from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." charlie: "live by night" is the new film. it is based on the best-selling book by dennis lahaye. follows the outlaw as he travels from the boston underground to the rum running world of teva, florida. joining me is ben affleck. christmaslso stars sena, chris cooper, and sienna miller. i'm pleased to have all of them at the table. said you want to give this a

feeling of a classic. what does that mean? >> i wanted to feel like the kind of epic said you want to ga feeling of holiday movie that was a blockbuster when that was about scope and sweep and scale and customs and stats and transporting you, an audience stories,mewhere, harkening back to the warners gangster movies of the 30's and 1940's. those great movies. i wanted to make sort of a love letter to that era of hollywood. a tough challenge. >> yeah, it was hard. a tough challenge. >> yeah, it was hard. charlie: you start with good actors. good script, good book. said directing is 90% casting. there's a lot of truth in that. myot really lucky in that first choice people showed up to do the movie. otherwise it would have been an impossible task. charlie: hard to adapt? >> yeah, it was small.

the book was long and really rich and nuanced. there are some things that were modular, but then you lost a thematic piece. keep all the things that were interesting and complicated. and still have a movie that respected the audience. torlie: let me ask everybody tell me about the character they played in the time we have. who is joe? >> joe is a son of a police, very disillusioned by what he saw. it transformed him into a guy who wasn't going to follow anybody else's orders. charlie: the son of a police superintendent. ben: yes. >> i play emma gould, an irish immigrant, daughter of a pimp, murderous uncle, wrong side of the tracks, gangsters. pretty compelling character. charlie: and her relationship to?

>> she is just trying to survive on the arm of a few monsters. .ot as close as she was able >> i play the chief of police in tampa, sort of keep an eye on joe. out a littleut section for their business. i show them for their parameters , and give a blind eye to it. charlie: so you will allow them to go only so far. >> exactly. >> i'm his daughter in the film. she lived in florida and wants to go to hollywood to become a star. can't quite make it there. experience is a dark time and when she comes home, she's born again and becomes an evangelist preacher and starts preaching again, alcohol and drugs and gambling, during the prohibition.

>> i'm joe's right hand man. very loyal friend and brother. charlie: you bulked up for this? >> it was in the books that the character was very round, and so being next to him i decided the only way to beat the heavy was to gain weight. , andie: joe comes back decides he's going this direction. at the same time he doesn't feel like he's off that world. >> he tries to maintain his own independent compass. he wants to have his own sort of moral universe. charlie: he wants to have his

own, but he can't make choices like that. >> ultimately there is a price to be paid for the things we do. charlie: is this the way you would like to write? property, piece of you are going to star in it. i assume it is part of the price you would have to pay to get it going. love thes case, i part. it was a great, interesting, fun, gangster leading role. you do so much work when you direct a movie, you do so much research, it is so all-encompassing that it felt like i might as well act in it. charlie: you said this was one of the fun experiences for you. >> it was spectacular filming this movie. the cast and crew were amazing. how was it some experiences can be and you

describe this? >> i think it comes from the top. , calm, inviting -- you are allowed to play. there is so much trust in him and all the people he brings around. unfortunately you are dying to leave. charlie: you develop some idea of repentance. >> well, he has to deal with these boys, and there is compromise there, and then my daughter takes this trip, as she mentions, and everything turns upside down.

she realizes how she has been mishandled. crazy.drives him religion,ets into the and i get into it with her. charlie: your character tells joe he doesn't plan to see old age. >> my character for me represents the night in live by night. he's committed to the night. he says he will live this way and die this way. it is amazing on the page, so much there, so much fun. --rlie: are think extra stories classic american ambition stories.

it makes for great metaphor and a lot of fun, and makes for great drama. charlie: why do they go from boston to tampa? is where a lot of rum and molasses was brought in from the islands. it's a big port of entry for toting molasses and rum up boston. through the connections they have that they make in boston, they move down and try to take over and continue to compete with other interested parties to sell rum. charlie: this is a clip of where ben and sienna plan their ill-fated escape from boston. >> where will we go? >> somewhere warm. charlie: my brother danny is in california. >> i would go to california. charlie: -- >> who said anything about honest work?

we do what we want to do, go where we want to go. sleep by day. got a job in lawrence on saturday and i will be free. >> free to leave? >> free to leave. charlie: what does emma represent to joe? >> i think he just falls completely in love with her and it's one of these loves he probably senses is dangerous. it is hard without any cognitive -- crazy,represents that headstrong, without regard for consequences, and they get each other in trouble. charlie: your character wears white a lot. white.ty much only wears charlie: signifying purity? >> i think purity, and you see

one time she wears black, but after everything she's gone through, she becomes addicted to heroin. i have track marks, and i think -- charlie: dad must love that. >> definitely not. kind of ashe's circus animal because she is a performer. part of her performance is that she wears white. that's her thing. charlie: here's a clip in which chris welcomes joe, ben to tampa. >> how you doing? look at you. i thought it was a straight bamboozle. then, i thought if anyone can charm the devil. would you look at this?

after you. i worry for you now. reach under the seat. charlie: love it. for all the conflict with gangsters, this becomes your competition, doesn't it? >> part of the morality story, he's competing for the souls of the people. interestingated and and i wanted her character to really have -- to be making a very salient point, not to hold up the prohibitionist as a caricature because we decided it was to end prohibition, but to look at the public health issue that alcohol was. attempt to gets rid of it. happened.ting thing everybody drink alcohol went

overnight from being law-abiding american to being a criminal. it made criminality all of a sudden -- a look different in the american psyche. it changed our relationship to what our laws were. charlie: it made people like al capone very mu -- very rich. >> once you make something illegal, you create an illegal market, as we see in the drug trade today. countless millions of dollars being made by selling drugs. charlie: what is the most difficult thing about directing and starring in a film at the same time? time. >> you always wish you had more time. the way to do it right is to hire really good actors so you have everybody doing great performances, you can just step into it as an actor and forget your directing the movie and immerse yourself in whatever the scene is. the directing stuff comes to

mind. you need to give yourself a chance to relax and be an actor. >> and complement, that's where ben and i first got to spend time together. charlie: was he more focused as an actor then, when he wasn't directing? >> i don't think so. he was very focused, and what is veryntioned, this professional, very calm, comfortable set. charlie: it always comes from who's in charge. load that ben the has taken preproduction, the shoot, post -- i might like to make it as easy as i can. charlie: would you like to do it? >> i've been asked.

i'd like to find something i'm crazy about. something like this could take three years out of your life. charlie: you are the owner, the quarterback, the coach. all of that. >> you never see him directing what you are going to see with him. amazing, magic trick. i don't like to say action and cut and stuff. i like to give that voice to somebody else. i don't even like saying action, i don't like that whole idea that now we will start acting and pretending. now it's playtime. membranehave a third between being themselves and telling the story.

charlie: would you like to direct? >> one day, may be i can't imagine it right now. charlie:charlie: they can create characters in films they would like to see or be in. >> that would be producing. that's probably closer to reading material and trying to benefit. thinkly think -- really that's how you get great roles as a woman. and directing, i feel like i would love to one day. charlie: how did ben influence your character? >> i first met ben when i was about 15, so a couple of years ago. i do not think i would get the part because the way it was written -- i looked at her as older. then and i spoke, and one of the best qualities of hers is that childlike. we talked about that, that she is still a little girl and she has gone through so much. loretta is very nostalgic about her childhood. to keep the little girl

seen that -- having most of my scenes were with ben, it was nice to have that support because he would create such an environment where you want to give, you want to create. charlie: let me take a look at this. >> let me apologize. i want to ask you a few the amenable to cutting the female issue from your service. in exchange, we will create a business here, which will reduce the sinfulness that comes with poverty and idle hands. if you want to contribute to the church, we want to build a few churches. >> if god rewrites the bible to cast gambling is virtuous, i will refrain from speaking against it. but until then, we don't get to pick our sins, mr. kaufman. charlie: she's a standup woman, isn't she? >> a very formidable character.

charlie: there's a sense of, i know what i'm doing here, sir. >> this scene feels like he's going to come in and operate. charlie: you don't seem afraid. >> no. charlie: one more clip here. here it is. >> i need id, chief. >> i expect you would feel that way. you know what happens if you don't help me? >> no, i don't. >> bodies are going to pile up. more articles about slaughter are going to get written. chief's going to get pushed out. >> you too. >> maybe. difference is, you get pushed out. someone does it with a bullet to the back of your ear.

charlie: you have also worked with ben when he was directing before. >> in argo. charlie: is he getting better? >> he's been great from the beginning. charlie: how do you explain it? he really came out of the box good. >> thank you. i got lucky with my first movie as well as the other ones. we have a great cast and really good material, that is so much of the battle. just took a very simple approach , have the characters have the right accents and hit the right few keynotes in the story. dennis had created a very powerful ethical moral dilemma in that movie. you are as good as the material and people you are working with. this is the best cast and crew i have worked with in any of the movies i have done. charlie: it was the cinematographer? >> bob richardson, who's been

nominated 10 times for oscars. charlie: what is the relationship between a cinematographer and director? >> ideally, one of real collaboration. it's like all complicated relationships. it can be thorny, it can be dysfunctional. it's almost like a marriage. you have to be collaborative and you have to be open, and you be too prickly. charlie: will you and a sense look for be too prickly. properties continually and in the meantime, there's not something you want to direct, you will just continue to act? >> that's the idea. keep auditioning. we do a lot of auditioning. as a director, i feel like i'm in auditions all the time it always gives me affinity for actors and what actors go through. for every role in every movie you see, there's 20 people that lines and flog

themselves all night and came up with a hall take -- whole take on it. i want to hire everybody. charlie: i was interviewing alpha chino. -- al pacino. we were talking about memorizing. he said he doesn't -- he doesn't try to memorize a whole script, but he lets it sort of come to him as he's getting inside the character. >> over the years i think i've kind of changed what i'm doing now with scripts is trying to keep away from making judgments and just read it time and time again, and let things soak in. intuitive when i feel the time, now is the time to research,nd i will do but memorization -- it is a

central thing. i know when it's time. charlie: is it a muscle that gets better with experience? ahead. >> i normally always memorize the night before only. -- ihe scenes i have to do looked in the sermons, it's three pages long. that kind of threw me off. i love memorizing the night before. it's fresh and i don't have to analyze the words too much. for this one, i have to -- it was a couple weeks ahead of time. , and very nervous about it

when i was on that stage i felt like i was in a play. i've never done a play. it felt like a very theatrical moment right we do not rehearse it. ben asked if i wanted to say it. i said, let's just do it. charlie: do you like rehearsal before a film? >> i love doing theater, and that's probably my favorite part of the job, the 6 weeks you get investigating and getting forensic on text. ie muscle of doing that means do find it easier to learn lines because of that experience. rehearsing, i love. charlie: great to have you. night" opens in limited releases christmas day and the nationwide january 13.

figures" tellsn the true story of three women in the 1960's. they ar part of ae small group of mathematicians and engineers that were referred to as colored computers. their calculations havethey laud the first americans into space. here is the trailer for the film. you're welcome to walk for 16 miles.

♪ >> you have identification on you? >> nassa, sir. >> i had no idea they hired -- >> there are quite a few women working in the space program. >> the least they could do is give you all an escort. that is a god-ordained mira cle. >> in 14 days, astronauts will be here for training. it's never been done before. launch of the russian spy satellite, the president is demanding an immediate response. handle any numbers .ou put in front of her >> what do you guys do for nasa? velocity.te

>> would you wish to be an engineer? >> i wouldn't have to. i would already be one. i don't know if i can keep up in that room. >> just make that pencil move is fast is your mind. -- as fast as your mind. >> you've been gone for 300 hours. the launch is in three weeks. >> the launch is in three weeks. >> there is no protocol for women attending. >> every time we have a chance to go ahead, -- get ahead, they move the finish line. sir, are the boss. you just have to act like one. we don't get there together, we don't get their at all. >> flight of our lives, people. >> 9 times out of 10, we can do

the work. >> more than 50 million americans watching. >> that's a real fireball. getting real hot in there. last year president obama awarded kathryn johnson the presidential medal of freedom. i'm pleased to welcome this day the film's stars. also joining us, kevin costner, and the director. i'm pleased to have him. graduations. >> thank you. charlie: did you know this story, kevin? >> i didn't. charlie: i didn't either. how did you discover it? >> it started with a book proposal by a writer whose father was a research scientist at nasa. she grew up at barbecues and events with kathryn johnson and mary jackson. she asked her dad, who are these women?

they work at nasa, they are mathematicians. it sparked her. she started digging in, researching and writing, and that's how it all started great charlie: was it hard to get this greenlighted? or not? >> strangely not at all. charlie: it's an american story. >> yeah, and the moment everyone read this book proposal and script and heard the story, they with the idead that it had to be told, and it had to be told right now. especially with the way we were going politically at the time, and still are. charlie: this is the early 1960's? >> no, now. everyone wanted to be a part of this when you told them the story. existingquestions today between african-american communities and other communities in terms of police, and all of that. kathryn johnson. >> yes. charlie: tell me about her. >> the closest i've ever come to a living superhero. it's a different feeling, if not

the feeling of meeting a celebrity. i never really get starstruck, because i'm an entertainer. but it was a different kind of starstruck. this woman changed the course of history for america. this was formal. i was in her house and i'm sitting there talking to this superhero. it was amazing. charlie: how did she feel about a film being made about her? >> she seemed excited. it's almost like she was like, why do you want to tell my story? as aoesn't see herself hero. she just saw herself going to work every day. i don't think she ever saw herself going to nasa to change the world. she was just excited -- charlie: confident in who she was and her abilities. >> but not knowing she would even begin in that opportunity to change the course of history. she just knew, i get to work in the field i have all these degrees in and i don't have to be a teacher. charlie: who do you play? >> miss mary jackson,

african-american female engineer at nasa. she is my hero as well. all these women are my heroes. what she was able to accomplish had not been done before. she was on the course of being a colored computer, but she had the mind of an engineer. during this era of the 1950's, women were not even allowed to vote. and as minorities, we were not allowed to attend certain classes because of the color of our skin. she fought, she petitioned, and she won. she made history. not just for herself, but everyone around her. everything she did was for the community. she was not going to be a woman who would sit back idly and allow discrimination to face her because of her race or gender,

two things she could not change nevero things she would change because she was proud to be an african-american woman. >> i played dorothy von. dorothy can be credited as the mother of the women who code movement. she was acting supervisor of the butcan-american computers, she didn't have the title, and she was instrumental in figuring out the idea and then figuring out how to program it, and she taught the other women to program it. she knew their jobs had become obsolete once that computer was up. charlie: that's an important role for her. >> she was a visionary. she was able to look 2 miles down the road and know that nasa would no longer need computers, they would need computer programmers. she taught herself, literally, then taught all the other women. charlie: what do you think this film says? >> what do i think it said?

charlie: it's american -- it's an american story. >> you're dealing with the civil rights movement, with women in and you top it race inside. so, it's important to point out that while this is a good story, i never think that a good story makes a good movie. race inside. i think a good script does. there's an art form that comes in in distilling this down against those big backdrops, how personal can you make it. people will always react to the big boom in movies, but they will always be moved to the interpersonal things, tucking the children into bed or letting them absolutely believe they can be whatever they want, and then go to work and be put down on a daily basis. so, what do i think? i think this is a movie that some people will be changed by it. not everybody. it doesn't always happen that way.

i think young people, may be young girls will be really empowered. i can be that. when movies are working at their best, that is kind of what they are doing. what does it say? american movies are alive and well, we can make stories about this, and we can move people. charlie: there was some sense, some people have been talking about, this was a year in which african americans play prominent after all the things that were said at the academy. have you heard that, do you sense that? >> what's wonderful is that we know this isn't a reactionary project. it was actually in the work before, and i met two years ago on it, when it was still a first consideration. i'm excited about the fact that movies starring people

of color. i'm also excited about seeing jeff movies patel doing somethig different. i'm excited. i'm excited. as anhink we are excited, african-american woman, excited to hear more diverse stories. inclusion is important, and including these women who have beingar too long without celebrated in a way that we all have felt they needed to be celebrated is important. we think about other films, "lion" and "moonlight." it's about making sure that we have -- we account for so many layered characters. they are on screen and they can see themselves. and we all feel a part of the american experience. charlie: what was the challenge for you? >> i think the biggest challenge when i got the script and book proposal, being a white man and white director, i didn't know -- it is scary to think, what do i

have to offer this? i really didn't understand why i made the movie. i had not told octavia this. i do not understand why i made a movie, other than i was blown away by the story and felt like i had to pay reverence to these women. then i was sitting in an airport at heathrow and we are traveling for a screening. we are in the first-class lounge . octavia, i will go get something for a friend of mine. i come back, and octavia and her makeup artist had not been yet, had not been served a cup of coffee yet. and i didn't get it. and i walked up to them and they were sitting there with this look on their face. and the server came right up to me. >> immediately. >> and i said to myself, that's why i made the movie. that's why this movie is important. >> this movie speaks to the

everyday racism and slights and sexism we experience every day and that we dole out every day and think nothing of. i will never go there again. [laughter] truthfully, you can feel the changes in the world. in all ofpervasive these cultures. i think this is a great time to have movies like this. made remind people what america great in the first place. everybody putting their brilliant minds together, whether it was that nobody cared -- eactly -- exactly. ♪

charlie: -- >> she's right behind you, mr. harrison. can she handle analytic geometry? >> absolutely. and she speaks. >> yes, sir, i do. >> which one? >> geometry and speaking. me a -- get

>> i prefer it over euclidean coordinates. [laughter] charlie: i love that clip. did you change this character at all? >> i wasn't going to do the movie at first. i was in complete support of the movie, i thought it was beautiful, and the movie was about to go and the call came in that ted would like me to play the role, and i just didn't feel like i understood the role. it was schizophrenic. i've used that word before, and we got on the phone and, i knew there wasn't a lot of time to do a date dance here. i said, it's a little schizophrenic, and i was quiet. i just defended the writer. my career has depended on great writing great i was quick to say, i think the movie is great, but i don't see how i fit. what came back to me was that we to that get the rights

character, so it became a combination of three different men. when he said that, i went, at least i'm not crazy. [laughter] andwe began to talk then, without breaking it completely down, i said, this will take work. tess says, i'm ready to do the work. andy, i've directed too, after a 12 hour day or longer to get a phone call from a supporting actor, because that's what this part is and i was proud to be a part of it -- when you're out there directing every day to come home and get on the phone with me, because it is still not right -- a lot of people say things to get us to do movies. but not always do they follow through, and ted did. i didn't know what part we had created until we finally saw the movie, we had worked very hard to turn it on its ear a little bit. charlie: who is he in the end? >> if you boil him down, he's

what you kind of want, the cream that gets to the top and i don't care how it happens. on the sporting field, at nasa, in the classroom. this country will survive beautifully when we understand that no advantage can be given to wealth, to race, when we open the door to ability and contribution, we can be that thing where we are headed. had that mindset, and secondly, he saw the possibilities of these talented people. >> and it's important that he also had his own shame about maybe not paying attention. charlie: his own shame. >> there's a scene where we go sign.own the bathroom something in the middle of that which was a coffee pot, which i think ended up setting up the hallway even more.

men in thepot, the room would not allow this young woman -- just didn't realize it was bothersome, that it was equally on me too, that i wasn't taking a look around the work spot. so the character we just want to do, we wanted to create a spencer tracy role where we stand there and deliver and let the girls do this amazing dance and have their story told. charlie: is there a common denominator in the three characters? >> their fidelity. charlie: to? >> each other, and the sisterhood, and the community. if one does great, we all do great. charlie: is there also a fidelity to science? >> absolutely. we are geeks, and we are proud of it. charlie: because science is true. >> absolutely. and numbers don't lie. how much of it is their

pride in being a part of history? >> very proud. >> it is an honor. >> just being a part of this project -- this is the most important project to date in my career grade charlie: do you agree? >> yes. >> definitely in my career. this is a missing part of important part of cinematography, piece of cinematography we need. the fact that my name is on it is like -- i could not have written a better script in my life. thing does an interesting at that moment, where after she becomes -- when john glenn says, i'm not going, i'm not going unless the girl does the thing -- what girl? not the black girl, not the total, not the white girl. the smart girl. the really smart one. i'm not going, and what ted did beautifully is that when that ine will stiller

be shut out of her credit. the door shuts on her once again. john will go because catherine has done her job. what makes the script very sophisticated. sophisticated and seemingly simple, the door opens and all that comes out is the tag. there's no words, i got you the tag. hurry up in those heels. she was having to make that awful run. >> it takes a great acting. andt takes a vision too, the vision was not to beat people over the head with the message. it was just for them to enjoy it and get it. it will seep into your blood and veins. down to the third clip here. you are telling your future husband about your work at nasa. here it is. >> the pastor mentioned you are

a computer at nasa. pretty heavy stuff. >> it is. >> they let women handle this sort of -- that's not what i mean. >> what do you mean? i'm just surprised something so taxing -- mr. johnson, if i were you i would quit talking right now. >> i mean no disrespect. >> i will have you know i was the first negro female at west virginia university graduate school. analyzedven day, i levels for air displacement, friction, and velocity, and compute over 10,000 calculations by hand. nasa,do some things that mr. johnson. be it's not because of -- cause they wear skirts. it's because they wear glasses.

charlie: when you elected to direct this film, you were in conversations also to direct the "spiderman" films. and you insisted on doing this. >> yeah, i had been through the spider-man process for about 4 months. i was thinking, i'm going to ask that story when we have more time. i'm going to wonder what that "spiderman" process is. they are great people and i was enjoying the process. and then on a friday night, and marvel was going to give us an answer to "spiderman" on monday. on friday my agent called me and said, you know you are in the middle of this "spiderman" situation and you will find out monday, but i have something to tell you about. and they tell me the story and i go, oh crap, really? send it to me. i read it that weekend. sunday night i said, i'm going to back out of "spiderman."

i can't possibly do that now that i have seen this. charlie: you contracted to make the film at that time? >> no. i withdrew for consideration on monday morning and went full steam ahead into this. >> ethically good negotiating move -- that's a pretty good negotiating move. i can do the "spiderman" movie, or i can do your movie. i know there's not a lot of money, but you will have to bump it a little bit. [laughter] it was just one of those chances in life to do something good. >> they actually wanted me to do "spiderman." [laughter] charlie: what was the most satisfying thing about the entire experience? screen?ting this on exploring their character? >> yes that, knowing we were going to introduce the world to everry that no one has

heard of. this is so fresh, this is not like another jfk film. this is not like -- it is not a story we have heard ever heard of. of, and you seen it done millions of ways in theater, on the screen. this is something so new and why theng, and that's world is waiting to see it. it is something that has happened, but you've never heard about it. >> especially three females as protagonist. that's rare. charlie: female protagonist. as john glenn said, i want the smart one. >> we have been accustomed to seeing ourselves as being beautiful or as objects sometimes, but now we are subjects to study until the end of time. charlie: this is so great as a role model, to see something other than entertainment and sports. >> absolutely. grewr me in particular, i

up being told, don't worry about science and math. so i didn't even know this dream was available to me. who knew? if i knew that i could be great with numbers and science, maybe i would have been a rocket scientist. charlie: maybe you would have been an astronaut. >> i could have been, but i was told not to silly myself with that boy stuff. charlie: what does ckatherine -- katherine johnson think of that? >> she being 98, she doesn't understand what all the hubbub is about. she says, i don't understand, i just did my work. charlie: whenever you talk to someone who has done something heroic, that's all they say. >> some reasons you do movies, when i was reading the screenplay, things that move me, i thought, i want to be a part of the film. there's a scene janelle is in with the judge.

the reason that scene is important to me is because people don't think they actually get justice if they think it has already been predetermined. in that particular scene, she makes a very compelling sidebar discussion with him, very intimate. and the judge gets it. and you don't think he's going to get it. you don't think at that point in history he will even listen to it. but he does. i was thrilled with that man that made a difference in your character's life. so, part of the weight of me saying i'm going to do it had to do with scenes like that. that's important to me that that happened. it is important to me that dorothy, when these men could not figure out this big machine, she got down on her knees like underneath the car and finished it. there's a charm in that. and the fact that it's true makes it like -- you have this giant secret when you read a script like this, that one day

it's going to be told. because i don't know anybody who doesn't want to tell somebody about the greatest song they just heard, the greatest book they just read, or some movie that touched me. charlie: two you remember that scene? >> absolutely. charlie: what do you think it was? >> think that during that era, their brothers and sisters were being lynched, the way they even talk to white people or looked at white people. my character mary had to study and learn her enemy. she had to figure out a way to get him to emphasize with her -- empathize with her. the judge was the first of his family to do many things. and knowing that she would be the first to be a female engineer at nasa was the connection that she felt that they would bond over, and that he would get. he would understand the obstacles that he had to go through to get to where he was, the first and his family to

serve in the u.s. army -- u.s. navy armed forces. once she made that connection, human to human, she won. she got justice. it was a chess game. women were so smart. it was a chess game, and she won that chess game. >> emphasizing that scene, again, it seems like a story but it was a screenplay. do in there. to and that is a nervous moment when you have to find the right words, with everything on the line. it comes out in a movie perfect, but that little girl had to be really sweating. charlie: was it good to just have him on the set, around? >> like my favorite filmmaker in the world. kevin is like the ultimate partner, and dug into the script, like i did. charlie: so he had a partner. >> i knew al harrison was going

to wrok out -- work out. i know his character from the first time you shake his hand. you know he will be there and do it and dig in. before -- the day >> our scenes were very unwieldy. it was big, there was movement. the art of or her soul is a lost art in our business. we show up and make it up at the moment -- rehearsal is a lost art in our business. we show up and make it up at the moment. for me, if i'm not working that day, i'm saying, where is this next set? talk about that. >> they all do the same thing. >> you just -- we don't have a lot of time and spaces. i literally like to go and sit in the space, and feel it, and

figure it out. because you have to exist in that space on screen as if you have been there 10, 20 years. and that's hard to do. charlie: -- >> these women took the math with them. they practice that math day in and day out. janelle did teh same. these women, they did the work just like the characters did the work. charlie: to make it more authentic. congratulations. "hidden figures" opens in select theaters december 25. thank you for joining us. see you next time. ♪

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