Prolific Basterd: Brad Pitt "Writes" 'Wired' Cover Story

Ever since its debut in 1993 (technology's cretaceous period), Wired has occasionally placed its writers on the cover of the magazine. The first issue from March/April 1993 featured Bruce Sterling and later that year, the magazine was fronted by William Gibson. Douglas Coupland, Neal Stephenson twice, and Po Bronson have all graced the cover of the magazine, which like Portfolio.com, is part of Advance Publications, over the years.

Wired's current coverboy/contributor may be more recognizable: His name is Brad Pitt and in addition to writing, he has a pretty lucrative sideline in motion picture acting.

As a tie-in to his upcoming Quentin Tarantino-directed movie Inglourious Basterds, Pitt offers Wired readers A Basterd's Advice as part of a New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans spread. Judging from the tone of the entries, it seems Pitt—if he actually wrote them—had some fun lapsing into his Tyler Durden/Fight Club persona. (Sample: Is it OK to look at pornography at work? Don't just look at it at work, bring in your old porn mags and scan them there!")

If splashing Pitt on the cover and allowing him to dispense advice seems like the kind of stunt-editing trick Esquire has done for years, that's because it is. In October 2006, Pitt wrote My List for the men's magazine. (Sample: "Don't spend a lot of money on a big, giant mattress with double padding on both sides and all that. Just go out and buy a normal firm mattress.")

Last year Pitt also shot his partner for the cover of W and wrote a short profile of Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, for Vanity Fair. Sure, it wasn't a cover, but it's nice to see a working hack get a byline in this tough market.

But the real question, to echo the coverline of The Harvard Lampoon's 1969 satire of Time Magazine, is Does Brad Pitt sell magazines? He sure does, according to a 2007 Forbes breakdown of the best selling celebrity magazine subjects which ranked Pitt second after ex-wife Jennifer Aniston.