Terrence Malick's Tree Of Life is rumoured to be featured in the Cannes Film Festival line-up for this year that's set to be announced tomorrow - but you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who knows much about the film. That's why we are thrilled to be able to share a few tidbits that Brad Pitt let slip about the film he calls "a bit ambitious", which may enlighten you a little further.

When we asked him if this was a science fiction film (yes, even that is in doubt), Pitt replied, "Well, in a way. It's this little tiny story of a kid growing up in the 50s with a mother who's grace incarnate and a father who's oppressive in nature. So he is negotiating his way through it, defining who he's gonna be when he grows up. And that is juxtaposed with a little, tiny micro-story of the cosmos, from the beginning of the cosmos to the death of the cosmos. So that's where the sci-fi – or the sci-fact – comes in."

Pitt also confirmed that Heath Ledger was originally set for a role in the film. "He was gonna do it at one point, and then he was puling out for one reason or another, and we were involved ["we" meaning Pitt's production company Plan B], so I just stepped in."

And what could he tell us about the famously secretive Malick? "That's he's famously secretive!"

So that's helpful.

Tree Of Life may or may not premiere at Cannes (we'll find out tomorrow) and will be out sometime later this year. Maybe.