The week in quotes from Hollywood in the Hub

"Well it was big tax breaks that brought us here. I mean, that's not my department, but that's what brought us here. I'm telling you, it did something else for the film. It suddenly grounded it in a way that wouldn't have worked in other places. You know, there's magic and rhythms to New Orleans, that something mystical could happen here."

--Brad Pitt, star of the almost-shot-in-Boston flick "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," tells Lousiana's WWL-TV that the plan to move the film from the Hub to New Orleans gave producers exactly what they were looking for.

"We would have loved to have him come in with the check, and we would have loved to meet him, but no, it was very meaningful to have an actor who's played these macho figures, to have him choose to support a domestic violence program to us was very meaningful."

--Fundraiser Nathalie Favre-Gilly from the Casa Myrna Vazquez domestic violence program gushes to WHDH-TV after learning that "Edge of Darkness" star Mel Gibson donated a check for $25,000 to the South Boston social service agency.

"The kids looked like [expletive] Abercrombie & Fitch models. If they ever tried to extort money from you, you'd kick the [expletive] out of them."

--Dana White, in town producing the Spike-TV Irish mob pilot "War of '04," slams the short-lived NBC drama "The Black Donnellys" to the Globe.

"This series has brought some of the most important and exciting films and filmmakers in the world to Brandeis, and it has not only the campus but the entire city of Boston buzzing."

--Alice Kelikian, an associate professor of history and chair of the film department at Brandeis University, says after successfully hosting a slew of buzzworthy celebrities including Mark Ruffalo, Kate Beckinsale, Alan Alda and Melissa Leo.