Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Brad’s Brit?
Actress Ella, 21, linked to Hollywood superstar, once played ‘young Ange’
BRAD Pitt was yesterday rumoured to be dating British actress Ella Purnell – who bears an uncanny resemblance to Angelina Jolie.
London-based Ella, who at 21 is 32 years Brad’s junior, even played a teenage version of his ex-wife’s character in 2014 film Maleficent.
Brad, 53, was said to be so “enchanted” by Ella, that he cast her in his TV series, Sweetbitter.
US magazine Intouch claimed yesterday they are now an item and Angelina was reported to be dismayed at the age gap.
A source claimed: “She absolutely hates that Brad is cavorting with someone who played the teenage version of her in a film.”
But a source close to Ella insisted that her relationship with Brad is purely professional, adding: “It’s completely made up, they’re not dating.” Ella and Brad are said to have met last year, when she played Emma in the Tim Burton film Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
But two years earlier, Ella was cast as the younger version of Angelina’s witch in Disney hit Maleficent, which was based on classic Sleeping Beauty. Ella also starred as the young Ruth in 2010’s Never Let Me Go, as Dolce in 2013’s Kick-ass 2 and as Helen Garrett in this year’s Churchill.
Brad has been linked with several women since Angelina, 42, filed for divorce last year.
She cited his “unreasonable behaviour” as she ended their 12-year relationship amid a bitter rift.
Brad, whose hits include Fight Club, Interview with the Vampire, Legends of the Fall and Troy, reportedly dated British actress Sienna Miller, 35, before falling for a sculptor in Los Angeles.