Wow! This is a great cover, right? I generally like Brad and I’ve grown to really respect him, but I usually don’t feel like “OMG Brad Pitt UNF” towards him. But I’m feeling some hotness pangs towards him with this GQ UK cover and shoot. Lovely. Brad covers British GQ because he’s promoting Fury. Most of his quotes about Fury and his career, but he does give away a little bit about his marriage. I guess this interview was done just after the wedding? Some highlights:

On marriage: “I wouldn’t say [marriage is] just a title. There’s more to it than that.”

On what he thinks his friend George Clooney meant when he recently called Pitt “unreachable”: “Well, you know, George is extremely accessible. He’s one of our best representatives. He’s funny as sh-t. He’s a joy to be around. I guess maybe I’m more of a miserable bastard. [laughs]. I’m a bit of a loner you know? I’m more quiet by nature. And coming from, you know, hillbilly country, I’m probably more reserved.”

On choosing work: “I’m actually very snobbish about directors. I have to say no all the time. ‘No’ is the most powerful word in our business. You’ve got to protect yourself… To leave home, it’s got to be worth leaving. It’s got to be worth it.”

On Shia LaBeouf and his commitment to acting: “Oh, I love this boy. He’s one of the best actors I’ve ever seen. He’s full-on commitment, man. He’s living it like no one else, let me tell you. I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of great actors. He’s one of the best I’ve seen.”

On purposefully slowing down his acting career: “I’ve been slowing down for a while now. And slowly transitioning to other things. And, truthfully, I do want to spend more time with my kids before they’re grown up and gone.”

On considering a TV role: “They’re doing great stuff on television. And we [Plan B] have a few television ideas ourselves. So yes, I’d love to do one.”

On not being on Twitter: “Listen, I see a benefit in it. You could, you know, combat the misconceptions of the misquotes immediately. And if I’d have had that in my younger days, I’d have used it… because I felt quite used, and completely misunderstood, and misread, and not given the benefit of the doubt. You know, I felt that a lot in my first years. I would have brought some logic to the table, and brought it immediately. But now, at this point, I don’t want to bother with it.”

On whether he’s happy: “I’ve always believed happiness is overrated, you know? It’s those difficult times that inform the next wonderful time, and it’s a series of trade-offs, of events, of wins and losses.”

[From GQ UK]

The thing about it is… Clooney also comes from hillbilly country, doesn’t he? George grew up in Kentucky and Brad grew up in Missouri. Both men have Southern/midwestern sensibilities which manifest in different ways. And yeah, Brad probably has no interest in participating in George’s “Chairman of the Board” shtick in real life. But make no mistake – Brad is a significant power player in his own right. I tend to think that these days, Brad is one of the most powerful actor-producers in Hollywood.

As for the Shia stuff… that’s a good example of Brad’s power. Brad could have singlehandedly crippled Shia’s career by badmouthing Shia in the interview. But Brad stands up for him, and now Shia will probably get to still have a career. Brad also told a long-winded story about how he and Shia got pissed off at Scott Eastwood for dipping (chewing tobacco) while filming. The moral of Brad’s story is that Shia and Brad were just on edge and Scott was actually doing something that was in the script.

Photos courtesy of British GQ, Pacific Coast News.