pourquoi: Brad Pitt, 50

I'm glad that we were able
to make a film
that resonated with audiences.

It was one of the biggest challenges of my life
and there's a lot of personal satisfaction
that comes with knowing that it all worked out
in the end.

one of the worst experiences of my life
six months in the fucking dark
contact lenses, make-up
i'm playing the bitch role...
Now I'd be able to say,
"This is a problem. We fix this, or I'm outta here."

When you're starting out, it's easy to feel lost.
I didn't really follow my instincts
about doing more personal kinds of projects.
You get a lot of advice
from people who are trying to advance your career
and wanting to make money out of you,
but who are also trying to help you make a lot of money.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing,
but it isn't always going to lead you to make
good films.
You spend too much time on career maintenance,
but then you think
"what's the point?"
if it's not leading you to be doing interesting work
- which is why you really became an actor in the first place.

Sometimes you think that anyone else could have played
that same part
- and that just leaves you feeling very empty.
Eventually, I figured out that I was in the game
to tell personal stories
where I can feel that my work as an actor
is unique in some way,
and that I could add something to a film
that would be different from what anyone else
might bring to the way the story was told.
I like being able to leave my own personal stamp on a film.

I've spent a lot of my life on film sets
and I've learnt a lot about how this business works
and what kinds of elements enable you
to make good films,
as opposed to bad ones.
I've been able to produce a lot of films lately
and each time,
it's a learning experience where I'm able
to take that knowledge
and put it to good use on the next project.

For me, 12 Years A Slave
was one of those rare moments in your career
when you get to work on a movie where
story, performance and history
are all brought together at a very high level.
This movie is a transformative experience.
It's one of those rare films that displays brilliant storytelling,
and also shakes you.
My experience with it matches
my earliest recollections of great films I watched
when I was younger
and which inspired me in my career.
The great thing about 12 Years A Slave
is that it reminds us all of our humanity
and responsibility towards each other.
We're reminded that we have to
take care of each other in this world,
and I can't think of anything more worthwhile
than to tell this kind of a story
and make people watching it
more aware of our obligations towards
our fellow human beings.

You learn to value the basic beauty of family,
of watching your children grow and evolve.
It's the most beautiful thing you can experience.
Being a father has changed me
on so many levels and made me more generous and alive.
I see my children as an essential part of my life,
and it means so much to me to be able to educate them
and help them make their way into the world,
as they grow up.
I love being a father
and all the responsibilities that entails.
I feel like the richest man alive since I've become a father.
I worry about them all the time.
That's the emotional bond and responsibility
that sweeps over you when you have a family to look after.
I care about them more than I care about myself,
which I think is the real definition of love.
You see past yourself
and become so much more generous and giving,
and wanting only the best for your family.

Life is so much easier at Château Miraval
because we have more privacy
and the people who live in the area
are incredibly respectful of us;
we can move around pretty freely in the villages.
The best thing about our home there
is that the children enjoy a far more normal environment
and we don't have to hide as much
or strategise as much to get about.
In France, we feel like a much more ordinary family
and we don't deal with as many distractions.

It's crazy, but I kind of like a little chaos.
I miss it when it's quiet.
When I get that first moment of quiet I go
«oh man, this is great»
and then, within 30 minutes, I miss them, man
I miss them! I miss that crazy running back and forth
and sounds in the house with someone fighting,
and someone banging into a wall over here,
and someone calling for dad.

Angelina is just amazing.
I'll be tired and lie down on the sofa
and then she'll keep going until late at night.
And that makes me feel like
"why am I taking it easy?"
so I'll go help out and play with the boys and get them to bed.
You realise that you always have the energy inside you
and, as a parent, you need to have a lot of willpower.
When I was growing up, you weren't encouraged to talk a lot
about your problems or frustrations.
You were expected to be tough-minded
and rely on your own strength and determination,
and not complain or look to others to help you.
There's still a lot of that in me,
but I've become more open with my feelings
and I want my children to grow up
to feel they can talk to me about anything
and not keep anything bottled up inside them.

I've given a lot of thought to turning 50.
You become very conscious of time.
As a father, I've become much more acutely aware of spending my time wisely
and doing the things that are important to me.
In a way, getting older is liberating
because you have a lot more clarity about
how you want to live
and there are fewer doubts about everything.
I also feel that I have more doors open to me as an actor,
because I'm less of a comodity
and audiences can accept me in a variety of guises.
Now people can see past my image and look at the work.
I feel that my life has reached a point where I can look back
and see that I've accomplished a lot of my goals as an actor.
So I feel freer to be able to do pretty much anything I want
as a producer and, on occasion, as an actor.
I'm also able to spend as much time as I like with my family,
which is really my main concern.
I think when you get older,
you just naturally think much less about yourself,
and you see everything in terms of what you can do
to make your family happy...
at least until they become wicked teenagers
and don't want anything to do with us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocAeBZdSDWg
1994

http://vampirechronicles.wikia.com/wiki/File:The_success_of_Interview_With_the_Vampire
To Know My Audience Better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHOW_Fg_KZw
1995