JAPAN: Foreign press are barred once more from filming Brad Pitt in Tokyo, this time with co-actor Angelina Jolie on a tour to promote Mr & Mrs Smith.

Record ID: 465262

  • Title: JAPAN: Foreign press are barred once more from filming Brad Pitt in Tokyo, this time with co-actor Angelina Jolie on a tour to promote Mr & Mrs Smith.
  • Date: 1st December 2005
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) WOMAN FROM THE JAPANESE PROMOTERS, UNNAMED, SAYING: "We haven't invited a single overseas media outlet this time around. We're really sorry but this time round it's the stars that asked for it. This time is only for the domestic press."
  • Embargoed: 16th December 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAEZTCF13E0WNVLQYHDO0A7CX40
  • Story Text: Hollywood stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, whom have been romantically linked , arrived together in Tokyo on Sunday (November 27) to promote "Mr and Mrs Smith". Pitt walked through the arrival gates of Narita airport carrying Jolie's adopted Ethiopian daughter Zahara Marley in his arms and planted what local media said was a "fatherly" kiss on Jolie's baby girl's head. However despite the local and global fanfare over the arrival of the two stars , foreign press in Japan were kept at arms length. All foreign media was banned from attending the press conference at a downtown hotel on Monday (November 28) and the premiere at the trendy Roppongi Arena the same evening. The Foreign Correspondent's Club in Japan (FCCJ) is considering lodging a formal protest over the promoter's discrimination between local and foreign media. Foreign media were also banned from Brad Pitt's promotional events earlier this year when he arrived in Tokyo to promote "Ocean's Twelve" - around the time he was rumoured to have split up with Jennifer Aniston. At the premiere for "Mr and Mrs Smith", foreign crews were once again turned away by local promoters with the excuse that both Jolie and Pitt had requested that. "We haven't invited a single overseas media outlet this time around. We're really sorry but this time round its the stars that asked for it. This time is only for the domestic press," a spokeswoman for the local promoters told Reuters. Local press were also made to sign a contract forbidding them to re-distribute or broadcast their pictures overseas. Foreign media nevertheless tried to film footage at the event. "The distributors for Mr and Mrs Smith have made so difficult for the foreign media. They have completely shut them out in Tokyo and its really crazy because if they want to shut out the foreign entertainment media they should invite them in, if they want to control them. If they shut them out, then anything goes," said Randy Schmidt, a freelancer for a New York based entertainment channel. Some foreign media went as far as disguising themselves as fans to get close. Pitt and Jolie, who play a married couple ordered to kill each other in the box-office hit, have been romantically linked since last year. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's divorce became final in October, not long after he and Jolie were photographed together with Jolie's adopted children in Canada. More recent pictures showed them at Pitt's Malibu home.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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