What's up with Brad Pitt's sudden long hair? Did he get extensions? Are male actors doing that now?
—D.V.Q., via the inbox
You speak of the shoulder-brushing Wayne's World coif Brad Pitt has been sporting of late. Except it hasn't just been of late, and the shag is for a very specific purpose:
From what I can glean through careful study of photos over the past year, Pitt has sported a less-than-trimmed look since at least the summer.
Even as early as January, Pitt's hair wasn't exactly shorn, but back then, it was often slicked back, giving us the illusion that the actor was enjoying regular dates with a pair of scissors.
According to reports (some of which actually focus on such things) Pitt's unkempt state, which also includes a beard, is the real deal.
The reason for the current long look?
World War Z, the sweeping zombie epic that stars Pitt as a survivor of the hordes. In the World War Z universe, it's not exactly easy to find a decent barber who isn't also undead and eager to chomp on somebody's neck, so the scruff makes perfect sense.
Brad filmed the flick over the summer, and it officially wrapped earlier this month. (It debuts next year.)
So, to answer your question, the locks are likely real. Still, that isn't to say that other actors haven't undergone hair extensions, particularly for a role. Greg Kinnear, for one, played Dick Vermeil in the Mark Wahlberg football film Invincible.
"If you really want to prove you've got the right stuff," Kinnear later wrote, "try showing up to work every day wearing hair extensions, a white belt and vintage '70s green polyester slacks."
I'll pass, thanks.