According to the documentation:
"The fill character can be any character other than ‘}’ (which signifies the end of the field)."
http://docs.python.org/dev/library/string.html#format-specification-mini-language


However the format() builtin accepts both '{' and '}' characters:

>>> format(42, '}^6')
'}}42}}'

>>> format(42, '{^6')
'{{42{{'


And the string method rejects both characters.

>>> '{:}^6}'.format(42)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ValueError: Single '}' encountered in format string

>>> '{:{^6}'.format(42)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ValueError: unmatched '{' in format