in which he plays a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards.

"I'm not so afraid of getting old, I'm more afraid of how I'll go," he told a news conference on Monday. "Fire and tight spaces don't appeal. A shark would be interesting." The tear-jerking film tracks the love story between Benjamin Button and Daisy, played by Cate Blanchett , and the joys and losses they face as one gets younger and the other older.

Asked what would make him cry, Pitt replied: "I don't cry, I'm as hard as nails."

Brad Pitt ventures to the "Lost City"

Paramount Pictures has taken the bold move to search for a lost city with one Mr. Brad Pitt! "We Own the Night" helmer James Gray is set to direct "The Lost City of Z" according to reports in Variety. Gray will take his lead from an as yet unpublished David Grann book for Brad Pitt to star in as British soldier and spy, Percy Fawcett.
The nonfiction book by Grann, a staffer at the New Yorker, will be published in April by Doubleday. Paramount acquired the rights to it earlier this year for Pitt to produce through his Paramount-based Plan B.

Fawcett left Victorian society to explore in the Amazon, and he became obsessed by the idea of an advanced civilization he called 'Z', which he believed existed in the depths of the jungle. Along with his son, Fawcett headed into the jungle in 1925 in search of Z and was never seen again.
"This is a terrific opportunity to do something entirely different for me," Gray said. "It is a story that will be told with an epic scale, with a main character who is larger than life."

Pitt enters the Lost City

Brad Pitt is to head into The Lost City of Z.
The actor will star in true story of a man's obsession with a rumoured advanced civilisation in the Amazon. Based on a forthcoming non-fiction book by David Grann, it tells the story of British solider Percy Fawcett (Pitt) and his quest to find the advanced people he called Z, reports Variety.

He set off into the jungle with his son and both were never seen again.
We Own The Night's James Gray is on directing duties. He said, "This is a terrific opportunity to do something entirely different for me. It is a story that will be told with an epic scale, with a main character who is larger than life."

Angelina Jolie tops actress salary list

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie has proven again how handsomely it pays to combine gun-wielding action with serious roles, as she topped The Hollywood Reporter's list of highest-earning actresses on Friday.

But salaries are plummeting for top actresses and still lag the earnings of leading men, the trade paper said.

Jolie, 33, earned $15 million for the action movie "Wanted" this year and she could make $20 million to star in a possible sequel, it said.

Jolie played dramatic roles in 2007's "A Mighty Heart" and in this year's "Changeling." The mother of six and partner of actor Brad Pitt last month talked about eventually fading away from acting to spend more time with her family.

Oscar winner Julia Roberts, 41, claimed the No. 2 spot after a long absence from the screen, making more than $15 million for "Duplicity," which comes out next year.

Actors are also earning less, with the exception of Will Smith, star of blockbusters "Hancock" and "I Am Legend," who is riding high with up to $25 million per movie.

"Everyone else's prices have gone down," an unidentified talent agent told The Hollywood Reporter.

Reese Witherspoon, 32, who topped the female list last year after winning an Oscar for her role in the 2005 movie "Walk the Line," dropped to No. 3. She earned $14 million for appearing in the comedy hit "Four Christmases" that opened last week.

Cameron Diaz, Katherine Heigl, Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Aniston rounded out the list, with 39-year-old "Friends" star Aniston earning more than $8 million for the comedy "Marley & Me" opening on Christmas Day.

Big stars such as Halle Berry and Nicole Kidman -- both Oscar winners -- are no longer able to earn $10 million a movie.

Compare that with Pitt and Johnny Depp, who according to The Hollywood Reporter make between $15 million and $20 million per film.

Families move into homes that Pitt built

NEW ORLEANS - It was a bittersweet moment for Brad Pitt, walking through the Lower 9th Ward neighborhood where families were preparing to spend their first holidays since Hurricane Katrina.
Those families are moving into the first six houses built through Pitt's Make It Right foundation. One home was already strewn with green garland, lights, wreaths and red bows.
Still, Pitt is restless.
"I'm really happy for the families that are going to be here, but I can't help but think about the families that aren't," Pitt said Monday. "It's a push-pull for me. The excitement is that it's being proven, that it's working. The frustration is that we have a long way to go."
Make It Right was launched by Pitt a year ago. The program calls for construction of 150 energy-efficient homes in a section of New Orleans washed away when Katrina broke levees Aug. 29, 2005.
So far, six homes have been built. Two more are under way, and construction on another 14 begins in early 2009. Pitt smiles, gets a little giddy even, when talking about where the project will be in another year.
"You're going to see 100 homes here, mark my words," he said. "It's nice to see a few, but I'm anxious to see 100, 150, 1,000."
Pitt said that by December 2009, the Lower 9th Ward should be one of the nation's largest "green" neighborhoods.
"It's amazing," he said. "This place that suffered such injustice and so much death can become one of the primary examples of a high-performance neighborhood. It really is amazing."
Inez Converse, 71, isn't concerned about her area setting any records. She's just happy to be back in the neighborhood she lived in for more than 35 years before Katrina. And she said she was glad she had the chance to thank Pitt personally.
"He didn't have to do this," she said. "I'm just grateful he is doing it."
Monday was a busy day for Pitt and partner Angelina Jolie, who appeared at a screening of Pitt's new film "The Curious case of Benjamin Button." The couple — Pitt in a suit and tie and Jolie in a form-fitting cream L'Wren Scott dress — was the highlight of the red-carpet event.
The film, which also stars Cate Blanchett, opens Dec. 25. But because it was filmed in New Orleans in 2006 and 2007, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. held a special screening here.
"It's a gorgeous, gorgeous film," said Pitt, who in the movie plays a man who begins life as elderly and grows younger with time. "It's a film that makes you want to hug your kids and call your folks."
Pitt also described the movie as "a love letter to New Orleans."
"There's a sense of magic here, so it made this fantastic story almost believable," he said.
Pitt said his fondness for the city led him and Jolie to buy an early-1830s masonry mansion in the French Quarter. Pitt said the home was recently renovated to accommodate the needs of the couple and their six children. He quashed recent rumors that the couple had sold their home.
While the homes built by Pitt's project are more contemporary than the Creole cottages and shotgun-style homes typical of New Orleans, they incorporate some elements used in the area for generations, such as high ceilings and shaded porches.
The homes also have solar panels and other features that help cut energy bills by at least 75 percent, Pitt said. Other architectural elements address challenges of the area, including ventilation and mold- and termite-resistant materials.
"The misunderstanding of architecture is that it's all about aesthetics," Pitt said. "It's not. First and foremost, it's about function."
The homes, costing $150,000 on average, are for property owners who can pay insurance and taxes. Monthly payments are based on applicants' income and subsidized by Pitt's foundation.
Pitt said his motivation to see this project through stems from a lot of things, among them his "love for architecture, a love for technology, a love for fairness and justice." But it also stems from his love "for all things New Orleans."
"There's just something about this place," he said.

Jennifer Aniston: I Hate "This Whole 'Poor Lonely Jen' Thing"

Jennifer Aniston doesn't want anyone's pity over her love life."This whole 'Poor lonely Jen' thing, this idea that I'm so unlucky in love?," she says in her buzzed-about December Vogue interview. "I actually feel I've been unbelievably lucky in love...I'm right where I'm supposed to be."Her marriage to Brad Pitt simply "didn't work out," she says.

"Whoever said everything has to be forever," she explains. "That's setting your hopes too high. It's too much pressure. And I think if you put that pressure on yourself that's unattainable."Post-Pitt, she says she has met many lovely guys.Vince Vaughn helped her bounce back."I call Vince my defibrillator," Aniston says. "He literally brought me back to life ... He was lovely and fun and perfect for the time we had together."
Even with her on-again beau John Mayer, the actress says, "I deeply, deeply care about him; we talk, we adore one another. And that's where it is."

Still, she stresses, she refuses to live her life for a man."I never liked Sex and the City, the kind of thing where women only feel empowered once they find the Man," Aniston says. "It is just not up my alley. I don't believe in it."I'm going to have children," she declares. "I just know it."