We married to please the kids, but it now means so much more, says Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt has spoken of the profound effect his wedding to Angelina Jolie had on the couple - despite feeling that they were “beyond” marriage.

The actor and director said the couple decided to get married because of their six children and because they felt it would be “a lovely thing to do”.

However, following the ceremony at their home in France, the 50-year-old said he had been “surprised” by the impact it had had on both of them.

“We have six kids, so we felt so beyond that [marriage] for a long time. But the kids were asking and so we thought it would be a lovely thing to do, for them and for us as a family,” he told Hello! magazine.

“But I was also surprised afterwards at the effect that getting married has had on us — it was more than just a ceremony, it meant a real depth of commitment. I feel like a married man — I really do.”

Speaking about the family drama By The Sea, written and directed by Jolie, 39, their first collaboration since the 2005 film Mr & Mrs Smith where they met, he said she was “tough as nails”.

He said: “The film’s set in France so it makes sense for me to speak it… And I think my French is pretty good, so my writer/director put a lot of the language into the script and we’ll see how I do. My writer/director is tough as nails, as you know… My writer/director being my wife.”

He said the couple planned to make Chateau Miraval, the French property where they got married, the main home for their six children Maddox, 13, Pax, 10, Zahara, nine, Shiloh, eight, and six-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox. He said: “The first idea in buying it was to get the kids to live somewhere outside of Hollywood so that they can just be kids and explore without the paparazzi following them.

“We wanted a European base because we wanted them to be able to get to Africa and Asia and see some of the places where Angie has work.”

His film Fury, which had its premiere in the capital last night, closing the London Film Festival, was shot in Europe while Jolie was filming Unbroken in Australia and he said he did not want to repeat the experience of working on opposite sides of the world.

He said: “Usually, we take turns making a movie, so if one of us was working in front of the camera, the other would be working behind the scenes and we’d have the family together. But for this one… let’s just say I don’t want to do it again.

“I would have half the kids with me and she would have half the kids with her and we’d have to find ways to figure out the conjugal visits along the way. To say it was logistically challenging is an understatement.”