Brad Pitt "High" From New Orleans Project

Actor Brad Pitt fell in love with New Orleans in the early 1990's while filming Interview with the Vampire. "New Orleans has its own mind...its own thing. It has a real spirit. It's the most authentic of all American cities." In its January '09 issue, Architectural Digest catches up with Pitt when he returns to welcome Katrina victim Gloria Guy back to her new home built by the actor's Make It Right Foundation.

A year after the New Orleans storm, Pitt was horrified at the lack of progress in repairing the damage it wreaked, especially in the devastated African-American populated Lower Ninth Ward. "I couldn't believe nothing was going on. I recalled the pictures of people on roofs, begging for help and I couldn't believe that this was our America."

Determined to put his dual passions for architecture and environmentally-sound development to work, he and several partners started the Make It Right Foundation, whose aim is to build 150 homes for residents of the lower Ninth Ward - one of the hardest hit during the '05 hurricane. He invited architects from around the globe to New Orleans to submit sustainable - and affordable housing solutions. Pitt convened a meeting with the architects, residents and community leaders to establish guidelines for rebuilding the neighborhood. "I never had any idea that so many people would show up for this. The model works and it's replicable."

Although many thought the Lower Ninth Ward should be abandoned because its land was below sea level, Pitt argued that other wards - some populated by white and middle class were on lower ground and nobody suggested abandonment there. "It seems to me that this is about fairness. We may have been designed equal, but we certainly weren't born equal. I feel great happiness whenever we level the playing field."

Six of the originally-planned 150 homes have already been built through the Foundation. Looking to the future, Pitt believes Make It Right is a model for projects around the world. "We've cracked something here...these houses redefine affordable housing...this is a proving ground for a bigger idea that could work globally. This project is not mine anymore. It's so beyond me."

But the day AD talked to Pitt, the day he helped Gloria Guy and her family move back in, crystallized why he put his passions and his celebrity behind the Foundation he created. "You have no idea," he says, "what a high it is for me to see the delight on people's faces when they see how these homes work."

Comments

[RJII]

luv my Brad. Him and many others that have not abandoned N.O. (like the gov't has) are gold to this damaged country.

[Tulka2]

Oh no.
You know what this means to me? I won't get my January issue of "Architectual Digest". The magazine is sent in a clear, plastic wrap. Diana Keaton on the December issue arrived, no problem, but somewhere between here and Des Moines someone in the postal system will snatch Brad Pitt's face. (In all my years of subscribing to the "New Yorke"r, we NEVER recieve the cartoon issue...ju­st for instance.)

[GhostNyc]

Im sure there are many people out there making a difference. But realize that New Orleans was basically abandoned by our government and to many extent forgotten by many Americans. Whether your a fan of Pitt's work or not, cannot deny that him lending his celebrity to a cause can keep it in the spotlight. The fact that he has gone above just lending his name and is out there building homes for people should be respected.

The current state of our culture follows the old saying "out of sight out of mind" so lets not hate on someone keeping a particular cause in our sights and therefore in our minds. Also we shouldn't have to tear some one down to build some one else up. The fact remains Pitt was instrumental in putting someone back into a home in a town devasted before the housing meltdown. Which is more than I can say for myself, what about you??

[peroque]

Please believe me, I think Brad Pitt and Angelina are both great! and hail his achievement in New Orleans wholeheartedly. I just have one thing to say. My son is not African-American, he lived in St. Bernard Parish, which was hit very hard and was underwater. He and his wife lost everything they had including their cats. Everything!!! Brad Pitt did not help them rebuild, NOBODY DID! They had to do it themselves with their own blood, sweat, tears, fortitude, and prayers from those of us who could not go help them! Why can't some of these other people do the same? It would be HARD, but THEY CAN DO IT. It has to be done, but it does not have to be done for them, let them help themselves as well.

[doctorj2u]

Peroque,
Wouldn't you have liked to have someone to help your son? Why do you get angry that others were lucky enough to get some help? The St. Bernard Project has helped 154 families back into their homes in St. Bernard Parish. Do you wish them ill too? Be glad and proud that your son had the fortitude and the means (or at least the credit) to get back into his home on his own. It is a gargantuan task. Not all people are so able or so lucky. I thank Brad Pitt, Liz McCartney, Harry Connick Jr., Brandford Marselis and all the other people that have helped New Orleans come back from Armagedon.

[chaserblue]

Wow...ever­yone can slam him for actually DOING something charitable and not running around to parties getting his drunk picture on the front page of tabloids---but I'd rather give him kudos for actually being a celebrity that DOES something and lends his name to doing something. So what if it's his celebrity being tossed around? If it gets things done, so what? That woman and her family that actually got a house to live in probably doesn't give a hairy rat's @$$ what or who got a roof over her head, she's probably just grateful that it's actually there.

So whatever to all you whiners sitting in front of your computer doing nothing but judging Mr. Pitt for caring...m­ay you never need anyone to care about you...

[marymansour]

I dropped my subscription to Architectural Digest in the nick of time.

[Sam418]

You're a twit. What did YOU do to help New Orleans?

[marymansour]

What did you do?

[CR46]

I went in with a private dog search and rescue org. Used my own funds to search for people and bodies. Pitt/Jolie clan is not doing anything that is not benfiting them. For all their "green" talk I wonder what their carbon footprint per yr is.

[happycat]

Snooze.

[happycat]

I cancelled it 2 years ago after they had John and Cindy McCain on the cover. Besides, most of the places they feature are ugly.

[klandish]

Yeah, instead of all the nouveau riche scatologically spreading their status all over the shinny expensive paper comes something truly fresh. And you drop your subscription. Taste knows no bounds. Bad taste is bliss!

[claptrapa]

You should know.

[kattywacky]

kloew,

Pitt would be the first one to acknowledge and hail the work of that guy you can't remember. The very fact that you can't remember that guy's name but CAN remember Pitt's name shows the good he's doing in directing focus to the good work he's doing and encouraging more people to get involved. How many people would even know about the reconstruction in New Orleans without Pitt's name attached to it.

From my understanding Pitt does far more than throw money around (and multi-millions of dollars is not just a "little' money - he ranks among the top of celebrity philanthropists) - getting involved in the nuts and bolts of his organizations, especially this particular New Orleans one. I'm sure he would prefer far less publicity in his personal life, but redirecting it to his charities strikes me as a great use of his star power.

Now how much have YOU done to help the unfortunate? It's so easy to smugly criticize and much harder to actual DO something.

[darthdarcy]

I'll tell you this when Brad had his place here in Woodstock NY the word is the price of marijuana on the street went way up, as he gobbled up the entire market...

So "high" is probably the right word alright..

[Merckx]

That was so funny I forgot to laugh.

[klandish]

That's cool.

[kloew]

There's this guy, whose name I can't remember because he's not a famous movie star, which means he doesn't really count. But he travels around the world teaching people in famine areas how to grow food at half the height and much closer together so they can grow twice as much food twice as fast. He has been doing this for years without a camera following him around and without the magazine covers or press conferences and they estimate that he has saved over a billion lives. There are many ways to save the world without making it entirely about yourself. Get back to me when Brad Pitt does something more than just throw a little money around and pose for pictures.

[lioness39]

Loved your post.

[happycat]

Wonderful. I agree. There are so many "regular" people who are doing so much good for the world on a daily basis and are not posing on the cover of Agriculatural Digest - a rich person's decorating magazine - wearing a stupid pork pie hat!

[klandish]

Boring... just kidding. Huffington needs more stories on non celebrities doing good things. I'd like to see stories like the one on the gentleman you described. If they have to turn them into stars for fifteen minutes to get our attention fine. But not the same old people and activities please.

[Tulka2]

I am too old to have a crush on a pop star, but think you are being snarky here. Wouldn't the world be a better place if more people adopted a few kids rather than just replication themselves? Give him credit for that.

[tkondaks]

Could you please try to reference this guy "whose name you can't remember" who, through advocating growing food at half the height and planted much closer together, has saved a billion lives?
Mao Zedong tried somthing similar during the Great Leap Forward (1959-61). Not only didn't it work but it contributed to the world's greatest recorded famine in which between 30-80 million Chinese peasants died.

[kloew]

The man who saved a billion lives. His name is Norman Borlaug. He deserves more appreciation than Brad Pitt.

[kloew]

Sorry, Clare53. No one is creepier than people turn their own children into a publicity tool. And I don't have to know them. I actually have two eyes in my head. If they weren't exploiting them they would have a team of lawyers passing the same laws they have in Europe banning the press from publishing photos of celebrity children.