BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. — During the filming of “By the Sea,” Angelina Jolie Pitt and Brad Pitt
— who play a depressed former dancer and her blocked novelist husband —
had a go-to method for lightening an often somber mood on the set.
“There were a lot of jokes about how nobody is ever going to want to be
our neighbor again,” said Ms. Jolie Pitt, referring to how their
characters often spy through a peephole on two lovers in the hotel room
next door.
“By
the Sea” is written, produced and directed by Ms. Jolie Pitt and
represents the first time she and Mr. Pitt have appeared on screen
together since their 2005 spy thriller “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” The
potential pitfalls of directing one’s real-life spouse aside, the movie
is a risk in other ways. Set in a quiet seaside town in France, it’s
inspired by the deliberately paced European art films of the ’60s and
’70s, and — let the speculation begin — tells the story of an American
couple’s imploding marriage.
Sitting
in a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel here, Ms. Jolie Pitt, 40, whose
last film as director was the World War II survival tale “Unbroken,”
seemed sanguine about it all — from the fact-or-fiction parsing “By the
Sea” might generate to the possible critical reception of what she
called “a bold choice.” She added: “I know some people are going to hate
it. Some are going to like it. But it was important to me to feel like
an artist again.”
Trailer: 'By The Sea'
An American couple who are vacationing in a French seaside town begin to examine problems in their marriage.
By UNIVERSAL PICTURES on Publish Date November 1, 2015.
Photo by Internet
On
her right wrist she wore a thread bracelet acquired during a recent
trip to Cambodia; a runic tattoo peeked from the left sleeve of her
beige pleated dress. Candid and engaged, she spoke of the grounding
influence of having her six children on location and of how hard Mr.
Pitt worked on his French. “As we were shooting he’d sometimes say:
‘It’s strange. You seem to have given me 10 times more dialogue in
French than you’ve given yourself,’” she said, laughing hard. “I told
him, ‘That’s the bonus of being the writer.’” Here are excerpts from the
conversation.
Q. Your first films involved lots of research. How do you prep for a circa 1970s marital drama?
A.It
helped that it was set in France, so we focused on the culture and the
time in history. But it’s really just me from a blank page. It’s like my
study of something that I didn’t even understand about my own pain, my
own self. It was a very strange experience — and not one I think I’ll do
often. [Laughs] I got married right before: Maybe that was my study.
You had been with Brad for roughly nine years by then. Did tying the knot change anything?
It
was just a nice thing. For me, the big moment was when [we] signed the
[joint adoption] papers for Maddox and Zahara. That was a decision to
parent together, to commit to being a part of each other’s lives for the
rest of my life. So [marriage] wasn’t close in comparison. In a way, it
was very casual.
Casual?
The
ceremony was in France, but we had to do things legally in California.
One day I was in the edit room, and [Brad] was doing something and an
assistant said, “You have to sign some papers.” So we came back and
between meetings we were told, “Here’s your license.” Then someone said,
“The judge is outside.” We both said, “What do you mean, the judge is
outside?” Then the judge came in, this lovely guy, and at some point,
Brad said, “Shouldn’t we be standing up?” The judge said, “No.” Then
suddenly we realized we were married, in the most unceremonial way
possible.
Then not much later it was off to Malta to shoot a movie about a relationship in crisis. That’s your idea of a honeymoon?
Well, technically it
was a honeymoon. A few days into filming I thought: This is such a bad
idea. What was I thinking? This is going to destroy us before we’ve even
gotten started. But by the time we got to the end of the film, we’d
argued, challenged each other, disappointed each other, had good days,
bad days, all of it. We’d pushed through, learned something about each
other, found a new working relationship and came to like the idea of
“Yeah, it gets really bad, but you work it out.”
When
you reread the script for your movie — which you’ve said you didn’t
initially intend to star in — what was it like to realize that you were going to be the actress put through the emotional wringer?
There were lots of scenes I wanted to change or cut. I realized it was going to be me
[naked] in that bathtub. But I told myself, put all of that aside.
Like, you can’t change or cut this scene because you’ve had a
mastectomy, or because we’re married and people are going to analyze
this or that. That would be cheating.
Talk about the challenge of directing and acting at the same time.
As
a director I had to be very sure, very strong in opinion, stable. My
character? She shouldn’t direct anything. Not even traffic. She’s a
mess. The duality — being a director, then having to become a person
that vulnerable — would often be hard. There’s a whole reel of me
calling “Cut!” If a doctor saw it, I’d be put on medication. I’m
hysterically crying and then calling “Cut!” or during a sex scene I am
calling “Cut!” on Brad. You had to laugh at how bizarre it was.
There
are so few female directors employed in Hollywood that a federal
investigation was recently begun into gender discrimination in the
industry. Yet you’ve often seemed to resist discussing what it’s like to
be part of such a small group. Why?
I
just think that sometimes people in the business focus on the fact that
you’re a minority. I don’t want people saying, “Should we get a female
director?” I want to hear, “Should we get a great director for this
movie?” But I’m the first female director that Brad’s ever worked with.
That doesn’t seem right when you think about it.
Agreed.
Sexism
is part of every industry and must be addressed. But I try not to focus
on the negative but the positive side of what we can bring. I want to
support other women because of the opportunities I’ve had — and I’ve had
a lot of opportunities. What I try as a female director is to do the
best job I can and in the meantime bring attention to as many other
female directors and writers as I can. Right now I am producing “The
Breadwinner,” an animated film about Afghanistan. Nora Twomey is the
director.
What do you think Brad’s first experience with a woman director was like?
I’m
not just a woman, but a writer-director. We’re also husband and wife. I
think it was doubly hard. We know certain things about each other. At
first it was a little uncomfortable. You want to be careful what button
you press and what you don’t. At the same time, he later said he felt
like he could be the most open in his acting, because he trusted I was
genuinely there to help him give the best performance.
In
the midst of all this you had children to tuck into bed at night, one
of them a teenage boy, Maddox, working as a gofer on a not-exactly-PG
movie.
He’d
be there for the lighter scenes or funnier ones, but obviously we had a
rule that for certain scenes he was on lockdown, not on set. I remember
one day I was in my robe, my mascara was running down my face, my hair
was still in curlers, and we ran into each other in the hallway. He just
shook his head, like, “Wow, Mom. Nice.” This business, I grew up in it
myself, so I’d almost be happier if the kids weren’t interested. But he
loved it.
Let’s
talk about the hacked Sony emails that were released last year. Were
you surprised when you read the bruising exchange about you between the
former Sony co-chairwoman Amy Pascal and the producer Scott Rudin?
I didn’t read any of them.
Yet you knew what was in them.
Someone
told me. There are certain things that bother me and certain things
that don’t. Personal attacks on me? I think I’m just so used to it.
Honestly, my first instinct was that I was worried about Amy. I had
someone call her and ask if she was O.K. Not because I’m a saint, but
because I think we have to look at the bigger picture. She’s got kids. I
knew it was going to unravel for her.
Returning to moviemaking, do you ever dream of returning to less serious fare, like a romantic comedy?
I
love comedies. But I’m never asked to do anything even self-mocking. I
tried to do comedy when I was younger. It didn’t work. I don’t think I’m
very funny.
In
“By the Sea,” there’s plenty of shouting, tears, drinking and, at one
point, kicking. Do you mind that audiences will see the film and read
into it?
And
think, this is what they’re really like? I think you have to accept
that. But if people think these are our particular issues, well, that’s
wrong. But if they want to think we have terrible fights, are imperfect,
have insecurities and can be depressed and emotional, of course that’s
true. We have problems, arguments. We are two very human, flawed people.
And I think that’s a good thing to show
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