USA: Brad Pitt speaks about his new movie, Madonna adoption, and his first time away from his kids at the Los Angeles premiere of his latest film "Babel"

All eyes were on Brad Pitt at the premiere of his, and co-star Cate Blanchett's film, "Babel" in Los Angeles, California on Sunday (November 5). Pitt, who did not attend the Cannes Film Festival when the film premiered in May due to the birth of his daughter Shiloh with partner Angelina Jolie, sent fans into a frenzy after he crossed the street to sign autographs. Babel debuted in U.S. theaters on Friday (October 29) with a global tale of how languages and cultural traditions divide people more than distance or personal ideologies. The temperature hovered near 112 degrees in the tiny Moroccan village that had become home to the cast and crew of "Babel" which left Pitt and Blanchett looked forward to a good laugh when they could get it. "Brad was the one who was talking about that. He kept pulling his pants up he really wanted his character to have high-waisted pants and I just told him that what that is, in Australia, is called 'hungry bum'. Or maybe its not Australia maybe its just me? Where your bum is so hungry it's eating your pants. Look for it I don't know if Alejandro cut it out it's a erotic feature of the film," said Blanchett in a silver Ralph Lauren gown at the premiere If a picture truly is worth a thousand words, then movie audiences should easily be able to grasp the challenging story in "Babel" even though it is told in Arabic, English, Spanish, Japanese and even sign language. "Getting to travel a lot, I was just saying, my biggest frustration is not being to communicate. Not knowing the languages I am really bad. It would take a lifetime for me to just pick up another one which I am trying but it's that undercurrent of the film. which is never stated, which I appreciate very much, but it's that inability to communicate and the misperceptions that we have because of that," Pitt told Reuters. "Babel" interweaves four stories. Moroccan boys take their father's rifle to practice shoot. Two U.S. tourists (Blanchett and Pitt) are victims of an errant bullet from the rifle. In San Diego, problems arise when a Mexican nanny takes the Americans' kids across the border, and in Tokyo, a deaf teenager copes in dangerous ways with the death of her mom. "It was very important to me to work with Brad Pitt in this picture. Because I think this huge star, its important for him to be in this picture so that this hugs audience (will now come see) this important theme." The film utilizes four small, personal stories about husbands, wives, fathers, mothers and children to comment on a big, global problem of how a lack of understanding and respect for different people and cultures can spark violence, " said Latin- American actress Adriana Barraza who portrays Amelia in the film. Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won the best director's trophy at the Cannes film festival in May and "Babel" is earning wide praise from critics and industry watchers who put it high on this year's list of must-see Oscar hopefuls. "Well, I feel that the movie which, in a conventional way, one can say is about barriers, about borders, but not physical ones. Besides talking about the physical borders, it talks about the borders that are more dangerous which are the ones inside us, the ones that created us: our religions, the media, our governments. We think we're different but we're not. And those barriers sometimes apply not just in countries and cultures but among the people closest to us like our wife and our children and this is what I wanted to observe," said Inarritu who also directed "Amores Perros" and "21 Grams." Babel, which humans built to reach heaven. But God saw it as a symbol of defiance. He gave people different languages, so they could not speak to each other and finish the tower. Then, God scattered humans to different parts of the world. Inarritu means the title to be a call to unity, and say to people of different cultures and languages around the world that they should embrace -- not fear -- differences. "I wanted to work with Brad for a long time and it was Alejandro's passion for it really. In the end it's not the character that draws me to a film it's what the film the trying to do? So to be a part of this I really wanted to be part of it," Blanchett said. Pitt and Jolie have spent the last month in the western Indian city of Pune shooting for "A Mighty Heart", a film about American journalist Daniel Pearl who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002. Pitt is producing the film while Jolie is playing the role of Pearl's wife. Jolie and Pitt have two adopted children, Maddox and Zahara, and a biological child, Shiloh. Pitt left his family behind in India to promote his new film, but not without a tug at his heart strings. "I miss the peeps, I miss them. I got to get back," Pitt said of his first time away from his kids. Pitt's daughter Zahara is originally from Africa just like David the 13 month old son of media maven Madonna who was attacked in the press for her adoption of a boy from Malawi. Pitt, who worked with Madonna's husband Guy Ritchie in "Snatch", says he is sure they had the best intentions when they gave the boy a home. "Listen, the most important thing is that their intentions are right. They are trying to give a kid a home and education who probably wouldn't get that and good health care. So you got to remember the intentions and then play by the rules. ... I don't know I have been in India and I don't really know all the dynamics that's been going on. But I do know their hearts are in the right place and they will know what to do. There is no questions they would not do the wrong thing," Pitt said on the red carpet.

ITN Source | November 9, 2006

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