Porcine Press – Brangelina In Hog Hunting Dispute?
It’s funny sometimes (and sometimes not so funny) how things we’d never pay attention to can suddenly grab our focus. Take, for example, the recent news that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have taken a home in the French countryside to await the birth of their next child.
No, the Hog Blog isn’t turning into a Hollywood rumor rag… the only part of this that is of the slightest interest to me is the recent report that summertime is boar hunting season in that neck of the woods, and the estate on which our movie star couple is living happens to be a prime hunting ground. The “controversy”, if there really is one, is that the locals have an agreement with the estate’s owner (and Brangelina’s landlord) to hold the hunt on the property. There is much speculation that the couple may object to the activity due to their “environmental consciousness”.
As this really fine piece of journalism (take your blood pressure meds before clicking this link) from the UK newspaper, The Independent wonders:
Could Hollywood’s golden couple do something? Should they risk irritating their new neighbours by trying to ban a traditional French pastime? As they didn’t own the land, the moment passed. The president of the boar hunt told France Dimanche that the chateau estate was fair game: “We have a written agreement to hunt on the estate, which doesn’t expire until at least 30 August,” he said. So the Jolie-Pitts will have to put up with spilt boar-guts in their backyard, along with the other signs of Provence en fête.
Oh my! Spilt boar guts in the backyard?
I dunno. I’ve seen both of these characters toting some pretty wicked armaments over the years. I’d say they’re pretty well prepared to go spill some boar guts of their own! Heck, based on the amount of gunfire and bloodshed in some of their movies, a little hog hunting ought to seem pretty mild to these two… although of course, Angelina’s currently delicate condition may preclude more traditional hunting with spears or knives, but she can swing a Glock or an MP5 like nobody’s business!
Anyway, from what I’ve read in three or four articles about this same topic, no one has actually spoken to the actors themselves to see what they really think about this. Are they really against it, or do they even give a damn? This enquiring mind wants to know!
I’ll admit that normally I don’t really care what stars think, but in this case I am a little curious. I do know that Angelina has no problem gunning down a would be attacker, and I wrote a post about that, but as far as hog hunting I have no idea. Keep us updated.
July 7th, 2008 at 7:49 am
I saw this article somewhere else and thought the same thing – there hasn’t even been any word from the two about what they think of the whole deal – and I’m curious to know!
July 7th, 2008 at 7:55 am
I don’t know who Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are? I watch the outdoor channel a lot and don’t recall them. Are they the ones that do the gold mining show? I turn it off when that comes on. I’m surprised the French even hunt seems like a barbaric sport for such a sophisticated society.
July 8th, 2008 at 4:44 am
Moose, you’d be surprised at the hunting tradition in France. Some of those folks are pretty hard core, and I wasn’t joking when I mentioned that some of them still use the spear and dagger.
As far as what the movie stars think about all this… it doesn’t make that much of a difference to me, but it would still kinda make me smile to hear one or both of them come out publicly in favor of the hunt and the tradition.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:40 am
[...] story has spread far and wide, and even The Hog Blog picked up on the story that the couple were involved in a dispute of some kind. Although, if you [...]
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:17 am
[...] hunt that just happened to run across the French villa they’d rented. Well, as I suggested when I first mentioned this one, the press was making a bigger deal of this than the “Brangelina”. And sure enough, [...]
August 9th, 2008 at 5:21 pm