Brad lends Angelina a hand on red carpet

LONDON - Angelina Jolie brought boyfriend Brad Pitt to the British premiere of her movie “Beowulf,” and luckily he was there to lend a helping hand.

Jolie, wearing black leather trousers and a tight sweater, signed autographs and chatted with fans Sunday in London’s Leicester Square.

In what could have been a major embarrassment, Jolie’s pants split down the back, according to a report in People.

Pitt shielded the hole in the back of her pants with a strategically placed hand, while she worked the red carpet.

Jolie’s bad luck continued when she stepped in a wad of old gum in her Christian Louboutin heels.

But the red-carpet calamities didn’t phase Joile, who smiled and greeted her cheering fans.

“It’s so, so nice to see all these fans here, it always is,” she told reporters as hundreds of people lined up outside the brightly lit runway to the theater. “I haven’t been here for a little bit. I lived here for a few years, and I do plan to come back more often.”

Pitt, dressed in a gray cap, stood back. “I’m off duty tonight,” he told reporters before heading into the theater with Jolie to watch the film.

Director Robert Zemeckis brings the Norse legend of “Beowulf” to life with technology similar to what he used on “The Polar Express” to capture live actors whose performances are then digitally animated. Jolie plays Beowulf’s vile foe, Grendel’s mother.

Co-star Sir Anthony Hopkins also showed up for the premiere.

Jolie said she especially enjoyed working on the movie with actor Ray Winstone, who plays the warrior Beowulf. “He’s amazing, I want to do something else with Ray soon because he’s so much fun. He’s brilliant,” she said.

The PG-13 film has scenes of graphic violence, and Jolie said: “I think it’s remarkable that it has the rating it has. It’s quite an extraordinary film and some of it shocked me.”

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