Actor Brad Pitt talks to Today Show host Matt Lauer in an interview set to air on September 22, 2011. on the Today Show. In the morning show exclusive, Brad Pitt talks about his new movie 'Moneyball' and the Oscar buzz surrounding it, his recent 'Parade' Magazing interview, Angelina Jolie and ex-wife Jennifer Aniston.
In the interview, which took place inside The Coliseum in Oakland California, home of the Oakland A's, Pitt said of the Parade Magazine Interview, “I know my intentions, and I know what I believe, and I know things get misconstrued.”
The interview will air on The Today Show on September 22, 2011. NBC has released some excerpts from the interview, which follow.
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ON ‘MONEYBALL’
MATT LAUER: Will you embrace or be willing to say-- This is at its heart-- and I know you feel it's about justice, and it's David and Goliath, and it's about choices. But at its heart, it is a baseball movie?
BRAD PITT: Well, it's certainly a sports film. Baseball is its backdrop. I love process and getting inside in films. I love movies about process. And so there we get inside baseball. We get under the stadium and into the offices and into the clubhouse.
MATT LAUER: And the reason I ask the question is because one of the things that really impressed me about the movie is you don't run away from the intricacies of the game. A lot of times, people make a movie and it's got boxing at its heart or it's got baseball at its heart. And they're so worried that they're going to alienate a certain part of the audience by getting into the details that they water it down. And you don't water down the baseball.
BRAD PITT: Maybe. I think that's a credit to Bennett Miller, who's a bulldog about authenticity and having real players and real scouts and letting them tell us what happens, you know, behind those doors.
MATT LAUER: Is Billy Beane a winner?
BRAD PITT: He is in my eyes, yeah.
ON OSCAR BUZZ:
MATT LAUER: Audiences haven't seen it yet, but the few critics who have seen it have started to use the words, those words that you must hate, you know. "Oscar buzz."
BRAD PITT: You're not gonna use 'em now, are you?
MATT LAUER I just did. "Oscar buzz." I mean, you know, your performance in this is something that's going to stand out, there's no question. But there are other great performances in the movie. This is your movie.
BRAD PITT: Well, it was-- it remains a great piece of material for me that I got to take on. And, we're all-- it's too early to talk about all that other stuff. It's all good fun if your number comes up, and it's even more fun when your friend's number comes up.
ON RECENT ‘PARADE’ INTERVIEW:
MATT LAUER: So I flew across the country and I was all prepared to talk to you about the traditional rumors that surround you. You know, is there a secret wedding? Are they breaking up? Is there another baby? And all of a sudden, I don't have to talk about that because something did come up.
BRAD PITT: What came up?
MATT Lauer: It came up over the last couple of days in an interview you gave to Parade magazine. And I know you've seen the reaction, and I'm trying to get your side of the story about Jennifer.
BRAD PITT I haven't really seen the reaction. I've been told about the reaction.
MATT LAUER: Tell me what you were trying to accomplish.
BRAD PITT: I-- I don't know what was pieced together or put together. All I know is that my point was, the best thing I'd done as a father is be sure that my kids have a good mother.
MATT LAUER: Right.
BRAD PITT: That's all I was, or am, trying to say. It has no reference to the past. And I think it's a shame that I can't say something nice about Angie without Jen being drug in. You know, she doesn't deserve it.
BRAD PITT: I don't wanna be encumbered by any of that. I know my intentions, and I know what I believe, and I know things get misconstrued, and I know there's a good cycle and a good story to say we're splitting up. And then when we don't, they say we've come together again, it's another new cycle, and then there's a secret wedding. "No, that was put on hold because they're upset." It's, you know, that's-- I live outside of that, and it's much healthier.
MATT LAUER: You-- you did release a statement, just to correct the record and say-
BRAD PITT: Yeah-- I don't want them to say anything bad like that about Jen. She's a dear friend of mine.
MATT LAUER: Did she call you after the quotes got out?
BRAD PITT: No. No. But she's also a seasoned veteran and she knows. You know, and she's a valuable person. We spent seven years together. Come on.
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