OPRAH:: Okay, so, let me just say this to you everybody. We’re taping this show the day after Barack Obama became president elect of the US. So I recognize it’s later in the month but this is actually Nov 4th, and we’re still vibrating.
BRAD: And we woke up to a new world.
OPRAH:: Brad was here in Chicago last night at the rally. I was going to the rally and I knew I was just going to be out with the people. I heard you were going to be in town and I was going to invite you to go but I thought, ‘well brad doesn’t want to be out with a thousand people’.
BRAD: the rally was an incredible experience. I wouldn’t have missed it. Got on the tram with everyone, shoulder to shoulder.
OPRAH:: Shoulder to shoulder – you couldn’t move!
BRAD: an epic event.
OPRAH:: well let me just tell you. Brad has a fascinating new movie that’s getting tons of buzz, it’s called the CCBB and it is – I’ve never seen a movie like this before. It’s the most unique and interesting new movie I ever remember seeing. It opens Christmas day and what did you think, Audience? Wasn’t it great? Somebody had to tell me, ‘you know that’s brad” and I was like an hour into the movie and I’m like, “that’s not Brad”
BRAD: Kind of, yeah, it’s kind of brad. With a lot of help from CG and David Fincher. They basically took all the CG that’s used to sink ships and blow up building sand kill monsters and took it to age the character from 80’s down to baby. The premise is he’s born old and grows backwards, all the way down to a baby.
OPRAH:: Brad ages backwards in this movie. He starts at 80 years old. It’s stunning. How do they do that? I want to see a movie about the movie. Then reverts into a teenager. Its so interesting too how your voice and movements and all that, and I was thinking how amazing, and then again, that is called acting.
BRAD: That is called acting. That’s what we do, that is what we get paid for.
OPRAH: Yeah. So I wanna talk extensively about that. But right now I want talk about you.
BRAD: Okay.
OPRAH: Because it’s been 4 years since you were here.
BRAD: Is that right?
OPRAH: Yeah! And what a difference four years can make.
BRAD: What a difference. Yeah.
OPRAH: So, since you were here, you’ve become the proud father of not 1 but 6 children. In four years – six children Brad!
BRAD: It is true. Actually within three years.
OPRAH: Three years, six children.
BRAD: Two a year.
OPRAH: Two a year. And will there be more?
BRAD: Probably. We really enjoy it, it’s the thing I’m most proud of, its the greatest endeavor we’ve ever taken on. The most interesting, the most fulfilling, the most rewarding, thing I’ve ever experienced and…why should I stop?
OPRAH: so, how has it really changed you?
BRAD: First of all I’m hard as nails. I’m impervious to poo, snot, urine, vomit, I am…you can’t get me. You cannot bring me down. In the beginning it was like “oh god – how do they vomit that much” and then, no it’s just like, “honey come here – do you see that? You need to chew your food. Look at that! That’s half a hotdog. You’ve got to chew your food you’ll make yourself sick. Look at that…see (takes bite of fake hot dog).
OPRAH: How are the twins?
BRAD: They’re lovely. It’s very strange, though. He kinda looks like me and she kinda looks like Angie. It’s a bit bizarre.
OPRAH: They’re four months old now.
BRAD: Yeah…I can’t keep track.
OPRAH: So when you added the twins into the fold, how was that sort of integration process? Did you have a lot of help?
BRAD: We had to have help in the nights…you want to be there for the others. Not every night because we also want to take them on ourselves and be a part of that experience. In the beginning it was mainly us, trying to do both shifts.
OPRAH: How in the world.
BRAD: well you know mothers do it and hats off to all the parents out there. Man oh man.
OPRAH: we had talked before, even four years ago, you would embrace children, wanted to have children. How has it been more than you expected?
BRAD: Well, they’re the funnies people I’ve ever met. And it really tells you a lot about yourself. They’re a great mirror. They make me a better person.
OPRAH: I think I read in some magazine Angelina was saying that you all, a family, it’s the greatest thing you’ve done with your lives.
BRAD: yeah, it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever taken on. I can’t imagine life without it. It makes everything else more fun. You have this other thing to go home to. Even the films – I can’t help but do a film and think that my kids will see it some day and it may mean something to them. So it puts an extra importance and yet takes off the importance at the same time.
OPRAH: It is so interesting. How have you all taught them to handle the fishbowl glare of the world?
BRAD: Very, very strange. Their idea of the world…when we get in the care and are going out, there are 20 or 30 people there standing with cameras who wanna take your picture. This is their idea o the world at large. And we try to explain to them that the people are a little funny and a little weird, but it’s all right. Our little one, Zahara, says “actually daddy it’s not alright”. And it gets to them, but we do our best to try to keep…they have their friends and we try to keep as much normalcy as we can and do things together. We do things as a family. We keep everyone together and that’s our rule.
OPRAH: You know for anybody who has six kids, deciding to go to the mall, or deciding to go to dinner…
BRAD: (laughs) we don’t go to the mall.
OPRAH: But deciding to go anywhere you’re gonna travel, it’s like this great big thing.
BRAD: It’s like a half an hour just to get everyone buckled in and everyone’s got their snacks. ZeeZee’s got her blanket and Shi’s got her silkie an…and Angie’s militant about it and she’s always on top of it. Thank God because I’m always forgetting something.
OPRAH: wow. I remember when Brad and I ran into each other, at a friend’s house, and the twins weren’t here yet, and you were carrying two cell phones, and a beeper, and something else, trying to keep track in case the call came.
BRAD: Because it’s twins and a more precarious situation, she was in for three weeks of bed rest before. So we lived there, we just kind of set up camp there and shuffled the kids back and forth for visits.
OPRAH: I know – we were doing something earlier in the day and you said, “well, as long as I’m back to the hospital by 7 o’clock. Gotta be back by 7 o’clock. When the twins came into the fold, did you sit down with all the other kids and talk to them about the babies are coming?
BRAD: And made sure that they still get the single time. That they know that just because the babies have arrived it doesn’t mean that they’re less important. That was our big focus. And it’s worked out really well! They’re really sweet with them and loving. They take care of them and they have a pride in it. It’s really nice to see.
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OPRAH: Brad’s new movie is so fascinating. It’s call the CCBB and it opens Christmas day. If you haven’t seen the cover of the art issue of W magazine you did all these photographs. You’re quite the photographer Mr. man.
BRAD: We have a lot of fun working together and doing these projects. When films come out, it’s customary to do a magazine do a photo shoot and help push the film. And we just thought ‘let’s do it together see what happens’ it was total experimental. But at the same time I thought, if we’re going to do this lets just do things around the house. When Angie is usually shot she’s seen as a femme fatale, she does that very well, but also she has the biggest heart and inexhaustible spirit and sweetness and goodness, and she’s the real glue of the family, and that’s what I wanted to portray in that. We just shot it very casually during the course of the week and it was really fun for us.
OPRAH: You said the kids were funny – who’s the funniest?
BRAD: They don’t mean to be funny. Right now Shi’s in this thing – first of all she only wants to be called John. John or Peter. It’s a Peter Pan thing, so we’ve gotta call her John. I say “Shi do you want” “JOHN! I’m John.” And then I’ll say “John…would you like some orange juice?” “NO!” so it’s just that kind of stuff that’s cute to parents and is probably really obnoxious to everyone else.
OPRAH: Angelina said n an interview last year that you have slumber parties?
BRAD: Well inadvertently, you know, they always..they’re trying to kill us. They really are. They’re really well organized. They’ve got it set up so that we read stories and get them to bed. Then one will show up a half an hour later and can’t sleep and want to read a story for about an hour and a half, and then that one will go to sleep and we’ll just be fading off and someone else, and I know they got shifts, they’ve got it worked out. “At 2:30 you pee the bed, and then I’ll climb in bed”. We do it once a week. I just…yesterday Zeezee goes, “daddy smell” and I go “what is that?” and she goes “dog poop”. I said, honey don’t touch..go wash your hands. This is kind of our routine.
OPRAH: You guys have a dog?
BRAD: We have a bull dog and a pound…I don’t know what he is.
OPRAH: Two dogs and six kids.
BRAD: Yeah.
OPRAH: Well what’s so interesting is that you seem happier than you’ve ever been.
BRAD: I daresay.
OPRAH: I dare see.
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OPRAH: I was just telling you all at the beginning of the show – Brad’s new film, it’s called the CCBB it is the holiday movie to see this year. It is truly Brad Pitt like you have never seen him before.
BRAD: It’s such a lovely story, dealing with those universal themes of family and the people you meet along the way that leave an impression, and the inevitable that we all have to face, which is death. I find it very moving.
OPRAH: I’ve heard that you call this a love letter to New Orleans.
BRAD: Oh it is, I mean, New Orleans is a character in the film. NO gives it this flavor of magic and mystery and the people in it…it’s a great spirit to the film.
OPRAH: You guys live down there.
BRAD: Yeah. I mean we’re very nomadic family, but we have a base there.
OPRAH: Like I hear you ride your bike around the French quarter, and the kids go out ton the front porch and all the people just pass by and go ‘hey you’.
BRAD: yeah. They’re really cool there. We have some semblance of a normal life there.
OPRAH: Well the fabulous CB is here next. I think that Cate could do anything.
BRAD: She really can. She’s one of our best.
OPRAH: And now Cate’s starring beside BP in CCBB. Why don’t you introduce her.
BRAD: Ladies and gentlemen, the exquisite CB.’
OPRAH: the exquisite – yeah – your skin always looks like…
BRAD: Like mine.
CATE: We were separated at birth.
OPRAH: Oh my goodness – like porcelain though. We’ve never met in person, we’ve just talked by satellite, many times. Again, what an amazing performance in this movie.
CATE: Oh, well, you’re as good as who you’re working with, right Bradley?
OPRAH: And Brad, we didn’t even say how great you are.
BRAD: that’s okay, really…thanks, I appreciate that.
OPRAH: So what was it like for you?
CATE: it was incredible. You were saying before, films like this don’t get made everyday. It’s about aging and death, and those subjects are taboo.
OPRAH: I was wondering, you can’t do this movie without thinking about your own life and aging and what it means and all that. Did it bring you to that? Thinking about that in a different kind of way?
CATE: We’re all terrified of dying. My father died when I was 10, so I was brought up with my grandmother and my mother, so I had sense of generations in my own household and it got me to thinking about my mother and also having children…I don’t know about you (looks at Brad), but it really allows you to…
OPRAH: yeah, six.
CATE: Six? That’s sick. It allows you to really understand your parents. You go in a complete cycle. That’s what the film does. It takes you in the complete cycle from birth, to death. You really go an entire journey with Benjamin.
OPRAH: And you also get to see, in an interesting way, what you’d like if you live to be an old, old person.
BRAD: Go ahead, say it.
CATE: No. By the time he gets old he’ll have so much work done that you won’t be able to tell…(laughing – Brad pulls his face back)
OPRAH: so you’ve described her as grace incarnate.
BRAD: Did I?
CATE: Do you want to renege on that?
BRAD: awfully nice, wasn’t I? I would never say that in person.
OPRAH: and working with him. Everybody’s like “oh my god if I could just work with Brad Pitt.”
BRAD: Everybody.
CATE: Everybody. (laughing) It’s easy. It’s really easy. I’d do it again.
OPRAH: So did you study old people? Did you go into an old folks home and work with them, preparing?
CATE: My first job was working in an old people’s home. I love being around people who are older than me.
OPRAH: well how did you get the voice? How did you do that so well?
BRAD: Well there’s a certain melody to the New Orleans accent that’s gorgeous, and it’s just…you just draw from people in your life.
OPRAH: And you Cate?
CATE: Did I think about getting older? Don’t know – we’re all getting older every second. I feel that we’ve just had our third baby who’s seven months, and a friend showed me some pictures of when he was two months old, and already he’s getting older. I don’t want to be back in my 20’s, I’m quite happy being where I am now. And I don’t want to look back on this time and think ‘that was back in my heyday’, I hope every stage that I’m at is better than the previous one.
OPRAH: Well you are just such a fine actress. Every time you do something there’s an academy award nomination. You’re one of those people that if you gave the phone book to you could read the phone book pages and get an Oscar nomination.
OPRAH: Because Cate plays the dancer here and I was like “were you doing all the dancing in that first dance, where she does that leg
thing?”
CATE: It was me and a dance double. And I’m not quite sure – David hasn’t actually told me how much of me actually ended up in the film. Maybe he was just being polite – we’ll let her do it and then we’ll…
OPRAH: Were you a dancer before, or did you have to learn to dance for this?
CATE: Well I did ballet, when I was just a young girl, and then gave it up to do piano and then gave that up to do something else. I don’t stick at things very long. And then at drama school you’d have to do a lot of movement.
OPRAH: Well you were excellent.
CATE: Thank you – I think it’s me.
OPRAH: So that was a scene from their fantastic new film. When word got out that they were coming to our show, our inbox exploded, so we decided to give a few lucky viewers the chance to ask whatever they want, so they’re skyping from their dining room, in Homer Glen Illinois. Jennifer and her husband Michael. Jennifer, your question is?
JENNIFER: Hi OPRAH: Hi Brad. My husband and I have only 2 small children and he often has difficulty watching them when I’m out running errands. My question is has Brad the “dad” ever been left alone with all six of them? And how have you handled it?
BRAD: Four is usually my limit. On my own, so far. I hope to advance to six.
OPRAH: Who is the disciplinarian in the family?
BRAD: Well, of course, the girls can do no wrong. But the boys, I have to pull them every now and then.
OPRAH: And when you really pull them up, what do you do then.
BRAD: We have the time out chair.
OPRAH: There is literally a chair?
CATE: Which you sit on all the time.
BRAD: Really – cause I end up in it.
OPRAH: Our next question is for Cate from Shane, skyping in his office from Van Nuys, California. Shane?
SHANE: Hi OPRAH:, HI Brad, my questions for Cate. I’m a big fan, I’m not your typical 25 year old man, I’m not looking for Bar bunnies, but I need your help. Here’s the deal: I want someone who is as intelligent and graceful and as beautiful as you and I won’t settle for less than someone who respects themselves. So what advice do you have?
CATE: Oh, gee, I wish I was a bar bunny – I’m a little disappointed. How do you get a good woman?
SHANE: What qualities should I bring out in myself. What were you looking for when you found your husband?
CATE: I think if you’re going to stay together you’ve gotta be able to laugh a little bit. But it’s also …someone said to me, it’s quite true, that if your bodies actually fit together when you’re sleeping in bed…I’m not going to get into too much detail, but that you’re in good stead.
OPRAH: You mean when you’re spooning?
CATE: Yeah. Spooning, that’s it. If you can spoon with someone then you’re okay. Because you might not vote the same way, you might not have the same politics, but that works for some people. But if you fit…I don’t know what self respect or respect for women lies in that, but that’s…
OPRAH: Yup. You’re just looking for a good spooner, that’s all. But I think what you were trying to ask what qualities does she look for in a man?
SHANE: Right, right.
CATE: I think it’s a sense of humor, and also I think it’s…my husband is a very strong individual and he’s not threatened by the bit of a corner that is my success. He’s very happy for my success and I’m happy for his.
OPRAH: Self respect, spooning, a man who’s assured of himself and also is proud of his woman and is not afraid for her to be
everything that she is meant to be also. You got that?
SHANE: Got it.
OPRAH: Good luck.
OPRAH: So love this movie. The CCBB with Brad Pitt and Cate are here and they’re answering your questions. The movie opens on Christmas day. Whose hand is on Angie’s breast? (flashes pic of W magazine”
BRAD It’s one of the twins, definitely.
OPRAH: It’s Christina who joins us from her office in Ontario, California. Christina – your question for Brad?
CHRISTINA: I just wanted to say thank you so much for choosing such great movies and I truly admire you for all your charity work. I’ve got my MIR bag behind me, as you can see. Congratulations on your beautiful children and for finding love with Angelina. You fit together seamlessly. My question is: how many tattoos do you have? I’m very interested in knowing the meaning – especially the ice man? And the new one you have under the Daniel Pearl quote.
BRAD Okay…umm…oh man.
OPRAH: And will you show them to us?
BRAD No…no…no I won’t but it’s ..umm..ahh…let me just say, if you have a partner, it’s great fun, it’s a great thing to go through together. And it becomes personal and special in its own right. And I’d rather just kind of leave it at that.
CHRISTINA: Even the ice man?
BRAD Yeah even that.
OPRAH: What are you talking about?
CHRISTINA: He has a tattoo of an ice man..of…
BRAD Okay, okay thank you…
CHRISTINA: And then he has the Daniel Pearl quote – you can tell them that one – and then he has another one…sorry…if you show your arms you’re gonna get in trouble.
OPRAH: Christina, how do you know this?
BRAD: Yeah?
CHRISTINA: Well I’ve been a fan for about 17 years.
OPRAH: And so what are you talking about with the ice man? What are you talking about?
CHRISTINA: I just want to know what’s the idea behind it or what was interesting about it. I know you’ve got one on your tummy, don’t make me go there.
BRAD: (to Cate) I’m selling you out…
CHRISTINA: sorry, if you don’t want to that’s fine. But it’s a pleasure talking to you and I’m a huge admirer of yours.
BRAD: Thank you and thank you for the question. I’m sorry I can’t help you out any more there.
OPRAH: Okay. I wondered if you’d know him in another life or something.
CHRISTINA: Nope. Nope.
OPRAH: Jean joins us from her bedroom in Ashville, NC. Hi Jean. Who’s with you? Are those your friends?
JEAN: This is my mom and my roommate and my sister. I’m getting married on Saturday so they’re here helping me with all the commotion that’s going on. But I couldn’t miss an opportunity to see you and Brad and Cate.
OPRAH: Okay. Oh I know it’s all about me. Sure.
BRAD: Congratulations.
JEAN: My question is, and I know you’ve been talking all through the show how your life isn’t like others with the fame and the paparazzi and I was just curious, if you could go completely unrecognized by the general public and by the paparazzi, even if it was just for a day, how would you choose to spend that time?
BRAD: Good question. I would…first of all congratulations. I would like to tear down my fences. I’d like to tear down my gates. I’d like to be able to see my neighbors. I’d like my kids to be able to run in their yards and their yards and our yards and wave at every car that went by. That’s what I’d do. Maybe barbecue…see the ice cream truck..you know.
OPRAH: Yeah because it’s not really normal when you have paparazzi. And I was saying to Brad, I wonder if after awhile that the kids not see the paparazzi and you say that no you can never not see the paparazzi.
BRAD: Yeah well no, because they’re so invasive.
OPRAH: And before the twins were born you were literally hunted like a dog. I was standing someplace and I was literally just sitting there with my pajamas on the balcony ad the helicopter comes around and I’m thinking “God I can’t believe people want to film me in my pajamas”, and it was because you were in the neighborhood.
BRAD: Sorry.
OPRAH: Are you surprised that Christina knows about your tattoos…
BRAD: Are we still talking about that?
CHRISTINA: Come on…
BRAD: She’s back!
OPRAH: No I really am surprised that she knows there’s a tattoo on your belly. Beth in Winston- Salem. North Carolina
BETH: Hey Brad Hey Cate Hey OPRAH. I’m curious, with the holidays coming up, Cate and Brad, what are some of your favorite memories or family traditions?
OPRAH: Okay we’ll start with you Cate.
CATE: Well, in Australia we sweat for Christmas, that’s what we do, it’s so hot. My father was American so we kind of had a bit of an American Christmas and we were the only people I our neighborhood to have thanksgiving. And what do we do? We usually have a traditional big English roast which no one wants to eat because it’s so hot. So there’s a lot of food but my mother was very big on going around and helping other people on Christmas.
OPRAH: Like sharing food?
CATE: Yeah, and we’d often invite other people – strays, as we call them, to Christmas.
OPRAH: Alright, six kids…
BRAD: We alternate. Last year was in NO, stayed at home and the lead up is to get or make something for everyone. One gift CE a, the next morning we go wild. This year, which is the opposite year, we travel and we go someplace. This year we want to go to one of the kids places of origin and spend time there and do something helping, so we’ll be doing that.
OPRAH: Do you actively incorporate information about each kids background and country and culture.
BRAD: Yeah, it’s very important to us and very important that they understand where they came from and have pride in where they came from. That’s shared amongst everyone.
OPRAH: Wow. Thank you for your questions – what are you doing for the holidays?
BETH: well I’m gonna stay here with my family – I have a big family, my mom had 11 brothers and sisters, so I have a lot of cousins, so we always eat gravy and sugar cake and drink Salem tea, and we have a good time.
OPRAH: Salem tea, is that some kind of sweet tea?
Beth: It is, it’s kind of like Russian tea. In the south we have to have our tea sweet.
OPRAH: Absolutely. So 11 – does that number sound good to you Brad? For kids?
BRAD: Well it’s certainly a challenge. I think the bars been set.
BETH: It’s hard trying to remember everybody’s name, that’s for certain.
OPRAH: Kim is a personal chef joining us from Pensacola, Florida. Hi Kim.
KIM: Hi! I cook for many different clients on a daily basis and create their favorite meals. I was curious – both of you have traveled extensively and tried many different cuisines, what is your favorite?
CATE: I go through stages…I went through a stage where all I wanted to eat was Musuli for three years.
OPRAH: That would never come out of my mouth. Musuli – as a favorite meal?
CATE: It was all I wanted to eat for three years. And then I went to sushi. And then, when I got pregnant, I just went completely off fish. But I no longer eat red meat. It just doesn’t agree with me.
OPRAH: so now your favorite would be what? Last meal – if it were going to be your last meal –
CATE: Oh God the last meal thing. Probably a bowl of rice. I’m a simple girl. Next! There’s a challenge – can you cook rice?
KIM: I can do that for you very easily.
OPRAH: how about you?
BRAD: I’m not much help either. I’ll eat anything and everything. I go through different stages and I’ll like the same thing for a week or two weeks. Right now my favorites? I’ve been enjoying Indian food lately.
OPRAH: Really?
BRAD: Yeah, yeah.
OPRAH: Who cooks at your house?
BRAD: Oh, well, we try. But…we don’t do very well.
OPRAH: And you don’t really have to be a great cook to cook for kids, right?
CATE: No I’m really good at pureeing. Like pureed baby rice with a little bit of milk, a little bit of mushed apple. The kids love my food, but no one else does.
OPRAH: Jessica Seinfeld wrote this great book about how you can puree things and put them in the puree that the kids don’t know.
CATE: Oh that’s such a good trick.
OPRAH: Do you guys get angst about movies when they’re coming out? Or do you do the film and then let it go?
BRAD: Let it go.
CATE: I let it go. I think its much harder – I’m about to go back on stage in Sydney and I think it’s much harder, because you’re accountable every night. This film was shot last year in New Orleans, and the post production was so long it was like a lifetime ago.
OPRAH: You’re still working on doing wonderful things in New Orleans – building houses?
BRAD: Yeah. We’ve got 8 families moving in now, I mean we’re seeing homes go up. And I thank everyone who helped to contribute because that was seriously people helping people from the ground up and it’s worked and it’s so cool to see.
OPRAH: So cool to see. Well this movie was so cool to see. Again, let me tell you, the movie opens on Christmas day and really worth taking your family to go see it. By everybody, take care.