Brad Pitt speaks & another clip from The Tree of Life

If behavior at some of the screenings in Cannes sounds rowdy, you should see the press conferences — especially when publicity-shy prey manage to evade some of the hyenas. The Playlist has a few ravenous examples:

Moderator Henri Behar asked why was Malick not here for his own press conference?

“Mr. Malick is very shy and I believe his work speaks for itself,” said “The Tree of Life” producer Dede Gardner.

“That’s not good enough,” Behar replied.

Brad Pitt was interrogated by another reporter on safari, and pressed to divulge details about how this elusive creature called Terrence Malick behaves in his natural habitat. “Does he laugh? Does he talk? Is he stern? Is he jovial? Does he like food?‚Äù Brad broke down and confessed, ‚ÄúYes, and he even goes to the bathroom.‚Äù

For far more significant insight into how Malick works, we’ll have to ignore these journo jackals altogether and let Brad Pitt tell us on his terms. A clip from today’s press conference and more quotes after the cut.

“It’s like he’s waiting with a butterfly net to catch what was going by that day,” Pitt said. “It’s exhausting.” Jessica Chastain added “It’s all about capturing an accident. He would be shooting and Brad would be wonderful and then there’d be a woodpecker nearby and he’d turn to that. You can’t plan any moment.” Sean Penn who also co-stars in the film was also absent from the press conference, though he’ll apparently be in Cannes tonight.

“It would take many days to explain the film’s creative process,” Pitt said at today’s press conference captured by E! Online. “The screenplay was wonderfully written, very intense, but Terrence Malik didn’t want to follow it slavishly. He likes to capture the truth between the lines. That’s why this film feels so fresh. On top of that, it was almost entirely shot in natural daylight. This film is universal. Terrence Malick wants to speak to all cultures.”