Brad goes geeky for comic role.

Byline: By Robin Walker

HE may be one of Hollywood's hottest male stars, but it seems Brad Pitt has a geeky side.

In the Coen brothers' latest film, Burn After Reading, he puts up with a retro upswept haircut to play Chad, a nonetoo-clever gym employee who gets sucked into a madcap game of espionage.

Hunky Brad is a newcomer to the Coens' idiosyncratic world and the film is a far cry from his recent performances in Babel and The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.

"I don't understand it, it was all me in a former day," he says of the ease in which he slipped into being his doltish character.

"It's a mystery where it came from and I'm somewhat disturbed by it all. My other half (Angelina Jolie), she's disturbed by it as well."

Brad claims he's as surprised as the next man about his flair for comedy.

"I'm not sure I can completely articulate it, I'm kind of groping my way through it," he says thoughtfully.

"I feel like I've been doing comedies for years. Maybe they weren't so funny!"

Playing a flawed, dim character like Chad is much more fun than being the traditional hero, he maintains.

"The leading man is the guy who has the answers, can figure things out and can diffuse a bomb in seconds," he said.

"All of that is pretty good for the ego sometimes. But it's much more fun to play the guy who makes the wrong choices and makes the wrong presumptions.

"They have to deal with it from there. That's the fun we had with this one."