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Brad Pitt Speaks About Security Guard Incident

11/11/2008 at 11:20 AM EST

In a bizarre incident Monday night at a Los Angeles screening of his new movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Brad Pitt was grabbed, pushed and spun around by a plainclothes security guard who had been hired by the venue to protect him from a pack of aggressive photographers.

"Though they were exceptionally more aggressive than usual," Pitt describes the paparazzi to PEOPLE, "breaking through a security barrier and into a private holding area, ultimately [it was] just another day in the life..."

The unflappable star had arrived half an hour early for the screening at the Bruin Theater in Westwood, where paparazzi rushed into the building.

"Brad didn't seem to mind having his picture taken and he instead seemed excited for the preview and was smiling," says one of the photographers there. "While the theater security tried to push all the photographers out of the theater, one of the security guards accidentally grabbed Brad by the arm really hard."

Pitt reportedly remained calm throughout the incident.

In September 2007 at the Venice Film Festival, a female fan gave Pitt the rough treatment when she leapt out at him, tried to embrace him and refused to let go.

• Reporting by MARY GREEN and PERNILLA CEDENHEIM

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