Brad Pitt caught in his undies on Vanity Fair cover

By Stone Martindale Nov 1, 2006, 2:32 GMT

And he apparently is a boxer versus briefs man.  Unbeknownst to Brad Pitt, he currently struts underwear on the cover of December's Vanity Fair.

TMZ reports that "no one was more surprised to see the steamy cover on stands than Brad himself."

An unnamed source close to Pitt tells TMZ that Brad shot the photos, taken by artist Robert Wilson, in September 2005, but didn't think they would wind up in print.

TMZ reports that Pitt had agreed to be in Wilson's avant-garde video art project last year, and allegedly signed a release at the time for the still and video images taken in the shoot.

Now the Vanity Fair cover emerged and Pitt was caught unaware that he would be the coverboy in his tighty whities.

Vanity fair states: "In a letter dated October 5, 2006, and sent to Pitt care of Brillstein-Grey [Pitt's managers], Wilson informed Pitt that a still image from his portrait was going to be featured in the December art issue of Vanity Fair."

An unnamed source tells TMZ says that Pitt never saw the letter.

Legal options are now being weighed. Pitt's spokepersons told TMZ: "We are very disappointed that Vanity Fair has chosen to put an unauthorized cover on their magazine. It seriously makes me question their integrity and motives."

TMZ reports that Vanity Fair retorted: "Brad Pitt posed for a Robert Wilson video portrait, and in the photo release (signed by Pitt), agreed to allow Wilson to use the portrait or any images from that sitting in connection with any publicity on Wilson's video project. Vanity Fair decided to do a story on Wilson's video portraits and obtained rights to the entire collection of photographs from those sittings, which included Pitt's."