Pitt the actor goes beyond the fringe

THERE was a stunned silence as the "sexiest man alive" strode into a London hotel yesterday. Brad Pitt was in town to discuss his latest film, Legends Of The Fall, but that was the last thing on the minds of the showbusiness writers.

The issue that had brought the room to a halt was hair: or rather the absence of the flowing locks that were the actor's trademark.

"Money," he replied enigmatically, when asked why he was sporting a cropped, spiky style. He actually meant art; Pitt's current role in a remake of The Magnificent Seven requires short hair.

Legends Of The Fall opens on Friday after a charity premiere last night. Its director, Ed Zwick, was keen to talk about his "richly-layered epic".

The audience listened politely for a couple of minutes before turning their attention back to Pitt, 31, the man whose square-faced good looks have reduced even mature women to jelly.

How did it feel to be voted the world's top sex symbol by America's People magazine? Was it difficult to be taken seriously?

Pitt, in faded jeans and goatee beard, paused. "I really haven't thought about it," he said finally. "It's something you have to put up with. I mean, it's a compliment, it's nice."

What did he think of the £20 million fees now being earned by Hollywood's top actors? "It gets so crazy out there . . . I really have no concept about money. But if someone is going to give you the money, are you going to say no? I'm not."

Asked about his private life, Pitt came over bashful. He shared a log cabin with his co-star, Julia Ormond, while filming Legends in the Rockies, he admitted, but "it was very good and clean". And his girlfriend, actress Gwyneth Paltrow? "I have never been happier."

If he could play any role, which would he choose? "I have no idea."

What, then, did the boy from Oklahoma want out of life? "I don't think too hard about it." "Could you try?" Pitt shook his head.

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