Carey Mulligan Jokes About Being Flustered Meeting Brad Pitt: 'I Didn't Know How to Talk to Him'

Carey Mulligan and Brad Pitt met for the first time at the 2024 Santa Barbara Film Festival

Carey Mulligan recently met Brad Pitt — and was seemingly starstruck in the moment!

While Mulligan, 38, spoke with Extra at the 2024 Oscars nominees luncheon on Monday, the Maestro star noted that she was thrown off when she ran into Pitt, 60, at the 2024 Santa Barbara Film Festival last Thursday.

"I'd never met him before and I walked into the green room and he was in there and I didn't know how to talk to him, so I didn't," she told the outlet. "And then we were in our seats and he was sat in the seat behind me, but I didn't know that he was."

"And then I felt this tap on my shoulder and I turned around and it was him and he went, 'Hey, Carey,' and I went, 'Oh God, Brad Pitt!' So that was cool," Mulligan added.

Mulligan and Pitt were each present in Santa Barbara as Pitt honored Bradley Cooper, 49, with the festival's outstanding performer of the year award for his work on Maestro, which he directed and co-wrote in addition to starring in as Leonard Bernstein. Pitt described the Netflix movie as "a masterwork" during the ceremony.

Related: Brad Pitt Presents 'the One and Only' Bradley Cooper with Award at 2024 Santa Barbara Film Festival

"You know, he owed me, so I — what's that when you pull that chip?" Cooper joked to Extra, when he was asked about Pitt's presentation in Santa Barbara. The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star complimented both Cooper and Mulligan's performances — the latter plays Bernstein's wife Felicia Montealegre in the movie — as "alive, kinetic and so natural" in one scene in particular.

"This is really really, really difficult to achieve," Pitt said. "And yes, it takes great actors but it also takes great construction."

Related: Carey Mulligan Says Actors Who Claim They Don't Care About Awards Are '100 Percent Lying'

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Mulligan is not the first actor to describe feeling starstruck while meeting Pitt. Both Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Hemsworth in recent years have described awkwardly greeting the Se7en star the first time they were introduced.

Pitt also proved the surprising star of the 2023 Golden Globe Awards when Quinta Brunson, Austin Butler and Regina Hall each referenced the actor while onstage accepting and presenting awards. Brunson in particular made the room laugh as she noted that "he's right there" during her speech at the awards ceremony.

Maestro, meanwhile, is nominated for seven Academy Awards at the upcoming 96th Oscars, including acting nominations for both Cooper and Mulligan. Both actors are also nominated at the 2024 SAG Awards, which will stream live on Netflix Saturday, Feb. 24, at 8 p.m. ET.

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