Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Do Cannes

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attended a press conference on Monday to discuss A Mighty Heart.

Jolie admitted she had fears about taking on the project and the role of Mariane Pearl, whose husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, 38, was killed by Islamic militants in Pakistan in February 2002 reports PEOPLE

"I was very, very nervous to get it right," said Jolie.

Pitt, 43, and Jolie, 31, are staying at the Hotel du Cap, in a villa with their four children: Maddox, 5; Zahara, 2; Pax, 3; and Shiloh, who turns 1 this coming Sunday.

"We got here yesterday, and we had a beautiful day with our kids," said Jolie, who flew in from the Czech Republic, where she is filming the movie Wanted, with Morgan Freeman. "We've been playing with them since the moment we landed, and we plan to go home to them as soon as we are done with this."

Pitt said he was captivated by the Pearl story from the moment he started following it on CNN. "It was our goal to see this thing through," said Pitt. "And to fight hatred."

"As a father, too, I look at my kids and realize they will inherit this world," said Pitt. "And we want to do everything we can to throw our weight in and make it a little bit better.

Meanwhile, in an interview scheduled to air on Wednesday, Jolie, 31, tells NBC's Ann Curry that she doesn't pay attention to the press.

On meeting Mariane Pearl when she was pregnant with Shiloh:
"As much as I was kind of waddling around and feeling the heat...I couldn't help but look over at this woman and think, God, she is where I'm at now...but I have this man with me who's helping me through this and loves me...How is this woman physically dealing with trying to maintain her strength and take care of this baby that's inside of her, working so hard."

On the responsibility of playing someone real:
"...The day before we started shooting...I hardly slept and I was in a panic...I had gotten to know [Mariane] and I'd gotten to know their son. And the thought that he would see this one day. It was my responsibility to not just show the world, but also show him how much his mother loved his father and how much they loved each other."

On rumors about her and Brad:
"There's nothing I have to hide or defend...you know, I'm gonna live my life. And there are gonna be times when people wanna try to attack me and I don't know why, but they will. And that's okay....There are other things I'm more concerned about...My kids are healthy. I have a lot I want to do in this world...I'm gonna be dead one day. And what people say about me is gonna be what I accomplished and what I did in my life and how my children are."

In other news, in a strange twist, Star reports that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have chosen a yacht on the French Riviera for their stay in Cannes!

The Jolie-Pitt family is temporarily living on a yacht off the coast of Cannes and will travel to their film festival duties via helicopter and boats.

"Never in the history of Cannes have I seen security like this," said local Jouelle Beauxreves who has been coming to the film festival since he was 10 years old.

"Despite the obvious fact that we can keep everyone away from the boat, (Brad and Angelina) did not want to stay at the Hotel du Cap with the rest of their colleagues," said a source inside Brangelina's French security team.

"They had an awkward encounter at the Hotel du Cap in 2004 when Brad was in Cannes to promote Troy and Angelina was in Cannes with the film Shark Tale. Brad was still married (to Jen Aniston) and Angelina was in Cannes with Billy Bob (Thornton). The Hotel du Cap is a little tainted for them," said the source.