BABIES AND BABEL LOOSEN BRAD PITT'S TONGUE - by Harlan Jacobson

His new movie is called Babel, but if you want Brad Pitt to babble, ask him about being a dad.

At the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday to promote his new movie with director Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 Grams), Pitt went a little gaga when asked if having children will affect the films he'll make.

Pitt cackled, making a face: "That's exactly my thoughts these days. 'Oh, my God, what did I do? What are they going to see from films from the past?' It definitely colors what I'll approach in the future. I'll try to be a little bit more mature about my decisions."

Pitt has a 3-month-old daughter, Shiloh, with actress Angelina Jolie, with whom he also is raising Zahara, 1, and Maddox Jolie-Pitt, 5.

He didn't mention Jolie in the news conference, but in the October issue of Esquire, out Sept. 19, Pitt says the pair will marry "when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able."

Babel stars Pitt, Cate Blanchett and an international cast in a tale of communication and misunderstanding set in Mexico, Morocco and Japan.

Pitt says filming in Morocco was a humbling experience.

"A lot of the characters were cast straight from the village," he says. "They picked it up really quickly. It took me down a notch, certainly."

Being outside the safety net of Western civilization helped prepare him for the film.

"We're so used to service at our fingertips, (when we) go into a foreign land, we're not predisposed to think we might be lacking for something.

"That was a fantastic setup for the film," in which Pitt and Blanchett travel to Morocco to reconnect after the death of a child, and Blanchett's character is accidentally shot.

"It's the one thing that keeps you up at night: How can you protect your children?" Pitt says. "We have to make sure that going into some of these areas, that we are prepared." Pitt says he is off to India next month for a new movie.

When a reporter revealed that she, too, was a new parent, the cameras went wild again, as Pitt made a wacky face.

"That's the picture that's going to end up (on TV) when I have a breakdown," Pitt said, laughing. "When I get arrested for a DUI late at night, or make racial slurs or something. 'See, we saw it coming.' "