Brad Pitt said he hoped his children would realise his portrayal of a stern father in his latest film was down to him being “a pretty damn-good actor” and not because it was close to reality.
Pitt, who has six children with his partner Angelina Jolie, admitted he had been “hesitant” about taking on the role.
The Hollywood hunk who is at the Cannes Film Festival to publicise 'The Tree of Life' which is in the running for the coveted Palme d’Or, plays an authoritarian parent bringing up a family in 1950s Texas in the film.
Speaking about the role he said: “I think about my kids seeing everything I do now when they grow up, and how are they going to feel, but they know me as a dad and I hope they’ll just think of me as a pretty, damn-good actor”.
When asked about how close the role was to his own heart he said: Asked how close his role was to the truth, he joked: “I beat my kids regularly…It seems to do the trick... and I deprive them of meals.”
Pitt was joined by actress Jessica Chastain who plays his wife in the film. Conspicuous by their absence were Sean Penn, who plays the couple’s son as an adult, and the film’s director Terrence Malick.
The film, which does not have a conventional plot and includes flashbacks to the creation of the universe including an appearance by dinosaurs, got a mixed reception at an early screening today with some members of the audience booing while others gave it an ovation. But Pitt praised it for merging the “micro with the macro”.
