The internet is turning to GQ Magazine’s latest cover, featuring Brad Pitt – or at least a character that looks a bit like him.
On Wednesday, GQ released its profile of the veteran movie star, who appears to be floating in a dark pool of flowers on the cover, his face frozen in a blank stare. The actor spoke to the publication to promote his upcoming action flick ‘Bullet Train,’ which will be released in August.
The social media reactions to the cover photo weren’t kind, to put it lightly. Some have compared the actor’s pale face to that of a corpse. More than one person described the experience of encountering the photo on their Twitter timeline as “jumping scare”. Another compared the image to a “wax figure”.
Overall, people seemed to be of the opinion that GQ pulled off an astonishing feat in managing to make Pitt — someone who is famous for his good looks — look anything but.
“Very upsetting that GQ killed Brad Pitt and displayed his corpse on their cover,” tweeted Paste Magazine editor Scott Russell.
“Whoever picked this cover for Brad Pitt’s GQ issue gets fireddddd,” @nicholasdante_ wrote.
“Everyone is asking who did the body on this Brad Pitt GQ cover,” @SoloChills tweeted.
On Instagram, photographer Elizaveta Porodina, who shot the cover, said it was “a truly surreal feeling to see a face you’ve known so well throughout your life reflected in the images of your own making. .
“It’s an even more surreal feeling to see Brad Pitt collaborating on your vision, taking on any challenge with charm and humor, picking up images at heart so quickly – and adding something of his own, something special. – which would enrich the story even more.”
In her sprawling interview with the fashion magazine, Pitt discusses everything from her production company and film career to her dreams and hobbies related to the COVID-19 pandemic. One particularly wild snippet of the conversation involves a French vineyard at the center of a legal battle between Pitt and his ex-wife Angelina Jolie.
Earlier this year, Pitt filed a lawsuit accusing Jolie of illegally selling a Russian vodka billionaire his stake in the estate where the former celebrity couple married in 2014. But that’s not Not Everything: The Oscar-winning actor tells GQ that someone cheated on him a few years ago. to believe that millions of dollars in gold were buried somewhere on the property.
“I became obsessed,” Pitt said. “For a year it was all I could think of, just the excitement of it all. … Maybe it has something to do with where I grew up, because in the Ozark Mountains, there were always stories of hidden caches of gold.
After failing to find buried treasure, Pitt admitted the search was “pretty dumb in the end” but “exciting” nonetheless.
“A lot of people talk about how Brad Pitt looks in this GQ cover, but my favorite part is in the article when he says a con man convinced him to spend a year digging up his French looking mansion. millions of dollars in gold taken from the Levant during the Crusades,” @aniceburrito tweeted.
Of course, Pitt also talked about his latest acting project, “Bullet Train,” directed by his former stuntman, David Leitch. Supporting cast members for the transportation thriller include Sandra Bullock, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Zazie Beetz, Karen Fukuhara, Michael Shannon, Brian Tyree Henry, and Bad Bunny.
Even with a star-studded new film hitting theaters soon, Pitt told GQ that he’s on the “final stage” of his acting career.
“This [is the] last semester or quarter,” he said. “What will this section be? And how do I want to design that? »
See more reactions to Pitt’s takeover of GQ below.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.