When he worked with Brad Pitt on the film Seven Years in Tibet , director Jean-Jacques Annaud discovered that the star didn’t like having his hair touched.
He is informed by those around him that no one should touch his hair without first discussing it with him.
In his autobiography Une vie pour le cinéma , released in 2018, Annaud says:
“He was a very serious boy, very professional and very obliging, but there was one thing he couldn’t stand: he hated having his hair touched. If you risked it, a fist neck could go away very quickly. »
Annaud describes the filming of a scene where the actor who plays the young Dalai Lama has to ruffle Brad Pitt’s hair with a gesture of his hand. The scene was “negotiated” in advance with Brad Pitt, who agreed to allow the young actor to touch his hair in this way.
However, just before filming this scene, Jean-Jacques Annaud is doing a rehearsal with the crew and, without thinking, he approaches Brad Pitt and ruffles his hair to demonstrate how he wants the gesture to be done.
Error.
The star didn’t expect it and glared at the director.
“He turned towards me and I really thought he was going to hit me,” remembers Jean-Jacques Annaud.
Source:
A life for cinema , Jean-Jacques Annaud with Marie-Françoise Leclère (Grasset)