Transcript of Brad Pitt interview on Larry King Live; Make It Right

CNN LARRY KING LIVE

from CNN.com

Interview with Brad Pitt in New Orleans

Aired December 5, 2007 - 21:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, Brad Pitt -- the man.
BRAD PITT, ACTOR: We want to build homes.

KING: His mission...

PITT: We're going to get this place rebuilt.

KING: Our conversation.

PITT: Hey, you're good at this. You've done this before.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Brad Pitt for the hour -- it's exclusive and it's next on LARRY KING LIVE.

It's a great pleasure to welcome to LARRY KING LIVE, Brad Pitt.

Finally, after all these years, we have obtained the services of Mr. Pitt -- on a very important occasion, by the way. This is the debut of an extraordinary charity to help a much-needed project.

Thank you so much for doing this.

PITT: Yes. Thanks for having me and having all of us here.

KING: How did you get this -- first of all, why did you come to New Orleans in the first place?

PITT: I just always had a love for this place. I mean it's really like no other city we have. It's got its own unique vitality and it's the home of Mardi Gras and -- I mean, where else can you do something as silly as this and people really enjoy it?

KING: And we're going to talk about that.

PITT: It's great for (INAUDIBLE).

KING: But I mean did you come here before Katrina?

PITT: Yes. I've been here since -- coming here since '94. I came here then for a film. But I lived here for about three months and really fell in love with the place. And it's been a nice home for myself and my family.

KING: The people are like no people in America. There's something about the people of New Orleans. I mean...

PITT: They -- I mean, you come here, you'll meet seventh generational families here, people that -- they are not leaving. They love this place and it's very important to them.

KING: So where do you -- you live here?

PITT: Um-hmm.

KING: And...

PITT: We live in a few -- I mean, we're a pretty nomadic family, as you can imagine.

KING: How do you work that?

PITT: But, yes, we have a base here.

KING: How do you work being nomadic in this kind of society?

PITT: We pack up the kids. We've got our system and it's truly a mobile unit. And we plop down here and we can plug into a school here and (INAUDIBLE)...

KING: Then you go to Los Angeles (INAUDIBLE)?

PITT: Los Angeles -- we're there right now for a month here while Angie is working. And then we'll be back through here and...

KING: Does the film dictate where you live?

PITT: A little bit.

KING: So where -- what are you going to do...

PITT: The film or whatever we're focusing on, yes.

KING: All right, so you came here out of a love for New Orleans not...

PITT: Right.

KING: So now Katrina happens.

PITT: Right.

KING: Then what?

How soon after that did you come?

PITT: A few months after. I was out filming "Jesse James" in Calgary when the storm hit. And it was talking to people at the first Clinton Global Initiative -- we were talking about the lack of -- or the help that was needed with the rebuilding effort. And I knew -- I know a little bit about building. And I certainly know people who know a lot about building. And could we start putting these people together, and, you know, help the good folks here get -- you know, rebuild their communities.

KING: So you wanted to get involved from the start?

PITT: Yes.

KING: OK. So, first of all, isn't it a blight on somebody -- city, state, federal -- that this Ninth Ward ain't any better?

PITT: Well, no question. I mean but it -- you know, the Ninth Ward has got a lot of attention. And we're starting here because it seems to have the least -- or the most difficulty of coming back. But this is -- this is everywhere. You -- to see the extent of the damage and the extent of the people -- the extent of the lack of movement is -- I mean, this goes on for parish after parish after parish.

We're hoping we can take -- start here as a nucleus, but we can keep expanding on this throughout New Orleans and the Gulf Coast itself.

KING: OK, Brad, what do we want to do here?

PITT: We want to build homes, OK?

So I'll back up. You know, we started on this project probably a year ago. And myself, Bill McDonough -- who's one of the premier thinkers, a green designer, intelligent building techniques and really a tremendous author of the new paradigm.

We start -- what we did is we called in 13 of the best minds in architecture that could take on sustainability, affordability, safety -- because this will flood again -- and still be true to the aesthetic nature of the culture. We call it MakeItRight.

KING: A good idea because it's wrong, right?

Someone has done something wrong.

PITT: Well, it certainly illuminated the fact that there's a portion of our society that we're overlooking, that we're not taking care of. And so that's -- that's -- that's where it started from. It started from a gentleman I had met who was in his 70s, I believe, and was telling me how he had done everything right, according to the American dream -- getting a job and saving for a house and buying the house and raising his family and sending his kids off to school from that house -- and then it all being wiped out.

And you have to imagine, if everything you own is completely wiped out and insurance is not covering it. And you put on top of that, that -- you know, this -- it wasn't just -- you can't call this an act of God. This was a man-made failures. This should not have happened. These were levee failures. This was mistakes with destroying the barriers that once protected this city.

I mean and when you look at it from that perspective, the people are set up. Now, I don't it's -- it was a dastardly, evil move on someone's part. It was a chain of events that culminated into this horrific event...

KING: Which...

PITT: But it can be fixed.

KING: And now we have MakeItRightNola.org.

PITT: Right.

KING: Now, that's all one word -- MakeItRight. Nola is New Orleans, Louisiana. MakeItRightNola.org is the Web site you go to.

PITT: That's right. OK, so we're...

KING: For anything, right?

PITT: That's right. We're trying to send people to the Web site, because what we now have here are -- we can get families into homes by the end of summer. We -- you're going to see this community start to come back. And where we need help is we need America to come together like they did directly after the storm and help the families here meet that financing gap to build properly, to build safely.

And that's what we're trying to do here. So we're -- we are asking for foundations, for community groups, church groups...

KING: Rich people...

PITT: ... Corporations -- yes, high net worth individuals -- to come in and adopt a house. We're calling this -- this pink, which I'll explain back here, the adopt-a-house campaign -- and to adopt a house, adopt 10 houses, adopt a little piece of a house. But for every $150,000 that comes in, a family will move into one of these new homes.

And in the process, this will become on of the greenest communities in the U.S., which will be exciting.

KING: That is just a phenomenal idea.

PITT: Yes, it's really (INAUDIBLE).

KING: We're going to take a break and come right back.

PITT: OK.

KING: Brad Pitt is our guest.

Now the Web site is MakeItRightNola -- that's News Orleans -- MakeItRightNola.org. That's all one word. You can go to that Web site to contribute, to learn more, to get more information. You couldn't help a worthier cause.

We'll be right back with Brad Pitt in New Orleans.

Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're dealing with one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't tell me 40,000 people have come in here. They're not here.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: We want help!

PITT: All of this was unnecessary. It didn't need to happen. And we feel that there is a responsibility to right that wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE.

We're in New Orleans. We're in Ninth Ward. In fact, we may be sitting -- this was obviously something.

PITT: This would have at one time been someone's house.

KING: It could have been a house...

PITT: Yes, it's hard to imagine...

KING: ...or a driveway, too.

PITT: ...that within -- on that night, within under 20 minutes this place had a -- the break was right over there and there would have been a surge of water that eventually climbed to 20 feet.

KING: OK, explain the pink.

PITT: OK. This is what we're calling the adopt-a-house campaign. It's part art installation, part act of social disobedience.

(LAUGHTER)

PITT: but it's really meant to work as a fundraising component. And we were looking for something that was -- that was loud and would get a lot of attention and that was also hopeful.

So what you see here is -- as you see these blocks scattered across this section of the Lower Ninth to represent the houses that were destroyed, the homes that were destroyed. And what we're hoping to do is, as a house gets adopted -- and this is going to be up for five, six weeks, five-and-a-half weeks -- as a home gets adopted, we will right that house and we will put it back on its foundation.

So, hopefully, this will be an art installation that will be constantly evolving. And by the end of this -- by the end of this five-and-a-half weeks, we hope to have a symbolically -- a symbolic neighborhood put back together. And that's the goal.

And these things -- these things are -- it's a beautiful driving tour at night. It also works as kind of a gift to the city. It's all lit up from within at night. It's quite a beautiful experience.

KING: Whose idea was that?

PITT: Well...

KING: It's novel.

PITT: Well, you know, I -- it's my fault. It's my fault.

KING: It's your idea.

PITT: But, you know, I took from Christo some of the works that...

(CROSSTALK)

PITT: ... Had done at that time.

KING: Why not green?

PITT: We thought about it. But...

KING: Bright green.

PITT: It just felt like pink screamed the loudest.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: It does that. And it's a great idea because it, obviously, it serves on many levels...

PITT: Yes, I...

KING: ...even just P.R.

PITT: I think there's a beautiful story to it. And at night, as I say, the story continues. It glows from within which, to me, represents the heart of the house, the family. And you will also see -- what we have to remember here, that in this very spot, as far as the location, that there were over -- or there was nearly 1,000 deaths.

So there are almost 1,000 -- or roughly 1,000 lights that are scattered across the ground. It's a beautiful tribute, I think.

KING: You kicked this off with $5 million of your own, right?

PITT: Yes, I did. Yes, I did, because -- because I know we can do this. I believe it should be done. There's -- I will -- I'll debate anyone for on the reasons why we should be rebuilding here. There are multiple reasons, but no better reason than when you meet the families -- the families who are trying to get back, families who have been dispersed, families without a really clear-cut direction on how to do it or not do it or to relocate.

But, also, because I believe in the potential here to advance the practice of what I call intelligent building.

KING: So if somebody -- some wealthy person, of our viewers, were to give a check for $150,000...

PITT: That would be...

KING: That would be building a house.

PITT: They...

KING: that would be a house.

PITT: They are putting a family in a house. They are returning a family to their neighborhood. Done. It's done.

KING: All right.

PITT: And I also want to say that this is also set up where people can contribute at all levels. It's set up, if you go to the Web site...

KING: You can give $5.

PITT: You can buy -- you can buy the tip of the corner of the house. You can adopt that section. Or you can adopt a solar panel and give it to someone for the holidays as a...

KING: And you said earlier...

PITT: ...and give it to them in their name or ...

KING: ...homes will be here this summer?

PITT: ... A low-flush toilet. That's right.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Homes will be here this summer?

PITT: By the end of the summer, you will see homes finished and you will see families moving in.

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