Showing posts with label SBIFF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SBIFF. Show all posts

Saturday, February 8, 2025







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Thursday, February 6, 2025



Maltin Modern Master Award - 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival




SBIFF 2025 - Angelina Jolie Tribute Montage




SBIFF 2025 - Maltin Modern Master Award Honoring Angelina Jolie (Complete)











SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 05: (L-R) Honoree Angelina Jolie, Leonard Maltin, and Ava DuVernay pose with the Maltin Modern Master Award during the 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival at on February 05, 2025 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for Santa Barbara International Film Festival)



Brunello Cucinelli







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Maltin Modern Master Award - 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival









SBIFF 2025 - Angelina Jolie Introduction, Discusses Early Career & Children




SBIFF 2025 - Angelina Jolie Discusses “Hackers” & "Gia"




SBIFF 2025 - Angelina Jolie Discusses “Tomb Raider” & Her Mother




SBIFF 2025 - Angelina Jolie Discusses “Girl, Interrupted” & Winning Oscar




SBIFF 2025 - Angelina Jolie Discusses Career From "Changeling" To The Present




SBIFF 2025 - Ava DuVernay Presents & Angelina Jolie Accepts The Maltin Modern Master Award




































SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 05: Honoree Angelina Jolie attends the Maltin Modern Master Award ceremony during the 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival at Arlington Theatre on February 05, 2025 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images for Santa Barbara International Film Festival)









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Friday, December 20, 2024



Angelina Jolie and the Extraordinary Ensemble Cast of MARIA | Netflix

Director Pablo Larraín in discussion with the extraordinary cast led by the brilliant Angelina Jolie (Maria Callas), Pierfrancesco Favino (Ferruccio) and Alba Rohrwacher (Bruna).





Angelina Jolie on the Gorgeous, and Tragic World of MARIA | Netflix









SBIFF Q&A Maria with Pablo Larraín & Guy Hendrix Dyas







With Angelina Jolie’s dramatic take on legendary opera diva Maria Callas, the actress portrayed the grand soprano from her aesthetic heights of the 1940s to the early 1950s, as well as the vulnerability of her vocal decline in the mid-50s.

For “Maria,” Vetro assembled, for the first time, a team of three opera singers behind him who, together, worked with Jolie for seven months. “I can sing, but I can’t sing like Maria Callas,” he says, laughing. “Plus, my Italian pronunciation isn’t up to snuff.”

Vetro is in awe of how compelling Jolie is throughout “Maria,” how the actor embodies every nuance and every note of the opera legend.

“Jolie is indeed singing operatically as Callas, the caveat being you’re hearing a mix of Maria Callas’ voice with Jolie’s blended together,” he says of a mash-up vocal process that also took place on “Elvis” between Austin Butler and Elvis Presley.

“Sometimes there’s less Angelina, maybe 10%, other times there’s more Angelina. It changes depending on the aria and on the period as much of the movie focuses on the time when Callas couldn’t sing any longer, or sing in the same way. No matter what or when, Angelina captured every single note and every single emotion. She was astonishing.”

One thing most impressive about having Jolie blend her voice with that of Maria Callas is that the actress had to emulate what the diva did on stage, originally, for the sake of splicing together their performances. In opera, however – unlike, say, pop – there is no steady beat or click track. “Opera has its own ebb and flow, its rubato,” says Vetro. “How in the world would Angelina be able to do that? But watching her sing… Jolie nailed it.”


Vocal coach Eric Vetro (right) with ‘Maria’ director Pablo Larraín and Angelina Jolie Courtesy Eric Vetro



When Angelina Jolie sought out Vetro, she was on the opposite end of the spectrum. Jolie needed his help to transform into arguably the preeminent opera diva of all time, Maria Callas. “Not only was she not a singer, she never sang,” Vetro says. “She didn’t even sing ‘Happy Birthday.’ She had a real block about singing.”

Taking someone from “Happy Birthday” to “Piangete Voi?” from Anna Bolena may sound impossible, but Vetro was up for the challenge. In his early days of teaching, he “treated everybody,” Vetro says. “If someone had never sung before, they would send them to me.”

Though Jolie was in the right hands, it took some time to get her opera-ready. “The first lesson, she barely uttered a sound,” Vetro says. “I couldn’t get her to sing. She was very, very, very shy about it.” Vetro enlisted outside help—female opera singers to demonstrate high notes he couldn’t reach, and a fluent Italian speaker to help Jolie with the diction. Little by little, they helped Jolie discover her voice—a poetic parallel to Callas rediscovering her own voice in the twilight of her life in Maria.

“We made the big discovery that she was actually a soprano, which was really surprising to both of us,” he says. “There was one day into it, probably in the middle of the process, when she started singing one of the arias from the movie. And I knew that day it was going to work.”

Of course, in Pablo Larraín’s finished film, Jolie’s voice is heavily mixed with Callas’s own. Still, Vetro says Jolie’s work ethic and deep admiration for Callas were pivotal to her performance. “She loved Maria Callas,” he says. “She felt a lot of empathy for what Maria Callas had been through, how she had been treated in the press—when they would ask her really inappropriate questions about her ex, Aristotle Onassis.” And it all paid off. “By the end of it, she was singing every note, singing every lyric,” he says. “It was a really difficult task. And she rose to the occasion.”


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Wednesday, October 16, 2024







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Angelina Jolie, the Oscar-winning megastar who is currently back in the awards conversation for her portrayal of opera singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín's Maria (don't miss THR's recent interview with Jolie and Larraín), has been tapped by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival to receive the fest's highest honor: the Maltin Modern Master Award.

The honor, which is named after the revered film critic and historian Leonard Maltin and comes with a career-retrospective conversation moderated by him, will be presented to Jolie, 49, at Santa Barbara's Arlington Theater on Feb. 5, 2025.

Past recipients of the Modern Master Award, which was established in 1995 (and re-named after Maltin in 2015), include Robert Downey Jr., Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, Denzel Washington, Cate Blanchett, George Clooney, Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, Clint Eastwood and Peter Jackson.

Jolie, who won the best supporting actress Oscar 25 years ago for Girl, Interrupted (1999), has also received widespread acclaim for her performances in A Mighty Heart (2007) and Changeling (2008); starred in hits such as Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), Salt (2010) and Maleficent (2014); and directed the films In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011), Unbroken (2014), By the Sea (2015) and First They Killed My Father (2017).

“Angelina Jolie makes bold choices, both as an actress and as a director,” Maltin said in a statement. “She sets the bar high in both disciplines and always comes through. I look forward to reviewing her career with her in Santa Barbara!”

The 40th SBIFF will take place Feb. 4-15, 2025. Additional honorees will be announced in the coming weeks.




Jolie's lengthy list of credits includes films like “Maleficent,” “Girl, Interrupted,” “Challenging” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” Her latest performance in Pablo Larraín's Maria Callas biopic “Maria” was praised by Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman as “imperious, mysterious, fusing the life force of a genius diva with the downbeat emotional fire of a femme fatale. Jolie, for the first time in years, reminds you that she can be a deadly serious actor of commanding subtlety and power.”








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Friday, February 9, 2024



Outstanding Performer of the Year Award - 39th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival



As Pitt appeared at Santa Barbara's Arlington Theatre to present the Oscar nominee with the prize, he joked that the duo have a "couple of things in common," including "being a movie superstar and also a name."

He went on to note that he knew there was something special about Cooper after watching his work in The Hangover.

Pitt then spoke about Cooper's 2018 directorial debut, A Star Is Born, which the actor also starred in and wrote the screenplay for.

"[It's] a film that's been made a few times, it's been made really well, so the bar is so high, and yet he's able to bring in his performance where he's able to play drunk when he breaks down and still keep an eye on the crew to see the time when to know that he's got the tape and you can move on."

"To do that really, really well is nothing short of perfect," added Pitt.

Commenting on Cooper's most recent work, Pitt called Maestro "a masterwork" and described one scene in particular between Cooper and his costar Carey Mulligan, who plays the late composer-conductor's wife Felicia Montealegre, as "alive, kinetic and so natural."

"This is really really, really difficult to achieve," said Pitt. "And yes, it takes great actors but it also takes great construction."

"Now I'm not gonna say I know for certain what's at the heart of Bradley's brilliance, but I am going to take a stab at it," continued Pitt. "What I think it is is his voracious love for this little thing we call the human experience and all its struggles and joys and messiness. My man's in it, he doesn't run from any evidence and I think it's that that he infused into each frame that he puts up on the screen."

Pitt rounded out his speech by sharing his hopes for Cooper's success at the upcoming Oscars, where Maestro is up for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Mulligan for Best Actress, and Cooper for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay (shared with co-writer Josh Singer).

"He's been nominated 12 times and I really, really hope that this is his year, because he's willing, but if it's not, it's okay, everyone knows it's just a matter of time," said Pitt, calling Cooper "the one and only Bradley," before going on to joke, "And truly Brad is okay, he's fine. He's used to it. He's a Philadelphia Eagles fan."

"I didn't like what you said there," joked Cooper as he accepted the award from Pitt.

Going on to share how movies have "changed his life" and "kept me alive," Cooper said of his career, "It's just such a privilege. I can't believe I get to do it and and I'm so privileged and I've been so blessed."


Brad Pitt at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Outstanding Performer of the Year Award honoring Bradley Cooper held at The Arlington Theatre on February 8, 2024 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Lisa O'Connor/Variety via Getty Images)

bee ring and an emerald



SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 08: Brad Pitt speaks onstage at the Outstanding Performer of the Year Award ceremony during the 39th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival at The Arlington Theatre on February 08, 2024 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for SBIFF)



SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 08: (L-R) Honoree Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, moderator Pete Hammond, and Brad Pitt pose with the Outstanding Performer of the Year Award during the 39th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival at The Arlington Theatre on February 08, 2024 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for SBIFF)






@beverlyabcd




A different angle from what hello has.  Apparently from the same row.

hello

Brad Pitt, 60, sits hand in hand with girlfriend Ines de Ramon, 33, for rare date night


Brad Pitt and Ines de Ramon were the epitome of elegance and affection as they attended the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California on Thursday night, where they were caught sitting hand in hand as they watched Bradley Cooper accept his honor at the 2024 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.


Brad Pitt and Ines de Ramon sit behind Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan.  © HELLO

Brad and Ines sat with their hands together
(This photo seems odd.  His wrist would be resting on her fingers.  You don't see her forearm.  Almost like the fingers were photshopped in.)
Brad whispers in girlfriend Ines' ear.  
(He is undoubtedly saying something to her but the more natural way would have been to simply lean in without arching his head. This way, there is no angle where he appears to be kissing her.)

HELLO! saw the pair enter the Arlington Theater as the lights went down ahead of the retrospective, where they sat in the third row behind Carey Mulligan, and where Ines kept her hand on Brad's thigh. The two looked comfortable with each other, and as they left before the end of the event, Brad guided her out with his hand tightly clasped with Ines.

@carlahughesmoritz



The woman in a black coat is not Ines.  She can be seen later in the video and may be with SBIFF


Ines is not visible so she must be several feet ahead of Brad.




The woman seen earlier




hello (cont'd)
The couple, having recently celebrated their first anniversary of togetherness, has become an inseparable pair, with Ines reportedly forming strong bonds with Brad's close-knit circle of friends.

Their appearance at LACMA's 12th annual Art+Film Gala in Los Angeles was a highlight, where, despite not posing for photographs together, their affection and joy were evident to all around them.

Brad and Ines's relationship blossoms in the aftermath of his separation from Angelina Jolie, marking a new chapter in Brad's personal life amid the backdrop of a highly publicized custody dispute over their six children.


people

In photos published by HELLO!, Pitt and de Ramon, 34, can be seen sitting next to one another in the audience, directly behind Cooper, 49, and his Maestro costar Carey Mulligan.

Pitt donned a dark-brown suit for the evening at the Arlington Theater, while his girlfriend looked glam as she rocked a high-neck teal halter dress. One photo showed the Bullet Train actor leaning in to a smiling de Ramon, appearing to whisper something in her ear.

A source who attended the event tells PEOPLE that Pitt "was very low-key last night and skipped the red carpet during arrivals," and when he showed up to honor Cooper, "the crowd went crazy with excitement."

"He seemed to be in very good spirits onstage when he presented the award to Bradley and poked fun at his friend, joking that he was just here for the free trip to Santa Barbara," the source adds.


People left out hello's numerous claims about hands: "hand in hand", "hands together", "hand on Brad's thigh", and "hand tightly clasped with Ines". The supposed photo of the hands looks odd, while there is no photo of the latter and they remained several feet apart as they exited.

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Wednesday, January 22, 2020


SBIFF

What does this particular one mean to you
"I've never done one of these, it's looking back on your career so we'll see how that works.  But Santa Barbara, I've been spending time here sine 1999, I spend a lot of time here, with friends, with kids, so it feels homey, that's what it feels like."
We saw you with the Chief's hat, is it safe to say you'll be rooting for them at the Super Bowl?
"No question.  It would have been a problem if it was a Chiefs - Saints game. That would have hurt."
Tinder subscriptions went up like crazy because of you.
(laughs)
Are you getting a cut?
"No" (laughs)
We know you're not on it.
"Thank you.  I'm not even really sure how it all works.  It just sounded funny."


"Thank you" -- He's happy she is pointing out it was a joke.  Some people must have taken the joke seriously.  Just like they took his "disaster" joke seriously.  Some people don't understand jokes.


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"I don't know. I'm blissfully naïve and I'm gonna stay that way," the 56-year-old actor told ET's Keltie Knight at the 35th Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Wednesday, adding that he hadn't read the headlines.








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Question: Twenty-five years ago, you got your first Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor for 12 Monkeys. What was that like?
BRAD PITT: It was a bit nerve-wracking.
We both majored in journalism. What led you to the path of journalism in college, at the University of Missouri?
PITT: It was one of the best J-schools in the country, and I had loved All the President’s Men, so the idea of investigative journalism appealed to me. And then, it didn’t.
You fell out of love with it?
PITT: No, not really. I just started finding myself being drawn more to design and maybe magazine layout, but I’d always had a love for film. It just wasn’t an option in Southern Missouri, or Missouri.
Were you a film buff, growing up?
PITT: Big time, whatever made it to our neck of the woods . . . I grew up on ‘70s films, like French Connection, Butch and Sundance, President’s Men, and Dog Day Afternoon. That was my jam. It left a mark on a lot of us.
So, did you just one day say, “I’m going to L.A.”? Was it as simple as that?
PITT: I remember, it was a week before graduation and I realized that all of my friends had jobs. They had applied for jobs, which I hadn’t done, and received jobs, which I had not. I had a friend, who was not even a close friend, who talked about going out to L.A. Her dad had a place. And it was just one of those things that hit me. I’d always lamented that there wasn’t an avenue for film in Southern Missouri, and it just occurred to me that I could go to it, and I literally loaded up the car. I didn’t graduate. All I had to do was hand in one term paper, but in my head, I was done. I was going west. Within a week, I was doing extra work and I was really, really happy.
brad-pitt-santa-barbara-international-2
Image via Getty Images for SBIFF

And you had a place to stay?
PITT: Yeah, my friend let me stay in her dad’s place, but no one was there except a maid who spoke Thai and only Thai. What do you do? I didn’t have a lot of people to talk to, at that point.
How did you get extra work?
PITT: I landed and went straight to McDonald’s. I got the newspaper. I had $275 to my name, and I saw in the paper that you could sign up for extra work, so I signed up for three places. You had to pay $25, and within a week later, it was for an industrial film, but I was thrilled.
What was your first impression of a professional movie set?
PITT: I was just so excited to be there. I did extra work for about a year and a half, maybe two years. There was this catch-22. To get your SAG card, you had to have a line, but to have a line you had to have your SAG card. So, there was this Charlie Sheen/DB Sweeney movie, and I was an extra. It was a big dinner scene, and they pulled me out to be the waiter. I was supposed to pour champagne and I thought, “I’m gonna try it!” And so, I poured Charlie’s glass. They were having a big conversation. I poured the next actor’s glass. And then, there was a young woman on the end and I poured her glass, and then I went, “Would you like anything else?” I heard the 1st AD yell, “Cut! Cut!” He came over to me and said, “If you do that again, you’re outta here!” So, I didn’t get it.
And you did almost two years of that?
PITT: I actually got a job, and then went back and did extra work because it was Less Than Zero, the film with Robert Downey, Jr.
brad-pitt-sbiff
Image via Getty Images for SBIFF

How did you progress? Did you take acting classes?
PITT: I did. It took me a bit to find someone that really spoke to me, and I found a brilliant guy named Ray London, who’s no longer with us. He shaped a lot of people’s careers, like Hank Azaria, Geena Davis and Sharon Stone. I was really lucky to land there, and he really pointed me in a nice direction. 
What kind of things did he open your eyes to?
PITT: Just really about learning to make it personal, and not to bullshit or present, doing someone else’s idea. No mimicry. He was harsh. He would call you out and embarrass you. That was not a nice night. I’m really grateful for working with him.
When did you feel that you crossed the threshold, where you could say that you were a professional working actor?
PITT: A couple weeks ago. I’ve had some different junctures, along the way, where I would actually call myself a professional actor. Once Thelma & Louise hit, I tried some different things. One of the big pinnacles for me, one of the big moments, was meeting David Fincher. I’ve had a couple of experiences on films, where it wasn’t what I expected. And then, I met my dear friend David Fincher, who was talking films, in a way that was much more articulate than I was. He understood so much more than I did, and I found direction, that way. That was a big moment. And then, around 2004, with Jesse James, I started making things more and more personal. Around then, I probably could have called myself somewhat of a professional.
brad-pitt-thelma-and-louise
Image via MGM

Thelma & Louise was a big deal. Were you aware of that, at the time?
PITT: I was certainly aware. I’m more aware of how high my voice is in that. My ass must have been clenched so tight, being the first [film]. That certainly was a precursor to where we are now, today. I’m really grateful to Ridley Scott and Geena Davis, who gave me that shot because that was the big league. I had nothing to show for myself, except for my extra work, and they took a chance on me. The weird thing was that it had gone through a few actors, and they were already shooting. I think they were desperate, to tell you the truth. They were already shooting ‘cause a week later, I was on set, working.
Did that movie feel like a turning point, at the time?
PITT: I remember reading the script for A Few Good Men. I didn’t have any opportunity at it, but somehow I got a hold of this early Aaron Sorkin script, and I noticed right away, “This is a movie.” And I felt the same about the Thelma & Louise script. It was like, “This feels right. This feels like the ‘70s.”
Fight Club was also a big deal, in a different way entirely?
PITT: Much different.
How did you build that character? Did you do a lot of research?
PITT: We were having so much goddamn fun on that movie. I don’t remember research being important. It was just pretty good fun.
brad-pitt-oceans-12
Image via Warner Bros.

If you have a great time on a movie, do you think it affects the outcome of the film?
PITT: The answer to that is Ocean’s 12.
In that case, we feel it.
PITT: I’m not sure you felt what we were feeling. Ocean’s 11, yes. Ocean’s 13, probably. Ocean’s 12, not fully.
Would it be accurate to call George Clooney the ringleader?
PITT: Absolutely!
In the ‘90s, you did A River Runs Through It, True Romance, An Interview with a Vampire, Legends of the Fall, Se7en, 12 Monkeys and Seven Years in Tibet, which is a hell of a resume for one decade of a career. And you learned to do fly fishing.
PITT: Yes.
Is that something you’ve continued to do?
PITT: No. That’s something I ejected when we finished the film. That’s actually something I’d like to pick up again. It was beautiful. But I haven’t. But I will. Probably.
What was it like to be directed by Robert Redford?
PITT: He doesn’t understand a call time. He often shows up very late. But Redford was one of my heroes, growing up. I certainly feel he’s very underrated as an actor. There’s this naturalism that he started, with talking on top of each other. The way he can move the plot along in Condor is just mesmerizing. He and [Paul] Newman, and these guys, were really big in my house, so to get that was really, really, really humbling. I’m sure I was more trying to impress him, each day. I should’ve been focused more on the part, itself. That was an honor for me.
Was he a patient director?
sbiff-brad-pitt-poster

PITT: He was a great director. I was doing something in the scene, and he just came up and said, “You’re sighing.” and I said, “Yeah.” And he said, “Don’t do that. When you do that, you let the power out. You let the water out of the scene.” That’s always stuck with me. That’s one of those little Redford-isms, like the double take, that he’s mastered and passed on to me.
Even with all of the films you’ve made, how many films did you almost make because you lost the part?
PITT: If we were doing a show on the great movies I’ve passed on, we’d need two nights.
Give us a for instance?
PITT: No. Okay, I’ll give you one. Only one because I really believe it was never mine. It’s not mine. It’s someone else’s, and they go and make it. I really do believe in that. I really do. But I did pass on The Matrix. I took the red pill. I wasn’t offered 2 or 3.
Have you passed on or lost out on a lot of roles?
PITT: Maybe it’s my upbringing, but I come from a place of faith where, if I didn’t get it, it just wasn’t mine. But, I could feel myself getting closer. I see it with younger actors, where they just get closer and closer to a part and to working with great people. They get there. You can see it. 
What do you think is your strongest ethic, from your having been raised in the Midwest by a stable family?
PITT: Probably that we don’t analyze ourselves, so I’m gonna be crap at answering that question.
brad-pitt-snatch
Image via Screen Gems

How did you end up doing Snatch?
PITT: At that time, I did something that I felt was very commercial, and I was really interested to see what new directors were doing and what was coming out. So, I was viewing everything of first-time directors, and I saw this movie, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, by this cat named Guy Ritchie. And so, I called him up and said, “Hey, I really like what you’re doin’, and if there’s anything that I could fit in, then let’s talk.” And he said, “Well, there is.” And I said, Great! I’m in!” And then, panicked until the moment we were shooting.
Why?
PITT: It was the dialect. If you haven’t seen it, I play this Irish gypsy, and the dialect is unintelligible, contrary to being trained to be clear and understood. And so, I was working on the accent and trying to be clear and understood, and it wasn’t working. I went to him the day before and I said, “Guy, I’m gonna fuck up your movie. You should do it.” He said, “Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no.” I was literally supposed to be on set the next morning at 6:00 am, and I was living in North London and I was walking the streets like a maniac. My friend kept saying, “You can’t understand it.” Literally at midnight, that clicked in, and I called and woke Guy up and I said, “Are you okay, if you can’t understand your beautifully written dialogue?” And he said, “Yep.” But also, I’ve gotta give credit to Benicio Del Toro, for his brilliant performance in The Usual Suspects. He was, to me, the first person that I’d seen, that was fearless with being unintelligible.
How did The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford come to you?
assassination-jesse-james-coward-robert-ford-brad-pitt-casey-affleck
Image via Warner Bros.

PITT: Because of an amazing film called Chopper. If you haven’t seen Chopper, it’s about this sociopath in Australia, made by Andrew Dominik, who directed The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. I insisted we keep the title, by the way, so I have to say it, contractually. I had seen Chopper, and I was pretty mesmerized by it. Again, it was a first-time director. I called Andrew and said, “Hey, if you’ve got anything that I fit, I’ll do it.” And he said, “I do.” And I said, “Okay, I’m in.” And we ended up producing that. That was near and dear to me, as well as the 10 other people who’ve seen it. To me, it’s a statement on celebrity and wanting to make a name for yourself without any substance under that. It’s a beautiful film. It really is.
What got you into producing? Did you want more control of your own work?
PITT: I’m not a big control guy. In fact, I’d just as soon say, “You guys do it.” But there was this time in the aughts where what was happening was that the interesting ‘70s-like films that were aiming in that direction were not getting made. Films that were big tentpole budgets were emerging and studios were able to bet on them, or cheaper films, that were maybe 10 to 18 million. There was this huge gap in between, of really interesting stories with interesting filmmakers, who couldn’t get their shit done because it was such a gamble. Prints and advertising was becoming so expensive that it became such a gamble for the studios and they couldn’t make these bets anymore. So, I started getting in to push the kinds of stories that I was still interested in and that the artists that I had great respect for were doing. That was really impetus for the beginning of it.
To give yourself good material and choices.
the-curious-case-of-benjamin-button
Image via Paramount Pictures

PITT: Yes, and others, too. We are community and we do cross-pollinate ideas, we help each other with films, and we push each other.
At what stage did you become involved with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?
PITT: When Fincher called to say that he was ready for the actors to come in. We’re friends with Eric Roth, who wrote it. That was the third time Finch and I got to do something together. And then, Cate Blanchett came in, and we had a really lovely time, fine-tuning it. When you’re on a Fincher film, you know that you’re in good hands. It’s well-oiled and he has a vision. The thing that became clear to me, besides that good directors talk with sound effects, they have a very, very distinct point of view about the story they’re telling, with very, very specific detail. That was the first time I heard it, talking to Finch, and that really stood out to me. That film was pushing technology and pushing boundaries, and my man was all over it.
Did you have any curiosity about how they were going to pull all of that off?
PITT: No. Of course, I was curious about the process, but I just knew it was going to be great. It’s going to be great when Finch is involved.
brad-pitt-burn-after-reading-image
Image via Focus Features

When the Coen brothers offered you Burn After Reading, did they send you the script?
PITT: Yeah, they just sent the script, and my first thought was, “God, he’s dumb!” You’re really excited to get a script from the Coen brothers, and then you go, “Is this what they think of me?” But it made me laugh, this guy who can only see the world from his own backyard, without an inkling of an idea that anything could turn out other than how he perceived it. It made me laugh.
Did they just give you a roadmap and let you go?
PITT: The Coens are funny. You get two takes, maybe, tops. And you know it’s working ‘cause Ethan is in the back, laughing, and you don’t know how it doesn’t make the sound.
When you made True Romance, did you get to meet Quentin Tarantino then?
PITT: I did not meet him until the premiere, but he left an impression.
Did he give you a finished script for Inglourious Basterds?
PITT: Oh, yeah. He writes everything by hand, and he writes single-spaced on a manilla pad. He overwrites and overwrites, and once he has a script, he gives it to you with his famous cover page, which is in his handwriting. Basterds was misspelled because that’s the way he originally wrote it, so that’s the way it went on the marquee.
Inglourious is misspelled, too.
PITT: Oh, right. I didn’t catch that, at the time. Missouri public education.
What appealed to you about that project? Was it just working with him?
PITT: That, and his writing is so specific that I could hear the character. I could hear it, from the first reading, and I don’t have that. I don’t normally have that experience. Also, I got to the part where he kills Hitler, and I was like, “Can you kill Hitler? I guess so.” Quentin can. It was funny.
once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-quentin-tarantino-brad-pitt
Image via Columbia Pictures

Having had the experience twice, what’s it like, being on a Quentin Tarantino set?
PITT: He has such a verve for the filmmaking process. He’s knows he’s not going to be there, but for 10 films, so it’s not going to be indefinite. He has such reverence for filming and for film that, he makes a party out of it. He loves a story. If we’re in the middle of a good story, the take is gonna wait. We’ll get to the take and it’s gonna be good, but we’re gonna finish the story.
Does he do many takes?
PITT: Average, I would say. It could be anywhere from three to seven.
Why do you think he’s so fearless, when it comes to rewriting history?
PITT: [With Quentin,] I see this kid who grew up on film and grew up on television where the good guys won and things worked out. I really think he’s coming from a beautiful place of, “If only the world could be this way.” He talked about when he wrote about killing Hitler, he wrote it down that night. He wrote it on a Post-It and he put it by his bedside, and he woke up in the morning and looked at it. And it still felt like it was a good idea, so it was a keeper. That’s the way that worked for him. He’s playing on our collective wish that the world could be this way, or if only this horrible thing wouldn’t have happened. I see innocence and a purity in that.
What was the appeal of Moneyball, for you?
moneyball-movie-image-brad-pitt
Image via Sony Pictures

PITT: I was really compelled by him. I was really compelled by this book. It started with a script that, before the two greats (Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian) got in there, was more Moneyball lite. It was more goofy, a little more silly, and more like the tone of Major League. And I read the book and just became rather obsessed with this book that challenged the way we think and why we do things, day after day the same way, and we need to be asking these questions, like why do we have an electoral college? Why are we still dealing with Daylight Savings? Why? And it was a long time in development to get the right tone. Another early conversation I had with Fincher was about the tone of a film. Each film has a very specific tone. What are you aiming for? I could hear the tone, and it was aiming for this tone, but I didn’t know how to get there. So, we actually developed it for years. I lost a few friends, but we got there. I’m pretty thrilled with that.
Do you see a theme in your work?
PITT: I’m noticing a theme of hubris. Se7en is a character who sees the world very black and white, and doesn’t see beyond his own spectrum. He doesn’t see what’s coming and he doesn’t understand. I see it in Burn After Reading. There’s a hubris. There’s an idiocy, but I see hubris. And there was hubris in the character in Babel. It’s the hubris that everything’s always gonna be alright, and not valuing the ones around him. I think that’s a theme. Hubris has always gotten me in trouble. I think it’s the thing that gets our nation in trouble. It’s something I’ve been rather fascinated with, along the way.
Troy was such a huge movie, and a lot of it was created through computer generated imagery, so what did that feel like?
brad-pitt-troy
Image via Warner Bros.

PITT: I was in a skirt made of leather.
Tactile memories?
PITT: Yes, it’s called chafing. That was just fun ‘cause it was aggressive. There was a lot of action and a lot of physicality. We had some great guys that developed the fights. We were in Malta and down in Cabo. It was fun.
Did it feel big?
PITT: No. It felt more chintzy than what it was going to be.
What is your goal for Plan B, your production company?
PITT: My partners are Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner, and we’ve been together about 17 years now. It’s always been story first, and then the artist. Our mandate is still the same. If something does happen to be something that I would fit into, then we’ll have that discussion. But that’s not where we’re pushing.


David Fincher’s presentation of the Maltin Modern Master Award to Brad Pitt:
DAVID FINCHER: I watch actors for living. I watch auditions and screen tests and rehearsals and dailies, and the occasional premiere. The task of acting is multi-faceted. There’s the grand overriding two-hour arc that one might call the performance. There are the subtle behavioral hints at a lifetime of backstory, often referred to as the characterization. And then, there is the moment, and that’s the character at rest, a person idling. For me, this is the test, the ultimate challenge. No intention, no witty banter, no dramatic change or trajectory. You just roll the camera and be. And this is the gift to your film that Brad Pitt brings. Like a supple suede jacket, he form-fits his characters to the overall narrative and he shows up for more than the big beats. He idles smoothly at 3000 rpms, in the most fractal of moments between speeches, between stunts, between moments that most actors actually choose a role for. . . So few people in the history of movies have been good at this, that we annex them to a special tier. People like Bogart or Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart or Paul Newman. They exist on celluloid in a way than mere mortals can’t. They have a comfort and ease that cannot be faked, or sadly duplicated. And they are as rare as albino pandas. They are movie stars, and [Brad Pitt] is one of them. He’s a multi-talented actor, producer, father and friend, and now a Maltin Modern Master recipient.






SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 22: David Fincher speaks onstage at the Maltin Modern Master Award Honoring Brad Pitt during the 35th Santa Barbara International Film Festival at the Arlington Theatre on January 22, 2020 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for SBIFF)


SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 22: Brad Pitt speaks onstage at the Maltin Modern Master Award Honoring Brad Pitt during the 35th Santa Barbara International Film Festival at the Arlington Theatre on January 22, 2020 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for SBIFF)








35th Santa Barbara International Film Festival - Maltin Modern Master Award - Brad Pitt
SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 22: Brad Pitt attends the Maltin Modern Master Award Honoring Brad Pitt during the 35th Santa Barbara International Film Festival at the Arlington Theatre on January 22, 2020 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for SBIFF)

at least 4 bracelets and 3 necklaces, no rings







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