Brad Pitt helped a stranger off the proverbial ledge last weekend.
Following a special screening of "Moneyball" in Culver City on Sunday, the 47-year-old star encountered a distraught man during a Q&A session with hundreds of fans.
A witness said a thirtysomething struggling actor told Pitt, costar Jonah Hill and the crowd that he was battling suicidal thoughts alone in his car before the night's event, but the film gave him "a renewed sense of hope."
Obviously, this guy wasn't Art Howe.
"It was a really awkward moment," the attendee told Us magazine, adding the man got "choked up" as he spoke to Pitt and the crowd.
Pitt didn't flinch. The witness said Pitt told the actor "Look, man, life is up and down, it's a vicious cycle, but you have to go through it and deal with that.'"
The father of six and partner to Angelina Jolie continued the pep talk: "'You can be down, but then you come back up again, and every failure can lead to success.'"
For example, you can dump Jennifer Aniston and somehow end up with someone even better-looking.
By the way, that would've been the greatest thing Brad Pitt or pretty much any other man ever said, had he said it.
"It was a touching moment," added another observer. "As he left the theatre he even stopped to talk with the guy to offer him some more words of encouragement because he was obviously fragile."
If he really cared, he would've put him in his next movie.
The first witness said "Brad handled the situation really well in front of several hundred people -- it was a difficult moment that shocked everyone."
MINDY MCCREADY DEFIES A JUDGE: Country singer Mindy McCready said Thursday she'll defy a court order by not bringing her 5-year-old son back to Florida from Tennessee to Florida, violating her custody agreement.
Everything should be fine. Judges usually don't mind whatsoever when people defy their orders. Especially in public. This should turn out really well for everyone involved. Honest.
McCready took the boy during a recent visit at her father's southwest Florida home and a judge signed an order Thursday ordering authorities to take the boy into custody and return him. It's not yet clear whether she could face criminal charges.
"I'm doing all this to protect Zander, not stay out of trouble," McCready wrote in an email to the Associated Press on Thursday. "I don't think I should be in trouble for protecting my son in the first place."
Oh, well, why didn't you say so? Just tell the authorities that when they show up, and they certainly won't take your child from you, possibly forcibly, thereby scarring him for life.
Here's where the story gets really fun. McCready says can't travel because she's nearly seven months pregnant ...with twins.
D'oh. Well, at least this gives her a chance to get a head start on her next two custody battles.
McCready and her mother have had a long custody battle over the boy. Until recently, he was living with McCready's mother, who was awarded guardianship in 2007. McCready says her son has suffered abuse at her mother's house; her mother, Gayle Inge, denies the abuse allegations.
"Once the child is located, we will pick him up and bring him back to Florida," said Terri Durdaller, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Children and Families. "Although these circumstances are unfortunate for a young child, his safety and well-being are our number one priority."
Durdaller said any criminal charges would come at the discretion of law enforcement or the Lee County (Florida) State Attorney's office.
McCready provided a series of emails to the Association Press, including Lee County Judge James Seals' ruling to return the boy and correspondence with her attorney. Seals wrote to McCready's lawyer that once the boy is back in Florida "we'll pick up the pieces."
Pieces of what? Kid?
"Mom has violated the court's custody order and we are simply restoring the child back into our custody," the judge wrote. "Nothing more. Nothing less. The court makes no judgment about whether Mom will or will not competently care for the child while in her custody. It only wants the child back where the court placed him."
McCready was born in Florida and found fame in Nashville as a singer in the mid-1990s, including a No. 1 hit, "Guys Do It All the Time." In July 2007, she was accused of scuffling with Inge and resisting arrest at her mother's home in Florida. She served 30 days in jail. She also lost custody of her son.
And in 2008, McCready was admitted to a Nashville hospital after police said she cut her wrists and took several pills in a suicide attempt.
MMMBURP: Hanson is making and marketing beer. Which sounds illegal, since they're all 12.
Right, that was a long time ago. In fact, it took the past dozen or so years for some of us to get that stupid song out of our head. You know the one -- don't say it.
Anyway, the beer will be called MmmHops and ...
Damn.
Anyway, the three brothers are apparently still milking their giant 1997 hit "MmmBop" for all it's worth.
After the news hit the Internet Wednesday -- and many people prayed it was a bad joke -- Zac Hanson (wasn't he the blond one?) released a statement confirming the project.
"A branded HANSON IPA beer concept is in the works under the moniker 'MmmHops,' " says the drummer, adding that the idea, "has been brewing for some time."
Ho ho. I hope it hasn't taken 14 years for these guys to come up with these puns.
No further details were available, which is terribly disappointing for those of us scanning the internet daily for any scrap of news about Hanson.
In an interesting side note, People magazine's website points out that the fellas now have eight kids among them. Now we know what they've been doing all these years.
'HUGO' ALREADY A WINNER: Martin Scorsese's 3D family film "Hugo" has won the National Board of Review's prize for Best Film of 2011.
The Thanksgiving-weekend release also won the best director award, while "The Descendants" also picked up multiple citations, for best actor (George Clooney), best supporting actress (Shailene Woodley), and best adapted screenplay. Tilda Swinton won best actress for "We Need to Talk About Kevin"
Missing from the NBR's top 10: "The Help" (which won an ensemble prize instead), "Midnight in Paris," and "Moneyball."
TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Friday, Dec. 2, the 336th day of 2011. There are 29 days left in the year.
1804: Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French.
1823: President James Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere.
1859: Militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid on Harpers Ferry the previous October. Artist Georges-Pierre Seurat was born in Paris.
1927: Ford Motor Co. unveiled its Model A automobile that replaced its Model T.
1939: New York Municipal Airport-LaGuardia Field (later LaGuardia Airport) went into operation as an airliner from Chicago landed at one minute past midnight.
1942: An artificially created, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated for the first time, at the University of Chicago.
1954: The Senate voted to condemn Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., for conduct that "tends to bring the Senate into disrepute."
1961: Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist who would eventually lead Cuba to Communism in a nationally broadcast speech that began around midnight and ended five hours later.
1970: The newly created Environmental Protection Agency opened its doors. (Its first director was William D. Ruckelshaus.)
1980: Four American churchwomen were raped and murdered outside San Salvador. (Five El Salvador national guardsmen were later convicted of murdering nuns Ita Ford, Maura Clarke and Dorothy Kazel, and lay worker Jean Donovan.)
1991: American hostage Joseph Cicippio held captive in Lebanon for more than five years, was released.
2001: In one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in U.S. history, Enron filed for Chapter 11 protection. 2006: Fidel Castro failed to attend a military parade marking the 50th anniversary of the formation of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces, raising questions about his ability to return to power.
2010: The House voted, 333-79, to censure Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., for financial and fundraising misconduct; it was only the 23rd time that the House had invoked its most serious punishment short of expulsion.
BIRTHDAYS
Actress Julie Harris (86), former Attorney General Edwin Meese III (80), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., (72), actress Cathy Lee Crosby (67), director Penelope Spheeris (66), broadcast journalist Stone Phillips (57), actor Dennis Christopher (56), actor Steven Bauer (55), rock musician Rick Savage (Def Leppard) (51), rock musician Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters) (43), actress Lucy Liu (43), rapper Treach (Naughty By Nature) (41), tennis player Monica Seles (38), singer Nelly Furtado (33), pop singer Britney Spears (30), actress-singer Jana Kramer (TV: "One Tree Hill") (28), actress Daniela Ruah (TV: "NCIS: Los Angeles") (28), actor Alfie Enoch (Film: "Harry Potter" films) (23), actresses Daniella and Deanna Canterman (19).