Slippin' around on the road with Brad Pitt

Behold Brad Pitt. Everyone else seems to be. On the way to this particular London pub, no less than three young ladies have come skulking out of the shadows to solicit a favor from said heartthrob. Each case is the same: A woman approaches demurely, flashes a smile in desperate need of quality dentistry and utters the question "Excuse me, are you Brad Pitt?" The answer quite obviously being yes, the script continues: "Do you think I could get a kiss?" Then, being a polite Springfield, Mo., boy at heart, our hero complies.

The significance of these events is not the actual fusion of lips and cheek. It is that Pitt has been unearthed at all. You see, Brad Pitt is a cagey bastard — a good ol' boy with brains. He is slippery, smart and extremely likable. These are qualities he uses to great effect. Just finding him is the hard part.

Our exhaustive investigation first brought us to New Orleans, home to the beginning stages of filming Interview With the Vampire, the film that — along with the upcoming Legends of the Fall — is supposed to cement Pitt's star status. Problem is, from the beginning production of Interview was, how shall we say, a world of shit. Anne Rice, the author whose novel was being adapted, was busy shouting from the rooftops that anyone was a better selection than Tom Cruise to play Lestat, the vampire who recruits Pitt's character, Louis, into the undead. Cruise, meanwhile, was demanding complete control, a closed set and a veil of silence from anyone who dared get within spitting distance. And River Phoenix, who was slated to play the small but pivotal role of interviewer, had just died of a drug overdose. When our trail led to New Orleans, Pitt, as he often does, disappeared.

"You gotta understand," Pitt explains later in his soft-spoken Ozarks drawl, "my character wants to kill himself for the whole movie. I've never thought about killing myself. It was a sick thing. I don't like when a movie messes with your day." He smiles slyly and cocks his head. "Right now, I'd like to play a guy who just wants to fuck everybody so I can have a damn good time."

The fact that Pitt has just run the street-long gauntlet of British lust and finally been cornered — here in a quiet North London pub, pint of beer and cigarette in hand — is quite the coup. Interview is in the homestretch of filming in Paris, and Pitt, in turn, is at his breaking point. With five days off, it's time for a vacation. Except for all these annoying questions. When asked to describe the experience of doing Interview, Pitt says simply, "You know, Legends of the Fall was great." Queried about working with Cruise, Pitt gives an earnest look and talks of another Vampire actor, "I'm tellin' ya, Antonio Banderas is the greatest guy."

Ok, next topic. Better yet, more beer. A round is ordered. And another. The pressure of an interrogation temporarily lifted, Pitt loosens, his characteristic grin surfaces, conversation flows rapidly, and his natural ease and charm are in full bloom. Then, somewhere between the first and 50th beer, an epiphany. "The truth is, "I don't want people to know me," Pitt says flatly. "I don't know a thing about my favorite actors. I don't think you should. Then they become personalities."

Which is a better way of saying that actor boy doesn't feel like spilling the beans just yet. Or ever, really. Pitt grabs his pint and leans back with the contented, chaw-in-the-mouth smile of a man who has just sold five cases of snake oil.

"I love to be able to do this — to run around and have adventures," Pitt says. "Why do an interview? Why can't you just write about our adventures?"

So begins our saga. Our adventure, if you will.