Why Brad Pitt has grown that weird beard....he is set to play British explorer Colonel Percy Fawcett

It is certainly not Brad Pitt's most attractive look to-date.

But the reason behind his long straggly grey beard has all become clear - he has grown it for a new film role.

The actor is set to star as British explorer Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, who went missing in the Amazon in 1925 as he searched for a ancient civilisation.

Colonel Fawcett was convinced a lost city, which he called 'Z', existed somewhere in the Mato Grosso region of the South American rainforest, but he, along with his son who accompanied him on the expedition, vanished and has never been seen since.

He was born in Torquay, Devon, in 1867, and in 1886 Percy received a commission in the Royal Artillery and served in Trincomalee, Ceylon where he also met his wife before he went on to work for the British secret service in North Africa.
Colonel Percival Harrison Fawcett

Missing: Pitt will play Colonel Percival Harrison Fawcett who disappeared while on a quest to find a lost city in the Amazon in 1925

For decades, explorers and scientists have tried to find evidence of his party and the Lost City of Z including author David Grann, whose 2009 book - The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon - revealed new evidence how Fawcett died and that the city may have actually existed.

Fascinated with the story, Pitt's Plan B production company and Paramount Pictures bought the rights for a movie based on the book, in which Pitt stars as the legendary explorer.

No release date has yet been given for the film, but it is currently in production and could be release later this year or early in 2011.

Colonel Fawcett and the stories surrounding the Lost City of Z, inspired his novelist friend Arthur Conan Doyle and became the basis for his book The Lost World.

The Colonel is also believed to have been an inspiration for Indiana Jones, which could explain why Pitt jumped at the chance to make the film - and star as the hero.

A source close to the actor said: 'Brad didn't need too much convincing as he wants to be known as a movie adventurer like Harrison Ford.'

Pitt, 46, has been sporting the beard since September last year when he started growing it out for his new role.

Last night he showed off the beard, which is getting longer and more matted every day, as he dined out with actress partner Angelina Jolie in New York.

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