OlderBrad & Cate Do ‘EW’
Wahoo!! Oscars all around!! I present to you the inside photo spread of Babel’s Brad Pitt & Cate Blanchett inside this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly November 3, 2006 issue. Here’s an excerpt from the article (full article after the jump):
Cate Blanchett was marinating in a puddle of blood on a dirt floor somewhere near the southern edge of the Sahara. Brad Pitt sat nearby, slumped over on a rock, sweat pouring off him. The temperature hovered near 112 degrees in the tiny Moroccan village that had become home to the cast and crew of Babel, the politically charged four-part epic from Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams). This place was seriously primitive, beyond the reach of electricity and, for the most part, running water. Air conditioning? Not a chance. Indoor toilet? There’s only one: See the village elder.
Lost in Translation
How the director of ”21 Grams” pushed Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, and a multinational cast through ”Babel,” his epic four-sided saga of sex, drugs, guns, and terrorism spanning three continents and several gulfs of misunderstanding
Cate Blanchett was marinating in a puddle of blood on a dirt floor somewhere near the southern edge of the Sahara. Brad Pitt sat nearby, slumped over on a rock, sweat pouring off him. The temperature hovered near 112 degrees in the tiny Moroccan village that had become home to the cast and crew of Babel, the politically charged four-part epic from Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams). This place was seriously primitive, beyond the reach of electricity and, for the most part, running water. Air conditioning? Not a chance. Indoor toilet? There’s only one: See the village elder.
To make matters worse, González Iñárritu, in his quest for supreme naturalism, had just asked them to perform Cate’s near-death scene for the 73rd time that day. The pressure was off the charts and there was just one distraction powerful enough to keep the two actors from going completely bonkers¦
”It felt out of control,” Pitt says over a year later, in a luxurious, climate-controlled Los Angeles hotel suite, recounting the weeks he spent in a state of ”frenetic anxiety” on the Babel set. ”I thought it was going to push me over the edge.” Suddenly, the 42-year-old actor leaps to his feet to demonstrate that crucial survival tool. With a hint of dramatic flourish, he grabs hold of his belt loops and yanks his jeans up to his armpits, giving himself a deep-impact wedgie of what must have been the most painful sort. ”Throughout the movie, I’d walk around like this,” Pitt says, thrusting out his backside and waddling around like a duck. It must be said that watching Pitt transform himself into an Urkel-like superdork is a sight so perplexing, it could divert a person from just about anything. ”You’ve gotta find things to make you laugh during the shoot. Cate called it the Hungry Bum.” He pauses and chuckles to himself. ”When your bum’s so hungry it’s trying to eat your pants.”
González Iñárritu’s globe-trotting melodrama was shot in six languages and on three continents. As ambitious as it is intimate, the narrative interweaves a quartet of sorrow-soaked vignettes: An American couple vacationing in Morocco (Pitt and Blanchett) are forced to depend on the kindness of strangers when struck by catastrophe; a family of Berber goatherds unravels after buying their first gun; a nanny (Amores Perros‘ Adriana Barraza), torn between work in San Diego and family obligations in Mexico, is thrown into an immigration quagmire; and a deaf-mute Japanese girl (Rinko Kikuchi) tries to cure her loneliness by prematurely uncorking her sexuality.
Babel (see EW review here) takes its title from the biblical allegory, in which man’s hubristic attempt to build a tower to the heavens compels a vengeful God to create a cacophony of different languages that stymie communication and isolate people from one another. Using this as his metaphorical jumping-off point, González Iñárritu tackles some of the most provocative issues of our time post-9/11: globalization, immigration, the spectre of terrorism. ”The film is about prejudice,” the director says, ”and the dangerous borders and walls we build that affect [communication] personally. And on a global scale, between George Bush and the Muslim world.”
Mixing politics and moviemaking has always been a dangerous game. One false move can mean the difference between Traffic and All the King’s
Men. But González Iñárritu’s single-minded determination about the project persuaded some of Hollywood’s biggest power players — Pitt, Blanchett, and Paramount’s Brad Grey, who agreed to back the movie in his first week on the job as the studio’s new chairman — to take a risk. It’s a gamble that’s already begun paying off: González Iñárritu collected the Best Director award at this year’s Cannes film festival, and the movie drew a raft of raves at Toronto. Now Babel looks poised to be one of this year’s leading dark-horse Oscar contenders. And Pitt’s nakedly emotional performance has placed him in the Academy Awards running for the first time since being nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 1996 for 12 Monkeys.
All this comes at the end of a long, tough slog. The Pitt/Blanchett story line was just a quarter of the journey for González Iñárritu and the rest of the core crew, who crisscrossed the globe for more than a year, shooting under arduous circumstances.
Dehydrated crew members in Mexico, for example, had to be hospitalized. Appropriately enough, communication was particularly difficult: The young deaf actresses in the Japanese plotline required a series of translations, from González Iñárritu’s native Spanish to English, English to Japanese, Japanese to sign. ”I had three pains I thought were heart attacks during production,” recalls González Iñárritu. ”To make this film was to give birth to a boy with four heads. Painful.”
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AG, no Lake Como vacay with GC in the planning? You need to make your hints more obvious to him, or just get you butt over there, and go after him, like someone we know does in London now, after someone else we know. ;)
This article from The Times of India, is pissing me off and I e-mail the editor, what the hell is wrong with these people, always saying bad things about Angelina. I hope you guys will read this article and send an e-mail to the editor. The article is called:
COUNTER VIEW: Angelina Jolie wants to adopt an Indian child to add to her multi-racial brood
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/221672.cms
and it was in response to the article below:
TIMES VIEW: Angelina Jolie wants to adopt an Indian child to add to her multi-racial brood
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/221685.cms
Kernia
I didn’t know they were a paparazzi website.
Cliniqua
Ah ha! Review from someone who actually knows something about movies….. not some idiot with a pen who happens to work for a 3rd rate network. Thanks.
BBL….ladies. Again I beg you all not to have any fun without me.
AG and Kearnie - you’re not the only ones who isn’t fond of that website. I can’t believe how they boast when they get a video of one of their peeps chasing some celebs, especially the rickshaw incident.
Thank you to all those who have posted the positive reviews and the earnings that Babel is getting. I can’t wait to see. I saw the Departed recently and liked it except I’m not a fan of violent movies. Other than that, Matt, Leo, Mark, and Jack were awesome! =)
I’m bringing this over here from the YG for those of you who aren’t members or haven’t checked it today. A journalist in India needs to be pimp-slapped…
***********
Here’s an editorial from some yahoo (pun intended) journalist in
India who says he’s sick of “Brangelina” and they’re wreaking havoc
in Pune and aren’t nice to the media. Boo hoo, too bad, so sad. At
the end of the article is a link to write to the editor…so I
did….and so should YOU!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-207232,curpg-
2.cms
Thanks for the laughs. You people in Pune should be
thanking “Brangelina” for putting Pune in the news. Outside of India
you probably couldn’t find 2 people in the same room who knew where
it was. Thanks to the ruckus kicked up by INDIAN MEDIA AND MOVIE
FANS their WORK-RELATED stay has become a circus.
Is it really so unusual to shutdown an area while a movie is being
shot at that location? No, it’s not. Is it unusual to keep people
not involved in the shoot away from the set? No, it’s not. Surely
Bollywood operates in exactly the same way? The filming of “A Mighty
Heart” in Pune is pumping millions of dollars into your local
economy. So quit crying foul as if you the citizens of Pune aren’t
getting anything out of the presence of “Brangelina” in your fair
city.
Yes, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are international celebrities, but
your contention that they OWE the media a press conference is
ridiculous and high-handed. They are there on business. What more is
there for them to say? If they had come into Pune with the pomp and
circumstance of a formal press conference they would’ve been accused
of being on an egomaniacal power trip and inflating their
importance. It was the media that turned their visit into a circus,
so don’t now blame Pitt and Jolie for not wanting to be the clowns
under your big top.
Pitt and Jolie may owe something to their fans, but they don’t owe
anything to the media. That is the the problem with the media. You
people think YOU’RE more important than the news itself. Also, from
all the reports I’ve seen the locals who’ve had a chance to interact
with them say they are down to earth and at ease in Pune and were
very friendly. That’s all they OWE to anyone - common human decency
and it should be returned to them in kind.
Alexanderina Says: October 29th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Have you been there at Christmas time before? I have a friend who lives there and he says its just beautiful. It’s less gauche/cheesy than how it’s rather become in the states. He said Europe period at Christmas is just beautiful. Take pic’s for us.
AG, oh nanny duty huh, good for you :), it has been forever since I did any babysitting or nanny duty, thank god that my sister lives all the way up in LA :)
You are welcome to come with me to England for Christmas :), I have 5 uncles over there, with wives and kids and grandkids etc, family is huge, so I know it is going to be a fantastic Christmas and I can’t wait. And I hear you about going on trips with younger cousins, there is no way I will do that, to much craziness
^^^ btw, he’s also from the U.S…
jpf
Hey PT, I posted another article from India here and I think that editor need to be pimp-slapped as well, I already sent my e-mail to that idiot
nnt
Hey, I’m playing coy. So what if there are rumors that we’re broken up, so what if he’s been seen with another woman, this that does not mean I’ll should get on the first flight out just to prove we’re still together. Nah….that would be a very childish and insecure thing to do and you can call me anything but insecure and needy and desperate….I might a whine a little but I will not….I repeat….not live for tabloid rumors. Jeez, what do you take me for…..a 37yrs old woman child? Hmphhhhh!
BBL….for real this time. I have to go show the world how independent I am. ;)
PT, the link didn’t work, but I think it’s the same one that’s floating around. It’s funny that not one, but two recent and positive Jolie-Pitt reports only seemed to end up here on JJ, Pittwatch and the like. If it ain’t ugly, it’s not wanted by the _itchBlogs.
jpf
PT, when I click on that link it says page not found.
Hi MF, well it is better to be late than not show up, well that is what I think anyway :)
Hi ntt, I love England, when I go I always have a bunch of fun, my cousins are crazy :lol:, but in a good way :), I am so looking forward to spending Christmas there
PT- the reason I asked QQQ if the picnic article was from Times of India is because the same guy who is bashing Brad and Angelina in the article you posted, is the same guy who wrote the glowing article about them having a picnic. This guy can’t make up his mind. He’s got no credential as a journalist. One minute, he’s writing about how they need to learn some manners, and the next he’s writing about how private and low profile they are during a family picnic in SINDH Society, where they are filming the movie.
Now how can the same journalist for the same newspaper (and I use that word lightly since Times of India sucks at reporting actual news) write that these two are causing a ruckus in Sindh Society one minute and the next time they are peacefully having a family picnic by going low - profile. This writer, Gaurav Thakur, should not be given any importance.
Hey Alex, that is so wonderful… you will have an amazing time in England and Xmas is not too far away. Where do your relatives live?
Oops. 4Q not QQQ. :P
Hye 4C, most of them live in West Yorkshire, close to Manchester, the others lives in London, and I have a uncle that lives in Scotland. Nope Christmas is right around the corner, there is one down side to me going to England for Christmas, no BAMZS, and you guys, but I am working on a plan, which is to get a laptop :)
What a pantload that article was. He says that Bollywood stars are head and shoulders above BA- if that was true, then why the desire to cover a pair of stars who are mere flyspecks to his culture? And his theory that a Bollywood film crew wouldn’t get away with disrupting a community in Connecticut- didn’t realize that Connecticut was supersaturated with a population, much less a populated with people fascinated with Bollywood.
This is a long article. It was posted on Bradforums. I hope no one minds me bringing this over here. Oh and it’s written by a journalist for..you guessed it.. Times of India!
=================================
Passage India rough for foreign filmmakers
Bharti Dubey
[ 23 Oct, 2006 0057hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
MUMBAI: Two road accidents, numerous fisticuffs and schedules gone awry. These jottings in the Brangelina tour diary of Pune’s heat and dust say it all. Will the reel-life Mr and Mrs Smith ever return to India to shoot a film?
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt may have realised by now why veteran Hollywood director Oliver Stone didn’t shoot his controversial movie ‘Alexander’ in India, despite his much-publicised reconnaissance trip.
They may even sympathise with the British crew who were not on talking terms with their Indian counterparts towards the completion of the Oscar-winner ‘Gandhi’ almost three decades back.
The truth is that Bollywood’s countryside is different from Planet Hollywood. Here, postponements are nothing out of the ordinary and laptops are alien to film sets. In contrast, Hollywood teams stick to schedules and juggle their production needs with computers. Stone flew out the moment he hit Indian red tape.
Worst, say actors who have been part of western filmmaking, there is a tendency to make a quick buck from unsuspecting foreign crews.
When Hollywood actor Matt Damon and the ‘Bourne Identity’ crew came down for a shoot in Goa, they overshot the estimated budget by almost a double. Bollywood lore has it that room rates were overstated and so were local manpower costs.
Hollywood teams depend on desi line producers, who keep accounts on paper unlike their Hollwood counterparts. Richard Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’, too, had gone over budget.
Recalls a unit member of the film, “The total budget allotted that time was Rs 6.5 crore, but the amount was exhausted in making half the film.” Thankfully, the government of the day backed the project and the film was completed.
In hindsight, the unit member feels the British crew didn’t understand the Indian crew’s way of functioning, leading to costs spiralling. “But there is no denying the tension between the British and Indians. More often than not, they didn’t communicate with each other, which again affected the film,” he insists.
Twenty-four years later, the storyline is the same. The Indian line producers are still not able to handle the budgets allotted to them. Not surprisingly then, the Hollywood production ‘Marigold’, which boasts of an Indian star, has gone over budget.
India’s greatest defeat in this regard has been its failure to come up with efficient service providers a concept that has made countries like Thailand and South Korea a favourite with Hollywood. Service providers are literally people who hold the foreign crew’s hand through local paperwork and jargon.
In the absence of such professionals, Hollywood crew depend on word-of-mouth recommendations. The reccomendations are not always apt. Says Udayshankar Pani, who has worked for ‘Gandhi’ and has been a line producer for many German films shot in India, “There are not enough service providers and Indian film schools don’t treat production as a serious subject.”
Gulshan Grover, who has worked in many Hollywood films, feels both sides are to be blamed for the communication gap. He says, “We have some of the most talented guys who are good at multi-tasking despite the poor infrastructure, but a few among us have the habit of getting more out of the dollar-spending guys.
The foreign crew, too, have to shoulder a bit of the blame. They treat us very badly and behave as if they are doing us a favour.” German filmmakers like Michael Enke confess that though their companies are ready to invest in India, many are put off by their previous experiences.
Enke was helped by Pani for his film, but says that many other filmmakers are at the mercy of tour operators who double up as service providers. Hollywood’s favourite locales Goa, Kerala, Ladakh and Rajasthan in fact, have many such tourist operators doubling as service providers and making a hash of the job.
Says Dilip Borkar, who has been a service provider for Indian and foreign film units for 15 years, “Most often these so-called service providers fleece the foreign producers who are ignorant about India. The stories float around and international film producers prefer not to return because of the negative stories.”
But Arjun Bagga of Nora Films, who was the production manager for Omar Sharif’s ‘One Night With The King’, refuses to take a dim view of things. He feels we need to start by clearly revealing the ground realities of our country.
“For instance, it takes four days to get equipment cleared from the customs. If the foreign crew is informed about this and organises itself accordingly, lot of heartburn will be avoided,” Bagga adds.
source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/article…975,curpg-1.cms
Jared, totally missing the site. I think this will be an impactful movie. It is great to see Brad stretch his range and Cate is always nice
E! True Story of Angie is on. Winona Ryder had really great things to say about her. She said Angie is an emotional actress, just phenomenal. Angie intimidates her and challenged her.
BAMZS fans,
I’ve created a BAMZS group on youtube because the jolie group was getting weird w/ all the butt videos and girls doing strip teases. Some of you on youtube have already received an invite like Char, Guli, Cliniqua and Angelah. In order to join the group you have to be approved by me. I’m only doing this because I don’t want any of the butt video/strip teases people to join.
http://www.youtube.com/group/bamzsfans
Much love everyone!
stardust : October 29th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
Thank you for this article. It’s probably the best I’ve ever read. Very even. Someone is missing a serious money-making opportunity by not creating a serious service provider company there that rises above the bull and can negotiate and server as a liason. Wish I was there lol.
tha india times editor sound idiotic and with such a myopic view. i am surprised that they would write something as such.
in any case, i recall reading about another article written by some indian journalist about how India/Prune has a lesson to learn from Namibia. I can’t seems to find that article now .. does anyone has that article or link to post here ?
I think we should forward that article to all India media instead and get them to open up their mind and look beyond .. be alittle more visionary rather than so narrow minded as shown that silly article.
Hi Everyone,
I read your posts everyday but this is my first post. (Virgin)
My husband and I saw Babel last night at the Grove in LA and it was wonderful, powerful and heart breaking. We discussed the movie all the way home. It’s a must see. The movie pulls you in from the beginning. Many of us cried, it was very emotional.
We were asked to fill out a questionnaire @ the end of the movie and about 1/3 of us did.
And for all the haters, you can’t keep a good man down. Brad is loved by many.
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