Brad Pitt Talks Passionately About ’12 Years A Slave’

Actor Brad Pitt believes his new movie 12 Years a Slave will make a real impact on viewers.

The A-list actor sat down with Today Show host Ann Curry to talk about his new film. Pitt plays a Canadian carpenter in the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841.

Pitt tells Curry, “It’s one of those few films that… cuts to the base of our humanity. And it was not until I saw Solomon Northup’s story that I fully, fully (grasped) the utter horror of losing your freedom or denying another one their freedom, taking their freedom, splitting their family apart.”

“It’s why I got into film in the first place,” Pitt said.

Brad Pitt only appears in the movie for eight minutes, but he admits that the movies roles in general were very demanding for the cast:

“I’m there to support the story. The main performances are Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o, (Michael) Fassbender. These are such demanding parts. These guys had to keep themselves in just this perpetual state of angst and foreboding and longing. And they did it.”

The actor is so passionate about 12 Years a Slave that he admits his children should see the movie, but only when they are age appropriate. Pitt says he might allow oldest son Maddox, 12, to see the film, but wants his other children to better understand the “dynamics of the world a little more” before they watch the film.

Here’s Brad Pitt’s interview with Ann Curry:

Brad Pitt turns 50 on December 18 and the actor shows no signs of slowing down anytime in the near future.

Do you plan on heading out to see 12 Years a Slave when it debuts this Friday?