Limelight: Mr and Mrs who? By Lubna Abdel-Aziz They are Mr and Mrs Smith and they have been mercilessly inundating every form of audio, visual, and written media with gusto. The zeal has reached a fever pitch as their images adorn magazine covers, news headlines, tabloids, television shows, the Internet, et al. A recent US magazine edition issued 60 pages of coloured photographs of the couple and a hungry public keeps clamouring for more. Blessed by superior beauty, they both "ought to be in pictures", as the song goes, and they both are. Everyone is rushing to see Mr and Mrs Smith in action on the big screen, as reports, questions, whispers and rumours about them keep flying. Are they, or are they not -- a couple? The beautiful pair is neither confirming nor denying. They forge on with their lives and careers, disregarding the gabble, the cackle, the prittle- prattle and tittle-tattle of boardrooms, news rooms, parlours and pow-wows. They simply capture the imagination, turn heads and raise eyebrows, whether alone or together, titillating even the serious-minded. They will continue to do so until the mystery around them is solved or resolved. This much sought after couple is not even a couple. They are two independent mega-stars blazing brightly for now, in Hollywood's glittering firmament. He, alias Mr Smith, is the stunningly handsome Brad Pitt who exploded on the screen as naughty boy JD in Ridley Scott's Thelma and Louise (1991) and has driven women wild in over two-dozen films ever since. Pitt is not just another pretty face. He is sensitive and serious. He chooses his parts carefully with total regard for the role and total disregard for salary and star status. William Bradley Pitt was born to Bill and Jane Pitt in 1963 and raised with brother Doug and sister Julie in Springfield, Missouri. The family wanted for nothing and Brad was an active member of the golf, tennis, and swimming teams, as well as participating in school government, debate groups and school musicals. He graduated from high school in 1982 and entered the University of Missouri, majoring in journalism. Two credits short of graduation in 1986, without any warning, Pitt climbed into his Datsun and with just $325 in his pocket, took off for California and never looked back. He explained: "I was done with college, I was on to the next thing." He supported himself by picking odd jobs, and took his acting lessons seriously with coach Roy London. It was not long before he landed one acting assignment after another in sit-coms, soap operas, and a few movies. His major break came with his 15- minute scorching stunt in Thelma and Louise. Since then his choice of roles has shown intelligence and maturity. His choice of directors has added weight and prestige to his filmography and career, winning him a Golden Globe Award as well as an Oscar nomination. His love life has been less fortunate. A broken engagement to Gwyneth Paltrow after a two-year relationship, and a recent divorce from Jennifer Aniston after four years of marriage finds him single again. At present however, he cannot stop raving about a new sizzling romance in his life. No! Not to Mrs Smith /Angelina Jolie or any other, but to the dark and mysterious Continent of Africa which he visited of late. He is totally intrigued by its rich and vast terrain and moved by the plight of its people. Observers believe this is one love that will endure. As for Mrs Smith, she is also a ravishingly beautiful creature who just turned 30 last week. Daughter to Oscar winning actor Jon Voigt and his part-Iroquois actress/model-wife Marcheline Bertrand, the couple named her "pretty little angel", and she has certainly proved them right. Angelina, however 'jolie' she may be, is -- well -- different, to say the least. Emerging as Hollywood's new "femme fatale", Jolie dropped her last name when she embarked on an acting career. Living away from her father since she was two, father and daughter have had an on-again, off- again turbulent relationship, which is off-again at present. After her parent's divorce, she and brother James moved with their mother to New York, but moved back to Los Angeles 10 years later, where Angelina enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She trained there for two years, appearing in several stage productions. Money was scarce, and Jolie had to shop in thrift stores and tolerate abuse from her peers, who found her too tall, too thin, too gawky, eyes too big, lips even bigger. They called her a "muppet". Her confidence shattered, she dropped out of school at 14, dyed her hair purple, bedecked her body with tattoos, and pursued a "punk" lifestyle. By age 16, gone were the glasses, the braces, the wild hair and wild ways. The "pretty angel" re-emerged, taking her acting seriously. Her sexual charisma was not lost on Hollywood. She was cast as Gia in a TV biopic about 1970s fashion model Gia Carangi, who died of AIDS at age 26. Jolie's performance as "Gia" stunned critics and won her a Golden Globe Award. Already married and divorced to actor/rock star Johnny Lee Miller, Jolie now concentrated on a promising career. In Pushing Tin (1999), she met Oscar-winning actor Billy Bob Thornton, 20 years her senior. The couple was married for five years and their relationship was as passionate as it was freaky. Girl Interrupted (1999), cast Jolie as "an insanely ebullient and horribly depressed" young girl, a role which handed Jolie the biggest of all trophies -- her first Oscar, after three Golden Globes. A string of films followed, but it was not until Lara Croft Tomb Raiders that Jolie had her first major hit and super star status. There is more to Angelina Jolie than meets the eye, which is pleasing enough. Beneath her killer looks lies a heart filled with compassion for her fellow man. As United Nations goodwill ambassador, she travels across the globe working long hours totally engaged and wholly dedicated. She has pledged millions of her own money to help the world's underprivileged and seems unaware and unconcerned with her looks or all the "bruit" she creates. A devoted mother to Cambodian adopted son Maddox, now five, they live in Buchinghamshire, England, far away from the glare of the spotlight; but when you are Jolie, that is a virtual impossibility. She is independent, intelligent, and refreshingly real and honest in a town where plastic is king and honesty is poison. All the rattle and rumble over John and Jane/ Mr and Mrs Smith, is well worth looking into. A happily married upper class suburban couple find their hot and heavy romance cooling off. John has not told wife Jane that he moonlights nights as a spy and assassin. Jane has not told husband John that she is likewise engaged. Eventually they discover each other's secret when their rival firms unknowingly hire them to eliminate each other. That is when the sparks begin, tentatively at first, escalating into a bloodbath of shotguns, car collisions and exploding elevators. The original script by Simon Kinberg was his graduate thesis at Columbia University Film School, and director Doug Liman ( The Bourne Identity ) treats it with aplomb. Part of the finely tuned layout is the chemistry between Pitt and Jolie, two of the sexiest people alive. The script keeps the couple blistering and blustering, not in your usual scenes of nudity, but as they go for each other's throats, which proves to be even more sensuous. The chemistry between Mr and Mrs Smith is smouldering on the screen, but their off-screen persona is equally bewitching. There is much to admire in both of them individually, and paired together they cast a spell that is irresistible. One would almost wish this couple could end up living "happily ever after", but this is a Hollywood ending, on screen only. Of all the classic on/off screen pairing like "Tracy and Hepburn", "Astaire and Rodgers", this "Kiss kiss, bang bang" couple is a perfect pair. Mr and Mrs Smith deserve each other! Quod me nutrit me destruit What nourishes me, also destroys me Latin proverb (Tatoo on Miss Jolie)
