Hollywood giants kick off festival

8:34pm Wednesday 27th August 2008

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Brad Pitt indicated he would add to his family of six children with a couple more.

Pitt was speaking on the opening day of the Venice Film Festival, in which his new film Burn After Reading is showing out of the competition.

He stars alongside another Hollywood heart throb, George Clooney, who was also at the press conference.

Pitt was asked if he was planning to add to his brood and replied, apparently jokingly, that he would have "two more by next year".

Clooney was also asked if he planned to marry and settle down. He joked: "That's honestly the first time I've ever been asked that question. I'm getting married and having children today."

When father of newborn twins Pitt was asked how the babies were, Clooney replied: "The twins are fine."

The 65th Venice Film Festival is dominated by European films and follows the US writers' strike. Burn After Reading is the latest offering from Joel and Ethan Coen. The film also stars John Malkovich and Tilda Swinton.

It sees a CIA analyst named Osborne Cox (Malkovich) attend a top secret meeting, only to find the secret is he is being ousted. His wife Katie (Swinton) is having an affair with a married federal marshal named Harry Pfarrer (Clooney) and she sets about making plans to leave her husband for him.

Pitt plays spiky haired gym worker Chad Feldheimer, who accidentally obtains material for Cox's memoirs on a computer disc and is intent on trying to exploit the find.

The 21 movies competing this year for the coveted Golden Lion include five films completely in the English language, all US productions.

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