Benjamin Button's curious journey

By Victoria Lindrea Entertainment reporter, BBC News

"I'm happy with the result.

"There are things I would do differently, but then there are things you would do differently at the end of any long-term relationship."

So says David Fincher, the film director who has given five years of his life to making The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

And it seems his persistence has paid off. This epic tale of a man who ages backwards has picked up 13 nominations for this year's Academy Awards.

It stars Brad Pitt as the eponymous Button for whom life literally does begin at 80.

Based on a short story by F Scott Fitzgerald, the film has been a pet project for Hollywood's finest film-makers for some 40 years, as Fincher explains.

"Steven Spielberg tried to make an earlier release with Tom Cruise, and then I think Ron Howard tried to make it - and then Spike Jonze, who told me about it."

It would be sad and pathetic to live one's life waiting to be patted on the head David Fincher, director

Fincher, 46, whose films include Fight Club, Panic Room and Zodiac, first read a version of the script in 1992.

But the technical difficulties of shooting the story, which begins with an abandoned baby with the face of an old man and sees Pitt progress from 60-something sailor to globe-trotting student, were not easily overcome.

Pitt was insistent that the role be predominantly played by him - and while the 45-year-old could perhaps pass for 30 or 50 years old, 18 and 80 were a stretch.

"How does he play an entire life...? That's what was interesting to him," recalls Fincher, who previously worked with Pitt on Se7en and Fight Club.

"And it's funny because I never thought of it any other way. So that was the problem that we set aside to solve."

Ugly truth

The advent of superior make-up techniques and computer-generated imagery paved the way for Button's eventual success, with make-up and visual effects among its myriad technical Oscar nominations.

Pitt would spend up to four hours in the make-up chair each morning ahead of filming. And for the former pin-up, it brought the issue of time into stark relief.

Cate Blanchett stars opposite Pitt as the object of his enduring affection

"I was reminded that time is short, and you want to have that time be of personal value," Pitt says.

"Am I halfway, over halfway [through life]? Do I have a couple of years left? Or am I going to get hit by a car when I walk out of here? I don't know. So I want to make sure that I am not wasting that time.

"I've spent too many years prior sitting on a couch and smoking things that I shouldn't be. I kind of hit the wall, which is probably what pointed me in the direction of this film."

For a man who appears to have left his bachelor years behind him in favour of family life, the film's themes of love and loss prompted some strong gut reactions.

"It's scary stuff. I've got to get old, then my joints go, I start rotting inside, my breath stinks�," he laughs

"But that is the inevitable ugly truth that we deal with: loss of people around us, and loss, eventually, of ourselves.

Awards 'honour'

With his, and partner Angelina Jolie's growing family paramount, acting appears to be taking a backseat in Pitt's life.

"I really don't have anything to prove anymore," says Pitt. "I consider being a father something much bigger."

Button marks a change in tone for Fincher, best known for Fight Club

"I have stories that I am interested in, and if I am interested in them, I tend to believe a couple of other people out there will be too."

He calls the film's awards attention "a huge honour", but adds: "I have also done it long enough to know that it's a fickle thing. And if it comes your way, it's there to be enjoyed, and if it doesn't, it's still there to be enjoyed."

First-time nominee Fincher is enjoying the novelty.

"I think it would be sad and pathetic to live one's life waiting to be patted on the head.

"It's nice, it's the icing on the cake. But let's face facts, how great to be a movie director - that's the reward."

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is released across the UK on 6 February.

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