Just an ordinary family guy

BRAD PITT would have you believe he knows nothing, zip, nada about baseball, notwithstanding the fact that he is starring in the $25 million movie Moneyball.

He will just about admit to a liking, though not understanding, of the game that is dearest to the hearts of millions of Americans and a smattering of people outside the US.

The morning after the movie’s world premiere, he comes in to sit down with The Irish Examiner and he doesn’t want to take his sunglasses off. He is dressed in a dark jumper and is sporting a goatee, looking very wintery, although the temperature is 25 degrees Celsius outside.

“They’re prescription sunglasses, too many flashes over too many years,” he says, with a yawn. At 48, he is philosophical about life and the industry which has made him a star and a very wealthy man and through which he found his life partner and the mother of his six children, Angelina Jolie.

I wonder are there any quirks or habits of Pitt’s that he’s prepared to admit to in his work or in private? He pauses to think.

“I have to fly with something from my family, some piece or some article. Other than that, Angie and I are not really superstitious. We don’t take long trips far away together. But that’s not superstition, that’s just practical.”

How does Pitt feel about his profession now, 25 or more years since he diverged from journalism to acting, breaking through as an “overnight success” in Thelma and Louise?

“I love films and so far, I’ve been very fortunate not to get kicked out! As you know, I’ve learned about film on the job. When I was 16 or 17, I was only interested in cars and girls and I had no idea where I would end up. I actually enjoy acting more than ever now and it’s been kind of freeing since the family came along.”

What do his children think of the work that their parents do? “They come on set with us now and their understanding is that movies are something you make, like a drawing or making up a story, so it doesn’t seem special to them or out of place. I’m sure as they get a little older and other kids tell them about their parents and we may have a few conflicts, but we’ve been doing all right so far!” he grins.

Given the expectations of fans and the enormous fame of Pitt and Jolie individually and a couple, I wonder if he thinks that fame is worth the price, in terms of privacy and toll on his family? “I’m still doing it for the money,” he laughs. “But the whole fame thing, it’s a trade off. It’s liberating in the opportunities it provides and in meeting people. We can go to the ends of the earth and it can be an open door in meeting other people, because they might have seen “Troy” or something. On the other hand, it can be very confining. I haven’t seen a hotel lobby in 15 years. I’ve got to go up the ass end of a hotel and out the same way! I’ve been in Toronto 48 hours and I’ve only walked across one street to go to the premiere. But it’s a trade-off is what I’m saying. We get our moments, it’s just the good and bad.”

Both Pitt and Jolie seem to be constantly on the road and they have houses in several places in Europe and the US, including New Orleans, where Pitt has been politically active since Hurricane Katrina.

“We’re trying to spend more time in France, because it’s been really nice for the kids. There’s less of a hunt with the paparazzi and the kids can get more of a feeling of normalcy. People don’t get in their faces so much and the press are a lot less vicious, feral, rabid.

“New Orleans is unlike any other city we have. I went there after the devastation and I walked around the Ninth Ward and it was just obliterated. I know a lot of smart building people and either naively or wisely I brought them in to rebuild. Along the way, we started discovering the injustice in low income practices — the cheap materials that drove up utility bills, mouldy houses that made children sick, driving up the doctors’ bills. None of it made sense and we became very interested in improving high performance green buildings.

“The ‘green’ bothers me a bit because it’s been appropriated by marketing ventures, but what we’re talking about is a high performance building that treated a family with more dignity and fairness and respect. What you see when you walk around there now are happy families that are able to live beyond just trying to answer that month’s bills.”

Pitt’s easy transformation to a devoted family man and father of six has been quite a sight to behold since he split from Jennifer Anniston five years ago. He constantly refers to the joy he gets from the family he and Jolie have created.

“I trust Angie first and foremost — that’s part of the great partnership we have. She’s heard everything! I’m also incredibly proud of her. My concerns deal with family and safety and am I spending enough time and giving the opportunities and instructions that are important to them. Am I getting that right? It’s been kind of freeing since the family’s come along. Angie and I have made a big commitment to each other with the family that we’re raising together and everything else is secondary. In a way, I feel more free now in the choices I make about the projects I do.”