The Good, the Brad and the Ugly

Pitty the fool: Brad Pitt elaborates on a point at the Babel press conference. (Evan Agostini/Getty Images)

It is war getting into the Babel press conference. The frenzy accompanying the arrival of the film’s star, Brad Pitt, is astonishing — “there’s no bigger fish in the pond,” says a wisecracking photographer sitting behind me. (The film’s press kit insists that Babel is an ensemble, but who are they kidding?) Today, just by being Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt is providing a living for dozens of people. This is why he and his partner, Angelina Jolie, must go to Namibia to bear children.

This icon status must also make him difficult to work with, especially on a dark, deeply personal film like Babel, a multi-story effort about the shooting of an American tourist in Morocco.

“Was I a prima donna?” Pitt asks the film’s acclaimed Mexican director, Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amoros Perros, 21 Grams).

“Maybe sometimes,” Iñárritu jokes. (At least I think he’s joking.) “In Morocco, in the town [where] we worked, there were people who didn’t know who Brad was. They were very pure, and this was a relaxed atmosphere. These were tough [physical] conditions, and there were no distractions.”

Tough conditions, indeed. The globetrotting film (think Syriana meets a Roger Moore-era Bond flick) was also shot in Tokyo, Mexico and San Diego. The press conference is a dizzying linguistic compote. Present today are Iñárritu, Mexican actor Adrianna Barrazza, Japanese starlet Rinko Kikuchi, Koji Yakusho (Japan’s Robert De Niro), two interpreters (one Mexican, one Japanese) and Pitt. I can’t help thinking that much of the film’s budget must have been spent on interpreters. And I can’t help wondering if during filming, the crew’s caterers managed to concoct an edible sushi burrito.

The film employs some heavy-hitting international talent — Cate Blanchett and Gael García Bernal also star — but also uses dozens of non-professionals, especially in the far-flung locations (Morocco does not have a booming film industry). On location in a small Moroccan village, a casting call was made through the muezzin at the local mosque — probably a first for a major American movie. “I was behind in the casting. I didn’t tell Cate and Brad this, but I almost had to cancel the film,” says Iñárritu. The two lead child actors in Babel were discovered on a dusty football pitch. “They just moved me. When I auditioned them, I asked them two questions. ‘Morocco has just won the World Cup. What do you do?’ And they went crazy. Then I said, ‘Your mother has just died. What do you do?’ The tears were instant.”

The filmmaker speaks: Pitt with Babel director Alejandro González Iñárritu. (Evan Agostini/Getty Images)

How did Pitt feel about working with non-professionals? “Um, that we’re just not that good,” he says, a sentiment that would undoubtedly rile his fellow Screen Actors Guild members. “I was surprised at how easily they picked it up. They took us down a notch. You can’t tell the difference between us. Kinda gives me a laugh.”

From Iñárritu’s perspective, “it was challenging and difficult. But without Brad and Cate’s patience, I would never have survived this. We had to shoot with the local veterinarian. He did not smell so good — he smelled of goats. On take No. 73, when it was perfect, he would look at the camera and smile.”

This fidelity to fidelity threatened to scuttle the Tokyo casting as well. Was Iñárritu planning to cast a real deaf-mute in the Rinko Kikuchi role? He was. In fact, “I was obsessed with hiring a real deaf-mute, but they are not easy to find. Then I read with Rinko, and [although she was perfect] I was actually disappointed that she wasn’t deaf, but I couldn’t get her out of my head.”

This statement leads to a good 10 minutes of multilingual back-patting, the gist of which is that everyone involved in the film was a consummate professional, a dedicated artist and a stand-up human being. The fun quotient goes up a notch again after the photogs are upbraided for taking their machine-gun hammering up a notch. This tends to happen any time an actor smiles or turns his/her head in a fetching manner. Pitt makes a googly-eyed face, which incites further hammering. “That’s the picture you’ll use when I have a breakdown,” he says, “or when I get that DUI later.”

Pitt doesn’t seem to have that manic quality that has damaged so many Hollywood careers (recent examples: Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson). He appears firmly in control of his brand and his icon status. Besides, he’s a dad now. He’s got real stuff to deal with. In an increasingly troubled world, “how can you protect your children?” he asks. “[For me], it’s more about the kids now.” As he puts it, he must “try to be a little bit more mature about my decisions.” I guess that rules out jumping on couches on daytime TV.

Thus, the press conference — which at times resembled a global summit — winds down. Pitt leaves us with this thought: “I consider myself as somewhat a citizen of the world. I sit here and listen to all the different languages, and I find it exciting. I hope to do something like this again.” But he’s steadily running out of countries where the Brad Pitt brand is unknown. Once you’ve conquered Morocco and Namibia, you’ve officially arrived.

Richard Poplak is a writer based in Toronto.

CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window.