I’D NEVER MAKE IT TO B’WOOD – by Rajeev Masand
CNN-IBN Entertainment Editor, Rajeev Masand met Brad Pitt and Don Cheadle at Cannes.
The duo, who were in a in a playful mood talk about their forthcoming film Ocean’s 13, about India, their knowledge of Indian cinema and – on a more serious note – about their efforts to raise awareness about humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
Brad Pitt has starred in films such as Mr and Mrs Smith, Fight Club and Troy, while Don Cheadle is the Oscar nominated actor for Hotel Rwanda.
Rajeev Masand: One of the biggest themes of Ocean’s 11 is friendship and the extent that one would go through for a friend. Did you find that having made three movies in the series, the bunch of you who acted in them got closer in real life?
Don Cheadle: I think it’s just the opposite. We got further and further away from one another and more tired of each other. Half of the Ocean’s 11 cast have restraining orders against each other (laughs).
Brad Pitt to Don Cheadle: In fact you’re a little close to me now.
Don Cheadle to Brad Pitt: I understand and I can’t do anything about it.
Rajeev Masand: What I really enjoyed about the film is the fact that it’s really funny and that the characters are not shy of laughing at each other and at themselves.
Brad Pitt: Well that’s the game on Ocean’s…. It’s an open season on everyone. Everyone and everything is a fair shot.
Rajeev Masand: I have noticed that some of you have used the platform of this film to speak about Darfur.
Brad Pitt: That’s correct. See this is a group of us here that has come together in hopes to draw the spotlight a little off us and on to the situation in Darfur and doing so we have raised several millions of dollars for the cause, which would go as aid to Darfur. We did this mainly because things like what’s going on in Darfur are just not acceptable. It’s nice that we can bring out a film together, it’s a great delight and great entertainment but on top of it, to be able to correlate it to something a little more important.
Rajeev Masand: Don have you been to India?
Don Cheadle: No, I have not.
Rajeev Masand: I know Brad has been to India.
Brad Pitt: Yeah, I got to see a lot of India. I got to bounce around a little bit while everyone else was shooting. There is no place like it. I have seen nothing like it before. And it’s so diverse – both the south and the north – that one cannot get to see all of it in a couple of weeks. But, I found Varanasi absolutely staggering. I have never seen anything like it before. The city just spills into the River Ganges. It’s a holy place where people go to die. It’s really, really extraordinary.
Rajeev Masand: Are you familiar with Indian cinema at all?
Brad Pitt: I am not a whole lot familiar.
Don Cheadle: It’s huge right? More than American cinema I believe.
Rajeev Masand: Yes, lots of movies every year.
Brad Pitt: We can’t sing or dance so we’d never make it to Indian cinema (grins). (To Don Cheadle) Actually, you can sing right?
Don Cheadle: A little bit!
Rajeev Masand: To go back to Ocean’s 13, is the experience of doing every new film different from the other?
Brad Pitt: Not really. They are actually quite similar, the movies. In fact, we often question why we are there again.
Don Cheadle: We get confused, you know, sometimes we repeat the same lines from the old movies. The drugs really don’t help (grins).
Rajeev Masand: So why should anyone watch Ocean’s 13?
Don Cheadle: Wait a minute, now wait just a minute. (laughs) No really, I thought that was a very good question, but I get a little edgy. No, really, I think it’s a great movie. It’s more streamlined than the second one and a lot more focussed than just about this heist. And Brad keeps saying it’s great because we are taking someone else down. None of us come out as characters any richer but we get revenge on somebody which is nice.
Brad Pitt: I haven’t seen the movie yet so I have no idea.
Rajeev Masand: Well best of luck. We hope we get to see some exciting work and we are hoping that Ocean’s 13 is as good as the previous two.