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You Little Devil! After months of speculation that he hated working on his new film The Devil’s Own, Mr Gwyneth Paltrow—that’s bodacious Brad Pitt to you—speaks out! LP: Brad, you play Rory, an Irish soldier in The Devil’s Own and your accent is brilliant. Were you worried about getting it right? BP: Oh, that’s great. I appreciate that. Because it’s not my strong point. I did work very hard. No, I felt more pressure speaking for these people who have suffered from this war. There’s where I felt the pressure. And I went out of my way to make sure it didn’t become trite or trivial, and we didn’t get up in preaching politics. Because that’s a whole other issue. We just deal with the emotions of it all. LP: Did you ever test out your accent in a pub in Dublin or anything? BP: I did when I first went to Belfast. I tried it out, and someone went, “Nice try!” [laughs]. LP: How did you get in touch with the emotional part of this film? BP: It wasn’t so tough. I met some people, and people were very gracious to let me into their homes. [Like who wouldn’t?] So I did the research, I read the books. I did the interviews, I traveled to Belfast several times on my own. And I’ve got to tell you what I came out with… there’s no way I’m going to understand it all, from this. Because it runs too deep. LP: There’s a lot of controversy that’s been circulating… BP: Yeah. LP: Could we have your version? BP: Addressing which? LP: The dissatisfaction you expressed about the making of this movie. BP: Yeah, that was my fault. Because I didn’t clarify. What I was talking about was the pre-production. We were getting ready to start a film, and we didn’t have the script nailed down. It was specifically because of this responsibility I had—I was speaking for these people. Because I saw the pain. It was in the eyes; you couldn’t get around it, it was just simply because of this responsibility. I didn’t want to start something that I didn’t feel was nailed down. LP: Were you really ready to quit at the beginning? BP: No, no, no, I did contemplate it when it came close. And what kept me in was Harrison, and Alan, and Larry [ that’s Brad’s co-star Harrison Ford, director Alan Pakula and producer Larry Gordon]. Just the discussions over what we could do, and what we were aiming for, and that we would get there. But again, it all stems from the people. LP: Do you go to see many movies? BP: Yeah. I try to see anything. I’ve been out of the country for half a year, so I haven’t seen a whole lot. But there’s been great films this year. I loved Fargo, I loved Jerry Maguire, I loved Sling Blade, I loved Larry Flint, I loved Flirting With Disaster. There’s quite a few. LP: Do you see them and long for the roles? BP: No, no, it’s never like that. It’s more that you see something, and you get inspired. Because it changes your thinking a little bit. It actually helps you find another direction. I appreciate it more. But I’ve always loved movies, since I was little. LP: Will you and Gwyneth work together again? BP: Yeah. We’re actually working together in a film that her father’s directing. He’s a man I highly respect—Bruce Paltrow. Although we’re not in the film together at all-it’s an ensemble piece, and we kind of see each other at the very end. But we don’t have our scenes together. LP: Have you guys thought about when you’re getting married? BP: [Laughs] Yeah, sure, we have to think about it. How do we keep it private and special? These are our thoughts. We’ll figure it out. LP: Will it be this year? BP: I hope so. You just don’t know. LP: You’ll let us know, though, right? BP: Yeah, sure, I’ll call you up. Leave your number, I’ll tell you when and where. LP: Can you give us a rundown of what you’re working on next? BP: We’ve pretty much finished Seven Years In Tibet, it’s been a six-month process. We’ve got a shot in Austria we have to pick up, I think, and maybe Katmandu or something. But we’re pretty much finished with that. And then I started something this summer called Meet Joe Black. I’ll be working with Sir Anthony Hopkins again. LP: Is that a remake of Death Takes a Holiday? BP: Yeah, exactly. LP: And you play Death? BP: Yeah. How does Death speak, by the way? Do you know if he has an accent or anything? [Laughs] LP: How do you like your work schedule? You’re going from one movie to the next, without a break. BP: Well, I usually plan it better than that. I feel it’s very important to have time to fill back up again, and not drain yourself. It’s just that movies have gone a little longer that I had planned. But we get a little bit more time after this. Then we’re getting married. |
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