>> from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." >> we'll begin with president obama's announcement on immigration in a primetime address earlier this evening and he announced his plan to shield millions of undocumented

immigrants roam a deportation. >> first, we'll build on our progress at the border with additional resources for our law enforcement personnel so that they can stem the flow of illegal crossings and speed the return of those who do cross over. second, i'll make it easier and faster for high-skilled immigrants, graduates and entrepreneurs to stay and contribute to our economy, as so many business leaders proposed. third, we'll take steps to deal responsibly with the millions of undocumented immigrants who already had live in our country. i want to say more about this third issue, because it generates the most passion and controversy. even as we are a nation of

immigrants, we're also a nation of laws. undocumented workers broke our immigration laws, and i believe that they must be held accountable, especially those who may be dangerous. that's why over the past six years deportations of criminals are up 80%, and that's why we're going to keep focusing enforcement resources on actual threats to our security. felons, not families. criminals, not children. gang members, not a mom who's working hard to provide for her kids. we'll prioritize, just like law enforcement does every day. but even as we focus on deporting criminals, the fact is millions of immigrants in every state, of every race and nationality still live here illegally. and let's be honest, tracking down, rounding up and deporting millions of people isn't realistic. anyone who suggests otherwise isn't being straight with you. it's also not who we are as

americans. the actions i'm taken are not only lawful, they're the kinds of actions taken by every single republican president and every single democratic president for the past half century. and to those members of congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better or question the wisdom of me acting where congress has failed, i have one answer -- pass a bill. i want to work with both parties to pass a more permanent legislative solution. and the day i sign that bill into law, the actions i take will no longer be necessary. meanwhile, don't let a disagreement over a single issue be a deal breaker on every issue. that's not how our democracy works, and congress shouldn't shut down our government again just because we disagree on this.

americans are tired of gridlock. what our country needs right now is a common purpose. >> there are estimated that 11 million immigrants living in the united states illegally. both parties agree the system is broken and needs to be fixed. the question is, how? the president's plan has come under criticism. joining me from washington are two reporters who have been covering this, michael shear for the "new york times" and karen tumulty of the "washington post." i am pleased to have both of them on this program. we take this conversation before the president spoke but with much anticipation and advisement as to what he is going to say and why he is saying it at this time. i began with michael shear. set it up in terms of the kind of -- the context of immigration

reform coming out of the election, what happened before the election, and the intent of the president and republicans to do something. >> i think the thing to understand is how far the president has traveled in terms of changing the way he is approaching this issue. he came into office and after getting health care through spent much time trying to persuade the congress and especially the republican congress to pass a legislative overhaul of the immigration system. on the theory you could by changing the nation's laws do more in terms of putting immigrants, undocumented immigrants, on a path of legalization. it did not go nowhere, they passed it in the senate. in the house, it went nowhere. over the past year and half, come to the realization that he

was going to leave office with this piece of business undone if you rely on congress. what started as a believe among himself and advisers that he really had no choice but to rely on congress really changed over the last six months where he came to believe while he cannot do everything, he could do a lot to getting some of these people a kind of legal status that would allow them to come out of the shadows and work legally. >> talk about republicans in terms of how they see it. the congress does not take clays until january. the president and saying, give me something and i would act on it and i would shred executive authority. they choose not to give them anything at this time. they seem to say if he goes the route he is planning to go, it will be poisoning the water. >> poisoning the water, anybody who is the in washington for the past few years would ask, how could you tell? he has surprised the

republicans. he has gone on in on net neutrality, making a deal with the chinese on carbon emissions and then this. essentially, the republicans have been stressing that they believe it is another example of executive overreach by a president who they keep saying things off himself as a monarch. at the same time, they understand there is a danger for them if they overreact. there's a feeling they need to step on the people within their own party talking about shutting down the government or impeaching the president. in many ways, is the kind of act that also brings out the worst impulses of the republicans. the leaders here have a pretty delicate job on their hands. on one hand, to push back against the president and to

clamp down some other members. >> michael, what can the president do with executive action? >> to create a group of people close to 4 million people that essentially will not be able to get citizenship but will be able to live without the threat of an agent, and through their door and taking part -- taking some of the family. at the same time, get a social security number to be able to present to an employer and work legally. that is a huge difference for something like 11 million people in the country illegally. something like approaching half of those people may be able to actually have a little presence. >> is there a difference on what the republican definition of

immigration reform and the president? >> i think so. you have this believe that everybody talks about the system needs reforming. on the republican side, what it really means is a sense of shutting down the border, so that no more folks are coming and. when you talk to republicans especially in the house, what do you want to do? they talk about shutting down the border. that is different than what the president has talked about, people who have lived here a long time and paying taxes, but always living under the threat of deportation. >> karen, both sides know that hispanic population will be crucial in the 2016 election. does it play a role in how they get to the issues? >> absolutely. the president has been backed

into a corner because he promised action early this year and promised it would happen during the summer. then they announced they would delay until after the election. the president does not have much choice. for him not to do this kind of executive action now would really be breaking faith with a very key part of the democratic constituency. and republicans have a problem here because they actually did fairly well with latino voters in the midterm election. they know to alienate this group, which is the largest, fastest-growing minority, creates a long-term problem for them. >> there are two points from republican senators john cornyn of texas who said i believe the unilateral action which is on constitutional would deeply harm our prospects and would be deeply harmful to our nation's tradition of the rules of law and democracy. that is john cornyn and from tom colbert. the country will see it as a move outside of the authority of

the president and it will be a serious situation. you could see instances of anarchy. it could be violence. that's a bit extreme, i think. what could we see as a response to this executive action? >> the calculation that the white house is making and what i am hearing from a lot of lawyers is that this is the kind of case facts and the courts do not like to get involved in. they see as a political dispute between the other two branches of government. congress' options are they could pass a bill with a veto majority to override this executive

order, defund the parts of the government that would be required to implement it, and in the most extreme case, they could impeach the president. >> charlie, to add to it. both sides are trying to see what the reaction of the public is going to be. the republicans are betting that by focusing on the powers of the presidency and he is overreaching that will fire up their base and be a plus for them going forward. the democrats are getting that in fact -- betting that the more republicans rile against the president, hispanic voters will come out. >> does paul ryan have a point that he said he had two years with a super majority and did not lift a finger and is choosing to give us a partisan bomb? >> go ahead. >> he has a point. yes, it is true. the democrats did not act not

only when they do not have a majority but a filibuster. they were preoccupied with health care. also, the ident. the republicans were going to deal with this in a few weeks -- also the idea that the republicans were going to deal with this in a few weeks was ludicrous. >> is there a frame of mind that the president really have to look at this election and he understands the result of the election and may believe it could've been different if he made different arguments or participating were a whenever, does he now, has he, had he come to certain conclusions about what he has to do in the next two years? >> part of -- some of what we see and karen noted the right

things, net neutrality and china example. some of those are things of coincident. they happened to sort of come together. it is hard to look at the stacking of issues and not come away with what the president and advisers have decided that relying on this congress and any congress in the last couple of years is not going to form his legacy. is he is going to shake the legacy, he will have to exert impress against the outer edges of the authority he has this presidency to act on his own. this is the centerpiece of that idea. >> what about a possible areas that republicans and the president can cooperate on including corporate tax reform and trade? >> i think the idea that in this fight is going to affect those other fights, i am a little skeptical because this is a very transactional system we have here in washington. the republicans and president will deal if they both decide it is in their interest to deal.

this idea that they fought on one thing, they cannot work together on another does not make a lot of sense to me. >> go ahead, michael. >> i agree. it is a transactional city. i will say that the relationship and the matters of trust matter and the extent that there may have been some hope in the city that the election would mean a turning of the page and there might be a slow building of trust that would lead to things is not the just that what happened. >> michael shear, thank you. karen tumulty, thank you. >> thank you. ♪

>> mike nichols, the director, died of a heart attack last night was 83. he explored all mediums area his career spanned five decades. he was known for his exquisite, timing and his interest in the relationship between men and women. he won the oscar for best director in 1968 for "the graduate." >> i guess it did not come back. >> and down the hall. >> how are you benjamin?

>> fine. the bathroom is down another hall. look, mrs. robertson, i do not mean to be rude. >> his other film credits included "what is afraid of virginia woolf" "working girl," and "primary colors." >> why did you quit politics? >> a lot of reasons. >> he won emmys for television. he won the first of his nine tony awards and the last in 2012 for a revival of "death of a salesman." richard burton said he defers to you to get exactly what he wants and conspires with you instead

of directing you to get your best. born to jewish parents, they emigrated to the united states. he took a date to see "a streetcar named desire." he took up acting in college. their sketches won them a grammy. he credited the relationship with success. he said it is a long skid on an icy road and he said he to do the best you can -- mike nichols was married 4 times. his three children and 4 grandchildren. he appeared on this program several times over 24 years. his first appearance was in 1992 and we talked about comedy and improvisation. >> when you were elaine may, did you think about directing?

>> we did it because it was the only job we could get. we start in chicago which was started by my friend who is now part of the new actors workshop. elaine and i were in the group and that is where we met. i went back to get a job of any kind in new york and then we did this and we kept thinking it is what we would do until we start our grown-up lives. it went on and turned out those

were our grown-up jobs. when elaine and i split up in 1961, i did not know what i wanted. and the producers suggested that i try directing. this play called "nobody loves me." i said, why don't we try? why don't we do it for a week. i said i will do it if i could get the guy i saw in the playhouse, robert redford. we rehearsed for a week and did

it. during rehearsal, i said this was what i supposed to do. >> you said she was the brilliant idea creator and you were a person who knew how to move it along. >> i had a sense of the shape of it. i was not as inventive as elaine. elaine could go on. elaine was enormously inventive and still is. she came up with these characters and she could've gone on. i was through after a certain amount of time. also, i learned improvising is a great thing because you learn what the audience wants. the audience says ok, why are you telling me this story? you have to provide certain answers. it is funny is one answer. because it is you is another. because of the pressure from the audience while you're improvising, they are constantly in an unspoken way saying, so, what is your point? we are teaching you what the scene is made of. elaine had a rule when in doubt, seduce. >> seducing the audience? >> seducing me.

a fight is a scene of seduction. not that many other scenes are a scene. >> it is either loved or conflict. >> right. if you say black, i have to say white. these elements of theater are taught to you and this hot crucible of the audience saying, show us something, entertain us. i discovered that unknowingly unconsciously that is what i had been for getting them prepared to do. >> after the graduate and virginia woolf and odd couple, you cannot be any hotter than what you were. did you think this will never end? i am home free. >> funny you should say that. i remember i was the man in hollywood and there was some dinner at somebody's house and i was in line with food with my agent. the man in front of me turned like one of those english horror movies and leered at us and

said, make them think it is forever. [laughter] i was thrilled. i love you joe because i knew it was not forever. >> you didn't know? >> of course. real life would not start until the first failure. i was saying, let's go. the catch-22 was kind of a failure. i was thrilled to see them i kind of enjoyed it. >> you wanted failure to come so you can move on because you knew it was inevitable? >> yes. and stop -- it was something somebody made up. everybody's on a pendulum. >> did you say i am not that

good? in my best days, i am not as good as i think. >> of course. at every point i said that. i also said let me remember this so have a little bit of something in a bank for when they say i am no good at all and i know that is not true either. somewhere in between. we work on a pendulum. i loved the pendulum because as it is swinging into the bad part, it is gathering energy. >> where is it now? >> i have no idea because i do not look. >> what is the magnet of directing for you? >> you beat the hell of the script and you do it again and you keep telling the story and saying over and over and then what happens and what happens next and then what and what is after that.

that's what the audience says. and then what? and you cast as well as you can. you work with the director of photography and do all those things. it takes you over and tells you what to do. in a certain point of shooting, it picks you up. >> even a movie shot out of sequence? >> absolutely. it decides what is going to become. pieces jumping because they are alive and people laying there dead. you automatically learn to cut out the dead pieces. the theater is about right now. this is happening for the first time now for you tonight. it is about the connection of the actual audience. that is the excitement. for the director, very different.

the play is about where everybody is on the stage, the physical stage in who the actors are. the recent, this mysterious thing where they take you over and movies are dreams anyway. movies are our dreams and the ones we make. >> it has been written about you that after "virginia woolf" and "the graduate," they said this guide will redesign film. you became less of that. something else. are you comfortable with that, does it make any sense? >> it is the only thing that anybody says about anybody who does well at the beginning. orson welles told me that first of all, never think about how you are doing in relation to that kind of concept that people

have. what is the shape of my career, let them do that. you just do it. he said, there are lives that start high somewhere in descent and speaking for him, he was not having any other way. an exciting life to have. i said, it is the only observation ever made about an american artist. it never goes in the opposite direction. you cannot name someone, i read in a film encyclopedia, one of my heroes, this bio said he made this and so forth, lost his talent at 52. it is in the encyclopedia.

i said are you nuts? he made eight of the greatest comedies. not enough. he lost his talent. that is how it looks. how it looks later, we do not know. >> i spoke to nichols about the intersection of movies and life. >> it is a strange and not very comfortable feeling to look back. i do not tend to extrapolate principles about whatever i've done like i am the bird as so has to be the ornithologist. i do not know. i do not spend a lot of time thinking about it. those who look back say the following things. if you look at the themes of your movies, it is sexual adventurism and relationships.

>> those are my concerns. >> the main theme. >> elaine were in a comedy group in chicago at the turn-of-the-century -- [laughter] when we all did -- we improvised various scenes and elaine and i ended up doing something that the group called people scenes. which i guesstimate that they were only about people. no more to them than that. it is what is always interested me, the things that go on between people, especially the unstated lesson they immediately visible things that go on between people. and there is something about a group of people looking at

something all apprehending something unspoken that is very excited to meet. it is what i love in the theater and what i love in a movies. >> you have said when you go to a movie what you want to do is find something that makes you understand yourself more and experiences better. >> the first thing you want is an experience, period. you want the movie to give you an experience. if you are able and that experience to say, oh, my god, i know that man. i am that man. that is a particular kind of experience that at least some of us feel like very much. if you ask a movie as we also do that movies transfigure everything and ourselves and take you somewhere that you have not been, somewhere that does

not exist, that is perfectly legitimate experience to wish for. as many experiences are. there are not good or bad in these things. it is what turns you on. life has become so much about us every minute. television is so much about our processes that the things we read are so much about ourselves and our processes. it is understandable that we want to go to mars and we want to get out of here for a couple of hours. >> who hired you for "barefoot of the park?" >> the producer. he caught and asked if i want to

direct this play. let's see if i am any good. we did. >> you said before as you mentioned with elaine, it was like everything you had been trained to learn prepared you to do the thing you were doing -- born to be a director. >> so it turned out. the first time of many times that i am interested in -- it sounds so pretentious. in our work because i really didn't discover it was the thing -- did discover it was a thing for which i was prepared. >> how it plays out -- >> very interested. i think it is a great way to justify my laziness. leading the unconscious work. [laughter] it frees you from doing anything much. i am interested, very interested by the thing you find yourself dealing and you are not sure why that leads -- and the example i

always use, perhaps too often, the last scene in "the graduate," when we shot at the church -- sitting on the bus. i said to dustin hoffman went home i had been very little, get on the bus. get on the bus. and they looked terrified. and tears in their eyes. why am i treated them like this? i said, i know why. it is the end of the movie. they are terrified. [no audio] >> did i plan this? not at all.

i did not have a thought in my head. i am very interested by that aspect of what we do. one of the things we are dealing with. [laughter] >> hey, hey, swampy. >> yes, martha? can i get you something? >> sure. you can light my cigarette. >> a man can only deal with so much. i will hold your hand. i will tote your bottles but i was not a light your cigarette and get as they say is that. >> feels for you are like dreams? >> they are like dreams and they contain messages in the same way, strangely personal in the same way.

and in some way, they are coming out of -- at least partly of our conscious. connecting with -- well with actual dreams we have had. >> when you make a movie, it finds a life of its own. that's the nice thing about making a movie. if you are lucky, if it is any good, at a certain point, it jumps in your head and is alive. pretty much begins to tell you what it wants which is a moment i always love. it is my turn a light on and off. some scenes have to stay and some have to go on the spot.

and the movie begins to take its own path. >> did you like the editing process? >> very much. i liked all of it. i used to be terrified of shooting. it is now or never. in every sense. i now like every stage of it. the editing process is great. if only life hadn't editing process. [laughter] >> you can choose to make it the way you want to. you can make it look as good as it possibly can. you can make it -- >> you can follow secrets. this is not quite clear or maybe we need her looking at him yet again so we know that is why he crosses. it is the single we wish we could do in the life. >> how is filmmaking today all the way back to who is afraid of

virginia woolf? how are you different as a filmmaker with all of this experience? >> very little. the only thing is i am a little nicer than what i was. i am not just as crazed and i do not feel the great pressure and i do not have to drive everybody else crazy. i have learned for me that if you have a nice time and do not yell and scream and carry on, it happens just as well. it is no worse. sometimes it is better because people were happy. >> when you were 30, you hit the town, or 29 and you went on with "was afraid of virginia wolf?" and "carnal knowledge," and all things in between.

it having so much attention, does it set up unfair standards for you as an artist? are you running against mike nichols? >> no, that is where my sense of reality comes in. i once asked marlo brando weathered [laughter] how tough it was when he first came to hollywood to do whatever was "streetcar" or whatever his -- how hard -- how did he manage with everybody making such a fuss. he said, honey, i do not see all of that. i was so busy trying not to go crazy. that is the answer really. you have other things.

you have other fish to poach. >> in 2005, i interviewed mike for "60 minutes." we talked about his love for the theater. >> ♪ >> what is it you do when you sit around a tape like this with your actors before you begin rehearsals? what did you wanted them to shed? >> it is different with the different pieces, of course. my concern always is whatever it is whether ludicrous or tragedy, it is really the same. there are certain questions. first of all, for the audience, why are we doing this?

what is our point? the audience, why have you called us together? you have to have an answer. how can i say this? the first thing you have to say as you know in your job and elaine and i used to be comedians, you have to do something, do not worry, you are in good hands and we know what we are doing. the second is also without words and what we are doing is this. what ever you do, you will come back to the theater? >> i hope so. it gives you something back. the people i most admire, he comes back and works and works

and works. he never stops. he never stopped improving and working on it and doing a hard thing and doing a harder thing. >> being able to get inside of our head to get why he do it and what it means to him. to share that. >> that is it. it gives you something. the big difference in the theater is that you are actually in front of people. and they are telling you something. you are telling them something. you are connected. you are communicating with them. the great actors i have worked with, without any exception, including the guys in today show

that some people, it floors you. they have a deal with the audience. they can pretty much do whatever they want with the audience because they are so connected. them to the audience and the audience to them. they remember what it is they love about this. and in the audience hears what they are thinking, why they are there, what they are sending out. it is a communication, a connection. >> many of the great actors and directors have paid tribute to mike nichols. >> he is a major influence because i looked up to him so much. now because he had more experience because i am older and he and i directed a play when we asked him to do "barefoot in the park."

he was out west doing a play. and he was so smart. what i said in the book was when i finish the play i wanted to work with two people. the most honest and the smartest. joan was the most honest and she would tell me how she felt. she was the one who became a critic of it. she cannot help but tell me what you feel about this and that. mike would take it apart and show me what to do to make it better without being specific. >> he made "the odd couple" better? >> he made better by making me better. he never said you do with this word he does this or she does that. he was a it is not working. he will, at 3:00 a.m. and asked, are you sleeping? the best example is in the book

when we were up in new haven and i watching the play. he said, what do you think? i said, really good, mike. i love the end. he said the end is no good. i said, we will find out tomorrow night. he said, why find out tomorrow night? it was 12:30. we sat in the lobby. i hated him after that time. i wanted to quit. i truly did not feel that way. he made me sit there for two hours and after throwing ideas at each other which we were saying terrible, awful, forget it. we spent an hour quiet. i said i will get to it. he said what if it snows and he gets a shovel out of the closet has said there is looking like -- did not say if it was good. he said i will see you at rehearsal tomorrow and the ending worked. i thanked him for pushing me. >> mike nichols, the two that really do this kind of thing.

really get to know each other. rehearsing. there's a confidence that you do not normally have. both in primary colors and "lucky numbers," but getting a feel for each other, the stories, it is more important just a wrapping you all do that almost the personal. >> nichols talks about that he wants you to open up and have people talk that may be embarrassing or may not want to know. you are somehow. >> that is how i went to film school. i wrote two movies for mike. he was the greatest. he could get people to say the most amazing things. i cannot get anybody to say things like that. >> he does that by offering up himself. >> i offer myself. i degrade myself.

[laughter] >> why did mike nichols choose you? you obviously had talent but why did he choose you? >> blue eyes, blonde hair. >> none of that is in you. >> none, none, none. he had tested radford and get tested a lot of people. he was scraping the bottom of the barrel right time he got to me. i do not think he had anything that he knew anything about me. i was coming off a plate with reviews. they sent it to me to read. i read the script and i got the book and read the book. i had a panic attack. are they trying to ruin my career which is just beginning? i am getting character parts. here is a leading man. the auditions were in los angeles.

when he heard the unknown actor is turning the audition, he called me up and talked me into doing it. >> what did he tell you? >> he asked, you do not want to do it because? i said, i am a character actor and i am not six feet or blonde. he asked, did you think it was funny? i said, i did. he said you do not want to do it because you are jewish? he said maybe the character is jewish inside and that is what made me do the audition.

he said later, i do not think too long ago in an interview that he never really understood why he cast me. >> which is a question i asked you. >> he said and i did not know until i read it, i think i was casting hoffman because i think the character was my alter ego. yes. he did not think of himself as attractive. what i know as a fact after i finished shooting, i want to new york i made $3000. i started collecting unemployment. after the film is edited in los angeles, they started showing it to homes with screening rooms. >> that's what you do in hollywood.

they show it to their pals. >> in separate articles and interviews years later, i read for the first time that people came up to them after screening and said what a great film you had, if you did not miscast the lead. that is what the town felt. >> but not mike? >> that as one of the most courageous. >> he wants an actor to surprise him. my guess is you surprised him. you gave a look he had not thought of and he liked it. >> you know what he did? he came from the theater and he did what we were taught to do whether adler and you start with a zero. and not try to do anything. you say the words and things will come to you. he allowed us to do that in rehearsal.

he said do not play characters. it goes back to what i was saying before. he did not predetermine what anything should be. i can give you examples. he said, do you think this character is a virgin? i said, no. but i do not think he screwed his mother's best friend. i am rehearsing and he said think about the first time you ever made out with a girl. he asked how old were you? i said about 15. i was a piano player and i was going to play and we were waiting in the basement. she was doing al jolsen in black face. i was waiting to be called and somehow we looked at each other and started to experiment sexually. i cannot get any closer because she is in a blackface. i told him the story and i put my hand on her breast. we are facing the wall fully

dressed. she let me do it. i told nichols the the story. i said, i went to go to the back of her and she has on a brassiere, just hold her breast and let's see what happens. i did it. she had been looking at her sweater and she acknowledged that i was holding her breast. she tried to rub off. it was brilliant. i started laughing in those days, well probably today, if you are an unknown actor, if you are caught laughing, that's the worst thing you can do because you're breaking character. i kept saying, do not last, do

not last, you will get fired. i cannot get myself together. i started banging my head against the wall and he started laughing. that is in the movie. the whole thing is in the movie. >> certainly. thank you. >> you are welcome. benjamin, would be easier for you in the dark? >> he kept putting in axis that happened from bringing forth what he thought. >> mike nichols, dead at 83. ♪

>> live from pier three in san francisco, welcome to "bloomberg west" where we cover innovation, technology and the future of business. i'm emily chang. president obama hit the road to drum up support for his immigration plan. he spoke at a high school in las vegas. >> when i took office, i committed to fixing this broken system and i began by doing what i could to secure our borders because i do believe in secure borders. over the past six years, illegal border crossings have been cut by more than half. do not let all the rhetoric fool you. >> we will have more on how the