Brad Pitthas not read the beauty tutorial memo.
I ask, with a certain amount of trepidation.
“Can we have a product demonstration?”
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Pitt baulks, smiling.
“I’m not doingthat!”
“Maybe just talk about how your routine has evolved, then?
Brad Pitt during his interview at Château Miraval in Provence.
No pesticides are used at Miraval, where all farming is done biodynamically.
Refillable bottles are punctuated by a clever packaging detail: wooden caps recycled from old wine casks.
And thats something Pitt is more than happy to be a part of.
That’s not necessarily reason enough to get into what is already avery saturated skincare market, Pitt concedes.
But Le Domaine’s efficacy just might be.
How did the Le Domaine project come about?
I remember reading about the health properties of grape skins as something we wanted to investigate.
But the initial idea, right from the beginning, comes back to this place.
It’s just steeped in creativity and it’s so fertile.
We make olive oil, truffles and honey here.
Reinforced concrete began here.Reinforced concrete!
We had some pillars test pillars up in the courtyard.
Brad Pitt during his interview at Château Miraval in Provence.
It’s pretty extraordinary.
Brad Pitt during his interview at Chateau Miraval in Provence.
And was skincare meant to be a part of this creativity?
Had you been secretly thinking all this time, “Imusthave a skincare brand?”
I get sent stuff all the time and…ugh.
It’s just all the same for me.
Have you always had a good skincare routine?
[Very long pause].
I just want to keep it simple, you know what I mean?
That said, I’m actually thorough now.
I’ve been whipped into shape by my dearmake-up artistfriend we started together 30 years ago Jean Black.
She is pretty special.
You look like you have great skin anyway.
I cant imagine it takes much!
No, not really, I don’t, but now…
I mean I have my little, simple regimen.
So, what do you do?Gua sha?
I don’t evenknow what that is.
Did you ever imagine yourself as a beauty baron?
If Le Domaine is successful, do we get baron status?
Yeah, no, I didnt [imagine that].
Landing here at Chateau Miraval opened up a lot of ideas that I wouldn’t have normally considered.
I just wanted a beautiful base in this area and it happened to have a winery.
And it happened to be hemorrhaging tonnes of money.
So we had to go to work.
And then we went out on a search and found Marc [Perrin] and his family.
A clever idea.
You majored in journalism, I’ve read…
I did, I didn’t graduate, but I did.
Do you wish you had followed that career path?
[Laughs].I think I’m pretty happy with where things landed!
I wouldn’t have objected to that, but I’m feeling alright about my day job.
How do you feel about film star-fronted business enterprises in general?
When I started out it seemed shameful to do a commercial, for some reason.
You were called a sell-out.
I really think the hip-hop guys changed all of that.
They made it okay even cool to spread your wings a bit, to try some other things.
And I love what Gwyneth’s done [with Goop].
She is still a really dear friend, and she has built this empire.
What pressures have you felt personally around ageing in the film business?
I don’t want to be running from ageing.
Something we discussed [in founding Le Domaine] was this headline of “anti-ageing.”
But what is real is treating your skinin a healthy manner.
So just age healthy, age in a healthy manner.
Speaking of, I watched Benjamin Button last night.
Was it strange to see yourself looking older in that role?
No, no, it wasn’t at all, I was kind of fascinated by it, really.
And by the way?
All those prosthetics, six hours of prosthetics?
Tore up my skin.
They destroyed my skin!
How and why is it important to you that Le Domaine’s approach is genderless?
I mean, I probably got more from my female partners in the past.
We kept the smell very neutral, very fresh, and very,verysubtle.
It’s too much!
It’s too strong!
Let people come to you.
Don’t force it on others.
That’s my feeling (laughs).
For smells, I mean.
I stand by that for smells!
Do you have any special memories of Miraval?
This past spring was special.
We had a good five or six weeks out here.
The stories you hear about Provence in the spring, why people come here.
Well, it’s real.
In summer you get the symphony of frogs, they lull you to sleep.
Making an artist community has always been the idea here, and its really nice to see that happen.
What’s the future looking like for you?
And I think that family and friends at the end of the day is all that matters.
This story originally appeared onvogue.com.
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