Posted 21 hours agoSubscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret Down18 Embarrassing Moments Where Celebs Came Off As Wildly Pretentious, Self-Important, Or Faux "Deep"BRB, gotta go drink my brain octane oil, do my Buddhist chants, then quote philosophy at my Twitter followers.by Hannah MarderBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink 1. James Franco is a poster boy for pretension, especially if you read his bad poetry, which reads like lines from r/im14andthisisdeep. Franco, trying to sound profound, once said his poetry is "trying to say something in addition to what's on the surface" - which, you know, is practically the definition of poetry as this article points out. One of the poems in the book is basically just a list of Heath Ledger's roles. Another reads, "My father died in my Jesus year. He was sixty-three and I was thirty-three. He'd managed a few things and so have I. I drive a bus." The line breaks aren't always where you'd think they'd be. JB Lacroix / Getty Images 2. Shia LaBeouf also often tries to appear deep or intelligent in what amounts to little more than publicity stunts. Remember when he wore a paper bag on his head with the phrase "I am not famous anymore," or the time he called his entire life "performance art"? What about when he ripped off Daniel Clowes for a short film, and then tried to turn it into a commentary on plagiarism and inspiration, literally stealing phrases from famous apologies in his own apology? Target Presse Agentur Gmbh / WireImage via Getty Images 3. Then there's the time he stormed out of an interview after a fairly innocuous question about sex scenes, quoting (without attribution) soccer player Eric Cantona, who had once done the same while remarking, "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea." Promoting a film called Nymphomaniac, a question on sex really did not feel like it promoted that reply, and Labeouf's strange response felt like an attempt at appearing deep and intellectual when really he just didn't feel like answering a question. Dave Benett / WireImage via Getty Images 4. Orlando Bloom raised eyebrows when he spoke to the Sunday Times about his morning routine, which included reading a "bit of Buddhism," Buddhist chanting, drinking a mix of "brain octane oil," and hiking while listening to Nirvana. But the real kicker came when he said, "I spend a lot of my time dreaming about roles for myself and others - for minorities and women. I'm trying to be a voice for everybody." It kinda felt like Bloom was trying a little too hard to sound inclusive without really doing anything to back it up. Oh, and he talked about appreciating the beauty of cows. Karwai Tang / Getty Images for Ralph Lauren 5. He also came off pretty pretentious when he spoke about keeping an even head after LOTR and Pirates of the Caribbean fame. "I had this remarkable opening chapter to my career, for which I was only semi-present. Without my Buddhist practice, I could have easily come off the rails. I've been changing the narrative in my head and feel that I can be the driver of my train. I can set it alight, but I can get the fire crew and put it out." Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tribeca Festival 6. I'll be the first to say it: I don't like Brad Pitt. I liked him even less after reading his 2022 GQ profile. In it, he asks the interviewer, "Why the fuck are we here? What's beyond? Because I gather that you believe in something beyond.... Do you feel trapped here, in this body and in this environment?" The two discuss Rilke and Rumi, high art, and the meaning of dreams. Afterward, Pitt sends the interviewer an email with the sections "Summation, Clarification, and Rumination" to expound on his interview question answers. There's also a point where the two are sitting by a fire, and Pitt says, "I am a murderer. I'm a lover. I have the capacity for great empathy and I can devolve into pettiness." Gregg DeGuire / Getty Images for Turner Perhaps most ironically, Pitt talks about "radical accountability." Let's not forget what he was accused of doing on that plane, though the lawsuit was dropped. 7. Honestly, I don't know if I can say Tilda Swinton is pretentious, as she really does seem to be that cultured and intelligent (she's related to royalty, after all) but some of the quotes from this New Yorker interview she gave are wild, so I'll let you decide. Her comments on working with the late director Derek Jarman in particular were overly intellectual and mythologizing - she called the experiences an "apprenticeship" and a "movement," saying, "One is in mourning less for the individuals and more for the time, for-I would even go so far as to call it - 'the movement.'" She also gave a long commentary on class and ruminated on the possibility of dying in a plane crash right after 9/11, saying, "Well, where else would you rather be than with other people? What else is there but other people?" Isa Foltin / Getty Images 8. Joaquin Phoenix of