Brad Pitt had been seen on the Croisette in the past – a very recluse visitor, for sure. In 2009 the paparazzi managed to spot Pitt and Angelina Jolie in town, but it was only three years later that the actor/producer was officially invited to Cannes. Pitt was the star of filmmaker Andrew Dominik’s neo-noir Killing Them Softly, in competition. Killing Them Softly won no accolades, but every apparition of Pitt was an event on the Palais, with fans cheering the longhaired star. Seven years later Pitt would come back to Cannes with Leonardo Di Caprio and Quentin Tarantino, with Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood in competition. It was the year that launched Bong Joon-ho‘s Parasite, and the last one before the Covid years.