Brad Pitt’s Explosions Scaring Local Livestock While Filming ‘The Lost City Of Z’


Brad Pitt has been accused of many things during his career: cheating on then wife Jennifer Aniston with Angelina Jolie during the filming of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, wearing taller shoes to appear taller than Christian Bale on the set of (ironically enough) The Big Short, and filming Interview with the Vampire.

But we’re willing to bet that Brad Pitt has never been accused of scaring animals before. It’s nice to know that, for all his experience, there are still some things that can surprise the world-famous actor.

Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, is currently filming The Lost City of Z in Ballygally, rural Northern Ireland, starring Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson, Charlie Hunnam, and Brad Pitt himself.

And while the actors and production company knew that the film would involve plenty of explosions and gunfire, nobody thought about the effect that the whole to-do would have on the local livestock, as the Telegraph reported.

Larne Times have run several stories about the effects that the movie’s pyrotechnics are having on local livestock. Jason McKillion, a resident of Feystown Road, has been particularly vocal about his protestations, and seems to be speaking for a larger group of farmers and other rural inhabitants who are less than impressed about the noise, smoke, and other warlike sounds coming from the film’s set.

“It started last Monday [September 14] with bangs, gunfire and small explosions. Then on Tuesday the bigger explosions started. The explosions shook the house and windows and the boom echoed through the glen.”

As much as the actors and production company are trying to be sympathetic to the plights of the local farmers, unfortunately, it is McKillion’s particular phrasing that is capturing the most attention.

He refers to his neighbor’s horses going “spare” following a series of explosions, his own animals going “daft” following another explosion, his dog barking and shaking, hens being “all gone” and then coming back, his neighbor’s cow and calf jumping over a hedge, and cows “bellowing in fear.”

The Telegraph reported that Brad Pitt’s production team was upset by the complaints of the local farmers, and wanted to assure everyone that they had taken as many precautions as possible prior to the explosion scenes being filmed.

“The Glenarm area where some scenes were filmed last week covers approximately 2,000 acres of land and the production team made every effort to contact land owners beforehand. All work involving explosives was undertaken in line with relevant legislation.”

McKillion disagrees, though, and it was reported in Mashable that the local residents had not had any notification about what was going to happen in their tranquil environment.

“There wasn’t a single notification about this, which would have been common courtesy. I support companies filming here, but they need to keep local people in the loop. If we had a schedule, we could put the animals into barns. At the minute we are on tenterhooks.”

Apparently, McKillion and his neighbours took to Facebook to find out what all the explosions were about, and it was only then that they became aware of the filming of Brad Pitt’s The Lost City of Z in their local area. In his complaint, he referred to the area being one of outstanding natural beauty and tranquility, and that the explosions and other associated noise affected their animals more than others, since the local animals are used to a completely tranquil, often silent environment.

Brad Pitt’s production company remains adamant that they have taken all necessary precautions and complied with all the right legislation before going ahead with their explosions, so it seems doubtful that they will make any adjustments to their future explosion schedule to accommodate the scared livestock. Hopefully, they will at least follow through on their promise to notify the local residents of their schedule in advance.

[Photo: Jason Merritt / Getty Images]

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