What Was Brangelina?

The couple were always known for their image-making savvy. Now, as their divorce reenters the press cycle, we're reminded of who's better at it.

- By Angelica Jade Bastién

At the June 2005 premiere of Mr. Mrs. Smith, it didn’t matter that Brad Pitt was casually rocking a shock of peroxide- blond hair, distressed jeans, and a deep-brown leather jacket, all working hard to distract from his ecstasy of a smile. He was a vision, and so was Angelina Jolie. When she charged from the back of a limo in a black gown also leather), tits hiked to the heavens, chestnutbrown hair slicked back off her face, it’s no wonder the crowd swelled in volume. Pitt and Jolie never actually got that close to each other at the event; in most of the pictures taken of them, others fill the frame. But one photographer did manage to capture them together. Physically they remain apart, his body facing the opposite direction and awkwardly blocking half the shot. But her eyes, beaming his way, tell a story of closeness. Here are two heavenly bodies, each outshining everyone in their path, poised to become the greatest couple of the modern age.

This was a different time in the history of stardom. Social media wasn't a compulsory platform upon which famous people could play out their lives as if they were at all relatable to ours. IP hadn't yet become king, so studios still warred with one another over who could attract the most compelling names and faces rather than dusty franchise rights. Pitt and Jolie were actors, yes, and they were celebrities too, but they had each individually earned a label not every actor or celebrity can: movie star. It’s a distinction that refers to more than just sex appeal and charisma and points to a figure’s ability to, as film historian Jeanine Basinger puts it, make myth and ritual out of themselves.