Angelina Jolie Brad Pitt A Mighty Heart Interview

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl disappeared while investigating a story in Karachi, on shoe bomber Richard Reid in 2002. Daniel was later found murdered, and his beheading was documented on camera. Mariane, his wife who was heavily pregnant at the time, wrote a book about her experiences and A Mighty Heart is the big screen adaptation by Michael Wiinterbottom (The Road to Guantanamo). Angelina Jolie stars as Mariane and Dan Futterman (who wrote Capote) as Daniel. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year to rave reviews. Gaynor Flynn was lucky enough to squeeze into the very crowded press conference attended by Angelina Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt, who was one of the producers of the film.

Gaynor Flynn: We really get a feel for Mariane through your performance here.

Angelina Jolie: I hope so, this is one of our first interviews and first response so we're really getting to see it so anything you say we're going to hang onto it. No I certainly hope so and we're all holding our breath and she seems to think we did it all right and I'm very relieved. She is an extraordinary woman as Danny was an extraordinary man so it was a hard job to be good enough to play them but we certainly care about them.


Gaynor Flynn: Is it more powerful for you to play in a film like this because of its emotional value its symbolic value? Are you much more careful when making a film like this?

Angelina Jolie: Oh of course, and not just for accuracy because these things really happened but because these are real people and there's real families and I think we all had in mind that there's a little boy who's one day going to grow up and see this film and we're representing his parents and this time in their life but all these people lives from the Captain to Asra this was a defining moment in their life and what they did or did not do and if we represented them these are things I'm sure they still lose sleep about every night and they're people and they're good people and it was a big responsibility to do that but they all were very encouraging about getting the message out and for that we all felt very comfortable and united and able to do that.


Gaynor Flynn: When you knew you were going to play this part did you say, how am I going to do it?

Angelina Jolie: I'd been aware of her, I'd read her book. I'd admired her from afar and then we did want to just have a play date (Pearls son and Jolie's children) and somehow ended up in all of this together but it is because we do have a lot that is very different but a lot that is in common and I care very much about her and the story and I believe very much in her voice and I was very very nervous to get it right and worked very very hard to try and in the end we've all at this table had a chance to learn a lot and get closer and grow and so just the experience itself I'm just so grateful for. But I do have the good fortune of knowing her as a friend and it's hard to play somebody that you know and care about so in an authentic way so it took a while to get comfortable.


Gaynor Flynn: I think this is the first time you're making a joint appearance before the world press in Cannes and how do you feel about that?

Brad Pitt: You know truthfully it doesn't feel that much different for us because we usually got a camera following us around every day in some capacity, but its not a conscious effort other than we're really happy to be here with this project and with everyone here on this dais with the other cast. We have great respect for this story and its place in the world and our friendship that has formed because of it and the message is very important to us and we think it stands on its own and that's first and foremost in our minds.


Gaynor Flynn: Your character in the film has a lot of gravity; did you have a number of studio projects on your plate that you said no to at the time in order to do this one, with more substance?

Angelina Jolie: Honestly when we really decided to do this I was six months pregnant sitting in Namibia not thinking about working at all, so it wasn't like that. It came from a very organic place as I think the best films do you know. I couldn't stop thinking about this story. I wanted to see Mariane. Wanted to talk to her, wanted to get to know her as a woman and the film kind of came as very much a second thought and then it was a challenge to do it, and it felt right and it kept coming naturally together. I think we all said through the whole thing if this doesn't feel right we drop it, its too important and every single person had that feeling and somehow it just kept coming together and being okay and we ended up doing it and I'm very glad.


Gaynor Flynn: There are a huge number of actors working in the production field what can an actor bring to the production area?

Brad Pitt: We probably get in the way. But what I appreciate most we get to be a part of projects that normally we wouldn't be right for on the acting front and stories like this which I was very taken with and in fact taken with it from the first moment it appeared on CNN by their example of strength and it was important for me to be a part of that. And through the producing conduit we get to do that and take part in these kinds of films and see them through to the end and find the right people like the cast you see here and that's the producers job to make things stay on the road and it's a really interesting side to filmmaking itself and you don't have to be in front of the camera.


Gaynor Flynn: What did it take to gain their confidence to have you make this film?

Brad Pitt: It was more important that we hear their concerns, if there were concerns that did exist and that we honour the memory as they see fit but it was a really wonderful sit down we had and it wasn't about any kind of convincing and as Angie said earlier if it all made sense and fell into place then we'll see this thing through and it was our goal to see this thing through because of what it represents about journalism and our interconnectedness and people coming together and fighting hatred and so there was certainly no coercing any point in this project.


Gaynor Flynn: How were you affected by this film?

Brad Pitt: Well first of all there's so much about Michael's (Winterbottom the director) work that in our discussion here that we really felt like he was the best story teller for this one. He's a citizen of the world he's worked in these areas, he's a world traveller. He focuses on these issues out of his own interest and he's a funny man. Guantanamo, was going to be really difficult to achieved some kind of love story especially if its done in flashbacks and to achieve that its got to be successfully created in whiffs and smells and instances and there were moments that he did that in Guantanamo when he focused on the boys in their normal habitat in the pizza parlous and we were able understand who they were at home without having to say it or play it out or make any kind of grant punctuation and that's another thing that I appreciate about Michaels film he follows the life. He doesn't create the life it's a raw approach to filmmaking that I think applied itself to the journalistic nature of this story.


Gaynor Flynn: Mariane said she trusted you but was there a moment when you felt you had really nailed this part?

Angelina Jolie: (laughs) I did finally speak to her days after she saw it and she told me it was all right in so many words so yes it was the thing that I had been nervous about days before the shooting. The night before the first day of shooting I was very, very nervous and didn't know if I really could do it at all and so for her to tell me that she felt it was done right I can't tell you how much that means to me.


Gaynor Flynn: How over the course of your involvement in this project, have your feelings changed with American confrontation with extreme fundamentalism?

Angelina Jolie: For me so much of why this film was important today is because I highly doubt if there is anymore in this room who has reason to hold hate inside herself than Mariane and she doesn't. She is a very compassionate thoughtful person who looks to dialogue to change things to make things better. She looks to working at it to understand better and not just to come to any quick conclusions about any one group and she can speak better for herself I'm sure, but that is I think a lesson for all of us. And when there was an interview only days after she lost Danny one of the things that struck me the most was that she made a point of saying that during that month ten other people had lost their lives to terrorism and the fact that somebody could focus on the loss the other side was taking in the battle is I think a very evolved way of thinking and I think that is something that is often lost today and I think it is why we all wanted to do this film.


Gaynor Flynn: One of the strong themes in the film is motherhood and family and Angelina can you speak a little about how motherhood has changed you and also Brad being a parent and what that has given you?

Angelina Jolie: I'll say how it relates to the film which is I think that many people know this story and I think they tend to forget that Mariane was five and a half months pregnant at the time so through it all through all the fighting and her trying to stay calm and her working so hard to be really deeply involved in the case to find her husband and losing sleep over it she was five and a half months pregnant and when we were going over this story I was about that and when we were making plans to figure out which scene would be which and I remember being six months pregnant and thinking I can't imagine not having the father with me, and being concerned about his life and trying to eat and trying to remember to get some sleep and trying to remember to take a deep breath and physically trying to move around. So as a woman it just made me so much connected to her and aware of her and also knowing that carrying that life inside, that little boy that is half Danny that is so so amazing and her love I'm sure there also couldn't be a greater gift at that time to pull you through something like that so it's an extraordinary thing. So I am grateful that I knew what pregnancy was at that time to understand a little more deeply into her.

Brad Pitt: As a father too I look at my kids and realise they will inherit this world and I know its true for Mariane as well and we want to do everything we can to throw our weight in and to make it a little bit better.


Gaynor Flynn: Brad, do you see yourself one day as a director and Angelina you do so many dramas lately does that mean we won't see you in Tomb Raider 3?

Brad Pitt: No directing for me. I think there's plenty of good guys doing it so I don't think I'm needed.

Angelina Jolie: I've been fortunate that I've been able to have that balance as an actress to be able to do the wild fun action movies and also be allowed to do the dramas and hopefully if I can keep that balance I would love to always be able to do both.


Gaynor Flynn: Is it important to always choose films that support your political beliefs?

Angelina Jolie: No not always I mean I don't make a point to always try to preach everything I believe. I also think there is room for entertainment so I am still capable of being very silly and fun and just entertaining and because we have children that's also very motivating to make something they will enjoy but certainly it does mean so much more to me and I care so much more and spend so much more time on a film like this and it changes me and that doesn't happen when you do other films. These are the types of films that change the way you see the world. That change the way you feel about this art form and it certainly always feels better to be able to make something that really does mean as much as something like this and has such a strong message.


Gaynor Flynn: This film portrays different kinds of journalism and your character runs the gamut of emotion, I wonder someone so exposed to that aspect of the media have your views on journalism changed and how did you tackle those scenes?

Angelina Jolie: I think if anything the funny thing is probably the opposite of what you expect. Through that there were the scenes which were paparazzi and I felt sorry for her thinking about my god what this must be like for somebody in that situation. But I really can't imagine going through that and having that kind of media coverage for something as difficult as that and somebody who's not used to it and somebody's who's a journalist themselves. I was more fascinated but I couldn't really imagine on the other side of it I read Danny' articles, got to know more of Mariane work and I found that I revisited my feelings about press and journalism and my great appreciation for honest journalists and people who go out there and really commit themselves and I know Dan felt that way and how much they committed themselves to different parts of the world and educate themselves and work so hard to uncover a truth and you're just reminded of what a great thing a journalist can be and should be and is and I have much deeper respect I think.


Gaynor Flynn: What's interesting about the film is that it doesn't condemn anyone.

Brad Pitt: For me the themes that really spoke to me at first and from Mariane's words is something what Angie mentioned before about the ideas what journalism could be creating dialogue and to make an informed decision you have to understand the unbiased dynamics of a situation to move the thing forward and as a profession and as a global community we seem to be failing, or we could be doing better. I'm saying we as a whole, civilians, hearing the other side, understanding the other side instead of immediately jumping to demonisation or some kind of simplification because things are complex and two this idea of taking this man and trying to destroy him but it actually brought people from different cultures and different faiths together. It actually did the opposite of what it was intended to do and I find that very powerful and again a great example for the world and last and certainly not least the strength of Mariane through this situation for me it was an epiphany as Angie said. She had every reason to come out of this embittered and angry and full of hatred and instead she's shown us another way and even that was recognisable when it hit the airways, her strength instead of the idea of victim and the way she battled this I find incredibly impressive and it lights a way for me.


Gaynor Flynn: I'm curious about power of cinema to tell as specific story that has a broader meaning. Could you talk about delving into this specific story to tell a larger story?

Angelina Jolie: From my point of view I was focused on getting to know Mariane as a woman and learning about her and reading her work and trying to understand where she was coming from as a woman, as a mother, as a wife and the relationships with the different people around her. Its an interesting story there are so many different stories people could pull from it and even the questions everybody seems to be able to interpret one way or the other but one of the things that meant the most to me and was the most interesting to me was her relationship with the Captain (Irfan Khan) who was a Pakistani man, a Muslim man and he became her best friend, an absolute rock and Asra (Archie Panjabi) as well. But this was a very interesting time for these two people considering what was going on in the world and to her family and I think it's a friendship that should be looked at and thought about and its extraordinary one so that as an actress, not just between our characters but to learn about that in the world and to meet these people and to meet people from all these different faiths there was pretty much someone from every faith represented in that house and considering so much of this people say this aggression is about faith it was very interesting to have a house of these different faiths coming together with friendship and concern and talking and dialogue and what that symbolises.