Brad Pitt’s Perfume Stinks, New Film Might Smell Too

Has Brad Pitt lost the magic touch? It isn’t any huge secret that the 49-year-old Mr. & Mrs. Smith actor has been struggling with some professional and personal issues lately.

A new poster for the upcoming June 21 release of World War Z has some observers wondering out loud if Pitt is no longer Hollywood’s golden boy. The poster looks a bit like a bad PhotoShop, leaving people to wonder if Pitt still has the same respect he once enjoyed as an A-list star.

By the way, The Inquisitr has posted a ton of images from the upcoming film, so don’t forget to check them out.

Anyway, questions go all the way back to last October, when Brad Pitt became the first man to advertise the woman’s perfume, Chanel No. 5. The ad was meant to be arty or romantic, but it may have come across as just goofy. The then 48-year-old Brad Pitt, called “the sexiest man in the world” by Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld, just rambled on about fate and stuff. So whatever.

The perfume campaign flopped, although a funny Saturday Night Live skit came out of it.

Pitt is, of course, a hero to all in New Orleans for his work to raise money and awareness after Hurricane Katrina. As a New Orleans resident, I have no heart to slam the guy. So I’m just going to post some dueling quotes from around the internet, and you will have to make up your own mind about whether or not these observers know what they’re talking about.

Den Of Geek expressed concern about the new World War Z movie on the grounds that it doesn’t seem to have much to do with the book. And they hate the poster:

“[T]his latest poster for the film does it no favours. It looks like an Internet meme, where the challenge has been to Photoshop Brad Pitt and his co-stars as unconvincingly as possible in front of a smoking city.”

UK Metro reporter Seamus Duff hates it too:

“Brad caused a stink when he fronted a campaign for high end fragrance Chanel No. 5 back in October, and his upcoming film World War Z could be the most expensive box office flop of all time…it’s going to take a lot of ticket sales to make this undead turkey fly.”

Or how about this Entertainment.ie blogger’s thoughts:

“S*** gets real in Brad Pitt starrer World War Z, as this new poster reveals. Faced by a tidal wave of zombies…it appears Pitt has little time for the daily rituals of facial grooming; oh no wait, that’s what he looks like EVERY day. Just SHAVE already.”

Laura M. Holson reported in the June Vanity Fair on the troubled behind-the-scenes production of World War Z. Her sources said that the film’s budget could have spiraled as high as $250 million, although she guessed that the real number is closer to $210 million.

Paramount has admitted to investing $170 million. At any price point, Holson noted:

“If Paramount and Pitt are lucky, the studio and its financial partners will earn back the movie’s costs plus more. If not, Paramount will go down as having made the most overpriced zombie movie in Hollywood history.”

That’s a high stakes gamble indeed.

Now that World War Z is wrapped, the movie must still be promoted. As the UK’s Daily Record put it:

“The poor promotion – trailers with questionable CGI sequences, a baffling refusal to utter the word ‘zombie’ which just annoys people and an utterly dreadful one sheet [poster] have resulted in even more negative press.”

That said, I’m guessing that all New Orleans will turn out for the movie, even if Hollywood and the United Kingdom seem to be doubters.

Here’s that Chanel No. 5 video with Brad Pitt:

What do you think? Has Brad Pitt lost the magic?

[World War Z movie poster courtesy Paramount Pictures]

[Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt photo by Dan Kosmayer / Shutterstock.com]