Body Language Experts Noticed Brad Pitt Doing This One Strange Thing At The Oscars
What would the Oscars be without Brad Pitt? Even when he's not actually nominated for any awards, the actor is a fixture of award shows, always seemingly ready in the audience for a well-timed reaction shot or to present an award.
As the winner of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 92nd Oscars in 2020, the duty of presenting the Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 2021 ceremony fell to Pitt. Though it's no easy task to upstage the Hollywood heartthrob, newly minted Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung definitely did her best, delivering a speech that was both hilarious and touching.
Still, as is the case in most places he goes, all eyes were on Pitt as he seemed to do one strange thing while he was on the stage. To get to the bottom of it, Nicki Swift reached out to not one, but two different body language experts for the scoop on his appearance. Mark Bowden, a panelist on The Behavior Panel and a human behavior and body language expert, and Nicole Moore, a body language expert, life coach, and relationship expert, both gave their take on Pitt's appearance at the award show.
Brad Pitt's hands betrayed him
Speaking to Nicki Swift about Brad Pitt's appearance at the 93rd Academy Awards, Mark Bowden picked up on one strange mannerism during the actor's time on stage. "Brad Pitt was rapping his fingers against the nomination card he was holding," Bowden explained. "This looked nervous." Bowden went on to hypothesize that it was "most likely because he has not created anything for himself to do. He has no other action to deliver in order to help people understand what his purpose is there."
Meanwhile, body language expert Nicole Moore noticed that Pitt "looked nervous underneath his megawatt smile." Moore explained, "at first glance you might think he was comfortable as ever onstage." But, like Bowden, Moore also noticed Pitt's hands. "He was clutching the award ballot nervously as he announced the nominees and he ran his hands up and down the ballot," Moore told us. "His body language indicated nervousness or discomfort — we don't know at what, but he definitely wasn't fully comfortable onstage or perhaps he was pretending to be but his hands gave it away." Pitt may be a great actor, but on Oscar night, his hands gave him away.
Twitter thought Brad Pitt looked good onstage
Brad Pitt may have looked nervous while presenting, but he still brought his signature cool sense of style to the star-studded event. Reminding us all just how good he looks in a tux, the "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" actor rocked a classic black tuxedo and white button-down, according to In Touch, but Twitter felt that his hairstyle was the real star of the night.
Reacting to his longer hair, which Pitt pulled back and secured into a tiny man bun, one user tweeted, "Inject Brad Pitt and his lil man bun into my veins." Another pointed out his sleek locks, writing, "I did a hair mask in the shower today, took a glow vitamin and I still don't think my hair looks as nice and shiny as Brad Pitt's low key man bun."
Twitter wasn't the only one swooning over the heartthrob — Best Supporting Actress winner Youn Yuh-Jung appeared star struck when she accepted her award from Pitt. "Mr. Brad Pitt, finally," she said in her acceptance speech. "Nice to meet you. Where were you while we were filming in person?" Yep, Yuh-Jung is honestly all of us in this moment.
Brad Pitt had an emotional response to Youn Yuh-Jung's speech
Youn Yuh-Jung's flirty overture to Brad Pitt definitely made for good TV, but the actor's response to Yuh-Jung's historic win was an emotional one! After announcing Yuh-Jung as the Best Supporting Actress winner for her role in "Minari" — the first time a Korean actor has won that category — Pitt stood to the side as he watched her deliver her acceptance speech. Midway through, the cameras caught him wiping tears from his eyes!
"Minari" tells the story of the Yi family, who immigrate to the United States with the dream of running a farm in rural Arkansas, according to Time. It's a timely and moving film, which explains Pitt's strong reaction. "I think having a lot of variety and understanding each other means good," Yuh-Jung told The Observer of the importance of telling immigrant stories. "We are all human beings — the same human beings. Don't categorize that you are yellow, you are white, you are Black, and white is better than yellow or Black or any other skin color ... We are all different and beautiful." It's an important message that will likely resonate far beyond this year's Oscars.