This is the unexpected reason why Brad Pitt missed the Oscars 2017

We definitely couldn’t have called that one.

The 89th annual Academy Awards took place on Sunday, seeing A-listers from far and wide gather in the Dolby Theatre, LA, to celebrate the past year in film.

There were, however, a few major Hollywood players not in attendance.

Some were expected, with Natalie Portman announcing her absence in advance, missing the Oscars 2017 where she was nominated for Best Actress, due to being heavily pregnant.

The Salesman’s Iranian filmmaker, Asghar Farhadi, was also missed, boycotting the awards ceremony due to Trump’s immigration ban – a statement made more poignant when he won the Oscar for Best Foreign-language film.

‘The possibility of this presence is being accompanied by ifs and buts which are in no way acceptable to me even if exceptions were to be made for me trip’, he announced ahead of the awards.

There were other absences, however, that we couldn’t have predicted, with the most surprising no-show of the night being Brad Pitt.

Brad’s Plan B Entertainment production company produced Moonlight, the Oscars big winner that went on to bag the awards for best adapted screenplay, best supporting actor and of course, best picture. It would seem obvious, therefore, that he would be in attendance, especially after his surprise appearance at the Golden Globes last month.

The actor’s absence sparked a lot of rumours, with many speculating that his non-attendance could be down to his recent and very public divorce from Angelina Jolie.

The real reason for his absence, however, was explained this week, and we definitely couldn’t have predicted it.

Apparently Brad Pitt missed the Oscars because he was busy making a statue. Yes, really.

A source told the Hollywood Reporter that Pitt was 'otherwise engaged, holed up creating a sculpture at British artist Thomas Houseago's Frogtown studio.'

There is still no word as to what the statue will look like, but with reports claiming that he has been working on it for 10 whole days, our expectations are high.