Some quotes from the Cannes Once press conference:
Can you take stock on your life now and your life from the past?
BRAD PITT: I see Rick and Cliff as one individual. It really comes down to the acceptance of your life, your place, your surroundings, your challenges and troubles. In Rick we see someone who’s put upon in life. Life’s against him and they are some of the best breakdown scenes I’ve ever seen from my friend Leo here. In Cliff we see a character who accepts his lot in life and takes it as it comes.
Did you discuss with Polanski about dealing with tragedy in your film?
PITT: What the film so beautifully addresses is a loss of innocence. In 1969 when the Manson murders occurred there was this free love movement, a lot of hope and new ideas floating out there. Cinema was being recalibrated when that tragic loss of Sharon and the others happened. What scared people lasts so much today. It was a sobering look at the dark side of human nature.