if you're from the south and you know that at the church, everyone has a boiled peanut on plate. it's like a delicacy. >> so my story was, i'm a mysterious american gumbo of love. i'm don lemon at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. good night. thanks for watching. tonight i sit down with one of the most beautiful people in the world. charlize theron. >> from glamour girl, one of esquire's sexiest women alive, she's smart, sexy, and she can tell a dirty joke and drink you under a table. >> i was raised by a broad. some of that rubbed off. >> a girl who went from a farm in south africa, won an oscar, brutally honest role as a serial

killer. tonight, the as you have probably not seen her before. >> wow, i didn't even know you fancied me. that's amazing. >> charlize theron. this is "piers morgan tonight." let's start with the obvious question. how do you actually pronounce your name? >> charlize theron. >> that's the american way. >> yes. yes. it's how -- it's what i thought would be easier for people. >> what is the correct south african, dare i say it, african's way of pronouncing this? >> charlize theron. >> sexier. say that again. you obviously were raised south african and presumably came to l.a. with a broad south african accent. and then you quite consciously went and taught yourself how to speak in an american accent, right? >> yeah, i mean, look, it was kind of -- i was kind of pushed let's start with the obvious question. how do you actually pronounce your name? >> charlize theron. >> that's the american way. >> yes. yes. it's how -- it's what i thought would be easier for people. >> what is the correct south african, dare i say it, african's way of pronouncing this? >> charlize theron. >> sexier. say that again. you obviously were raised south african and presumably came to

l.a. with a broad south african accent. and then you quite consciously went and taught yourself how to speak in an american accent, right? >> yeah, i mean, look, it was kind of -- i was kind of pushed into a corner. i started going out on auditions. and the feedback was always, she's really great but can she do it in an american accent. my english was very poor. and i still, you'll hear, i make a lot of grammar mistakes. >> you can speak south african fluently? >> every day. my mother lives two miles away from me. >> let's have a burst. come on. i would love for you to speak south african to me. [ speaking foreign language ] >> wow, i didn't even know you fancied me. that's incredible. you speak it fluently? >> i think more fluently than i speak english. yes, definitely. >> well, ms. theron. woody harrelson got me very excited about interviewing you.

>> woody? >> yeah. because you told "w" magazine a couple years ago, charlize is not like a delicate girl. she's a classic crowd, talented and able to tell more vulgar jokes than you and drink you under the table. >> none of this. >> guilty as charges? >> there's no truth to it whatsoever. >> there clearly is. i can't imagine you being vulgar. you seem such a nice girl. >> i'm not vulgar. i wouldn't say i'm vulgar. but, you know, i think i was raised by a broad. and some of that rubbed off. and i'm really -- i'm very -- i'm grateful for that. will smith one day said, what i like about you, chuck, is that you're like from the white house to the ghetto. i thought that was one of the best compliments. >> great phrase.

>> yeah. i mean, you know -- >> he calls you chuck? >> yeah. >> it's getting evermore complicated. you're going to have to restate your name now. >> i know, seriously. >> you can't have americans calling you chuck. >> no. >> they'll call everybody chuck if you give them half a chance. >> look, i love working with woody and we actually did a film together that was a true story of this very important sexual class action -- class action sexual harassment case that took place in minnesota. it was really heavy material. >> this is why i like you. you can just play conventional pretty blond stuff until you're 108. but actually you choose -- >> actually you can't do that until 108. that's why i chose this career because i want to actually work until i'm 108. and i don't think you can have longevity if you just kind of fall back on one aspect of what you are. >> you were always choose these challenging roles. they're always quite edgy, the ones that i've seen. they're always a little bit

dangerous. you know, you take risks. i like that about you as an actress. it's never the safe route, is it? >> i don't think human beings are -- i think we're pretty complicated. i do think there's a lack of -- a lack of interest and willingness to explore the kind of not so attractive side of what it is to be a woman. and the fact that we don't want to necessarily as a society celebrate the fact that we are complex and that we are, you know, we're flawed. not all of us are perfect mothers and not all of us are perfect wives. we're complex.

i felt that when "monster" came to me, the thing that was very clear to me is that it really read like something that de niro would get or some great guy would get to play this very conflicted character. and very few times in my career have i been given that opportunity to kind of tackle some -- a female that represents the conflict that i think is really very evident in who we are. >> what flaws do you have? if you don't mind me saying, too obvious. >> not me. i'm speaking of other women. no, i'm not talking about myself. imperfect. >> let's get on the therapist couch here. >> oh, dear god, what is this, an hour of time? >> yeah. we have plenty of time. seriously. >> i think we need another few hours. look, i am just as flawed as the woman next to me. i really am. i think that the great thing about aging has been the acknowledgement of my flaws. and i think it's kind of -- it's given me a sense of peace. and so, so far i'm really loving the aging process because that kind of wisdom of like really kind of understanding why you sometimes do do the crap that you do. >> do you really love the aging process? >> so far, i said. i said so far. >> obviously treating you quite well.

>> look, i'm only 35. my god, we're talking about this like i'm in -- >> i didn't mention the aging process. >> i'm only 35. and so i consider that pretty young. >> you haven't actually spelled out any flaws yet. >> okay. well, if you have to, if you really want to cover this. >> you raised it. >> i suffer from a bit of ocd. >> i know about this. closets have to be perfect. >> yeah. i'm a bit compulsive, yeah. >> you actually -- you stay awake at night worrying that someone's closet is -- >> i have a thing about things that are hidden. yeah, i have a hard time, especially when i'm like renting a house, if i'm working on a film and i don't know what's in all the -- i have to know what's in all the closets. this is so pathetic. i cannot believe we're talking about this. >> you're sounding really weird. this is great. you get to these random houses and what do you you do? >> the first thing i do is i inspect every closet and drawer. >> fantastic. >> and then i have to -- i have a -- like a -- it's just my organization. i don't say that this is just kind of how my head works. things that i -- like i have to put things where i think they belong in a room or how you kind

of have that access to them. it's really pathetic. this is so bad. seriously. this is -- let's stop talking about it i'm single. i need to find a man. >> this is not going to help. >> this is not going to help. >> guys are going to go, who is this weirdo. >> exactly. >> let's move on. let's go back to the devil's advocate, which is the movie that kind of springboarded you into the a-list. let's have a little clip and watch this. >> you know, you buy a couple of new suits. >> it's a little more than that. >> i have this whole place to fill and i know we've got all this money and it's supposed to be fun but it's not. it's like a test. the whole thing is like one big test. >> fascinating watching you because i know you don't like watching yourself, do you? >> i'm -- i have gotten a lot better. since i've been producing i've gotten a lot better with it. i hate my voice. i hate the way i sound.

i think that was always -- >> it's not your real voice, that's the problem. >> maybe because it sounds very foreign. but since i've become a producer and i've had to sit in editing rooms for hours and watch footage be cut together, i think -- i think i've gotten better to kind of take myself out of it and really look at it as making a film and you kind of take all that weight off just yourself, which has been really great for me as an actor. >> you bring incredible intensity to this stuff. scared the life out of me. i'm just watching you from a monitor. you're like a raging volcano in some of these parts. >> a raging volcano who likes to clean. >> yes. the most weird type of raging volcano. >> look, that film, taylor hackford, the director of that film, cast me after several screen tests and auditions.

and the studio didn't want me. the studio thought that i was too pretty. and taylor really fought for me. he really fought for me. and he's very much an actor's director and i really kind of -- i have to thank him because every moment on that set i never felt like i was treated like, you know, a new actor and didn't know anything. he really kind of gave me a stage where i could be a raging maniac. >> do you know how much money you've taken at the box office, in movies you've been in? >> god no. >> $800 million. >> wow. >> from 26 movies. >> wow. >> that's not bad, is it? >> that sounds good. >> you're the billion dollar woman. >> no, i don't -- i don't pay that much attention to that. >> you don't care how much they make with these films? >> i care. i want people to go and see my movies. i'm definitely not one of those

-- >> if i could offer you a choice now, you can be a lead actress in a movie that's going to make $800 million in the next two months but it would be critically hammered, everyone is going to hate you in it, but the -- >> that wouldn't be the reason that i would choose it. >> no, you can have one or two sent their yous. or i would put you in a movie that is incredibly critically acclaimed in which you win awards for your acting but it completely bombs at the box office. which one would you prefer at this stage of your career? >> i guess i would take the one that makes the billion dollars, but the critics don't care for because then i can go make seven of the ones that i love. >> that's fascinating answer. that's not what i thought you would say. >> that's the business side of me. i understand how this industry works. what i will say in all honesty is that even though i understand how this machine is driven and how it works, i -- even in making the choices that i have on the bigger studio films, i feel really, really lucky that -- and i'm grateful that i have

never really truly felt like i've done myself any -- i haven't compromised to the place where i feel uncomfortable. i've chosen those big movies with still a belief that there's something creative there that i like and the story telling or whatever it was. so -- it's not a complete sellout. >> no, i accept that. we'll take a short break. when we come back i want to talk to you about south africa where you grew up and about your mother who has been this heroic constant figure in your life. >> the broad. >> the broad. the other broad. [ female announcer ] goodnight gluttony, a farewell long awaited. goodnight, stuffy.

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let me just give it to you straight. the truth is, i'm a hooker. i'm trying to clean my life up here, you know, go straight and christian and all. so, if there's anything that you can help me with -- >> i see you've been convicted of a felony. >> yeah, but see that was because -- >> that doesn't even matter because the best you'll get is factory work. hey, todd, do we even have factory work? >> i'm sorry. look, i'm just trying to talk to you woman to woman truthfully. hey, hey, hey! >> that was charlize theron as eileen warner in "monster." that wasn't just heralded as a great movie. i read serious critics in america saying it was one of the greatest performances in the

history of acting. an amazing thing to say about a young actress in your position then, but it was an astounding film. and so visceral and raw, that character, and when you look back on it now, and obviously brilliant for you in your career, but to actually play that role, what was the experience like? >> that was the greatest gift i think i've ever been given in my career. >> really? >> yeah, look, it's absolutely amazing to win an academy award. i'm not going to sit here and be jaded about it. >> did you watch the oscars as a young girl? >> i did, yeah. >> you remember watching these people winning and thinking it was all impossibly glamorous and exciting? >> yeah, but the funny thing was that i would watch the oscars and i would go to movies, i loved movies, but i didn't know the celebrity aspect of it or i didn't -- i didn't know their names. like i would just be like, oh, that's that guy in that movie with the dog. that was my connection to it. and i also had this very kind of

-- my perspective was just i thought that tom hanks was like my neighbor in south africa. he just happened to be an actor. like i really didn't understand, you know, the reality of what that world was or anything. >> what was the reality of life in south africa for you? pretty tough from everything i've read and heard from you. >> tough, but look, i had an incredible childhood in south africa. i grew up in a country with a lot of turmoil. and, look, i went through -- i lived in a country that went through probably one of the biggest historical changes in this -- in my lifetime. now, with everything that's happening in north africa and in the middle east, like, it's probably the equivalent to that, but when apartheid was in 1991, and in '94 with the first free election and the first democratic election, that was a really huge thing. and i think it was when i was around 19, 20 that i really truly understood.

before that i didn't know anything different. but traveling and really understanding where i came from, i understood how what we had gone through as a country and as a nation. but living when i was raised in south africa, i was raised somewhat isolated in a rural farm community. my parents had a road construction company. they built a lot of the roads in south africa. and the farm was really just used for us to survive on, like foodwise. we grew and ate everything off the land, but it was really to hold the machinery for the road construction company and also everybody that worked for the company lived on the farm with us. i was an only child, i was raised with zulus and others and their children. >> an amazing experience. >> it really was. and i was only aware of what was going on in south africa through the fact that my parents were very much outspoken about politics. and that was kind of an every

night event. having dinner and having my mom and my dad talk about the situation in south africa and politics, and also really witnessing racism through some of my friends and that knowledge of apartheid was very evident. so i think i was blessed to have the childhood that i -- you know, you have to kind of look at the glass half empty or half full. i grew up in a beautiful country with a lot of problems. i was raised by two great parents, a great mother who made me very much aware of having a political awareness of where you come from and also of the world. that i feel like a lot of my friends in america don't necessarily have because they were raised in a country that's been very fortunate. >> when i went to south africa last summer and went around the seweta town township which is an incredible thing to do, millions of people living in poverty, and

you would imagine -- because they're living in such poverty, their spirit would be really low and depressed. it couldn't have been more different. the joy that i saw amongst these people who had nothing. and it was really, i think, from hope. they have been given hope by nelson mandela. and they had also been taught not to complain by nelson man della. if ever a man should have complained about what had happened to him shall it was nelson mandela. yet he came out of prison and said we're not going to exact revenge, we're not going to have a bloody war. we're going to forgive and move on and we're going to be a country that unites. and that's exactly what's happened. >> and a lot of politicians can say that, but it will have no effect.

and he actually has -- his cause and effect was brilliant. >> have you met him? >> yes, yes. >> when did you meet him? >> the first time i met him, i had just won the academy award. that was the first time i met him. >> what does he say to you? >> the nicest things that any icon or hero could possibly say to you. things that i'm so not deserving of. >> like what? >> just, you know, giving me credit for being a south african and putting south africa on the map, which i didn't, but i'll take that any day from nelson mandela. >> but it was a big deal for a south african to win an oscar. not many south africans have won oscars over the years. >> not in that category, i don't think. >> any other? >> yes. >> women? >> yeah. >> who else? >> i don't know about woman. >> quite something. >> it's pretty special. pretty special. yeah. for this farm girl, it's pretty special. >> pretty extraordinary. and i want to come after the next break to what i was going to get to but we got sidetracked, your mother, who is also, i think, probably you would say pretty special. >> mm-hmm. yeah. >> one of the reasons you're here. ♪

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back now with charlize theron. charlize, there was this cataclysmic thing that happened to you. and i don't want to rake over the coals. i know that you've moved on from this and you've come to terms with it, but you talked fondly of both your parents and one day you're 15 years old, you come back home, and this awful scene erupts where your father comes back with his younger brother, they're both drunk, they're aggressive.

your father has a gun, as most people in south africa did. and he actually starts shooting into a room where you are and your mother are. and your mother gets a gun and shoots him dead. i mean, i can't imagine a more dramatic, appalling thing to happen to parents that i would love in the way that you did. i don't want to go over the details, but in terms of the impact it had on your life, how would you describe what happened afterwards? how much of it is down to what happened, if anything? >> look, i don't know. it's a great -- it was the great tragedy of my life. but i think that what follows is, i think, what normally follows when you go through something like a great loss or a shock. i'm not the first person and i won't be the last person on this earth to experience something like that. unfortunately, a lot of people experience that kind of violence. is that you have to kind of find where you want yourself to be and how you want people to see you in this world.

and i was blessed to have a parent that kind of guided me towards very healthy time period of mourning, of going through the confusion, going through the shock, going through the anger, going through all of the emotional things that you do when something like this happens to you. but really kind of guided me towards not being a victim and not going through my life feeling victimized. of mourning, of going through the confusion, going through the shock, going through the anger, going through all of the emotional things that you do when something like this happens to you. but really kind of guided me towards not being a victim and not going through my life feeling victimized. you know, i'm incredibly saddened by that night and saddened by the event. >> do you get nightmares from it? do you still have nightmares, flashbacks? does it haunt you? >> no, it doesn't haunt me. no, it doesn't haunt me at all. i'm completely at peace. >> your mother did an extraordinary thing. she sent you off with her blessing. she said get away from here. whatever happens to me, i don't

want you part of this. i want you to get away and have a career, and you did. >> my mother is amazing. and i know all daughters or children will say this, that sounds very biased, but my mother is a very -- she's very unique. >> she saved your life when you were 2 years old. >> mm-hmm. >> you fell into a swimming pool, i think, and she dived in fully clothed. >> yeah. >> and pulled you out. and she saved your life again when you were 15. >> she saved my life many other times too. >> tell me about her. >> she -- you know what's incredible, she hates this. you know, my mom is a very, very private person, so she hates when i talk about her. but i will do this just to -- because, you know, we always just tend to talk about that night. and i think it is good for people to understand that my mother has this incredible ability to -- she has a

resilience about her that i've never come across in any other human being. she has this incredible ability to truly understand and appreciate the value of life. and i'm not just saying it because of that experience, she had it before when i was growing up. not just because she went through an event where, you know, you kind of have to look at every single day, that it could be your last because these things do happen, but i'm not saying it in that sense. i'm saying from the time that i was a little girl, my mother had this appreciation, she celebrates life. and the interesting thing is, that she -- i don't understand where she got the tools to be the mother that she is, because she did not have a mother who was good to her. and so i'm -- i am -- i want to just -- i always feel like i want to praise her and kind of

like sing her praises in some way, because i feel that it's wrong that that's the only kind of event that people always talk about. >> i mean, the most remarkable thing that you can probably show people is your mother's strength in that time of terrible crisis for both of you and for the family. look where you are now. >> i think in my oscar speech i tried to say this, and i think i kind of lost it by then. but i tried to say that there were no words to describe how grateful -- how much i love her, but how grateful i am because of the things that she sacrificed for me in order to do all of this. she was completely alone. she was living on a farm by herself, which is one of the most dangerous things that you can do in south africa. and that went on for years, you know. but she encouraged me to go and chase a better life for myself. and i think, you know, another parent could have very easily have said no. >> obviously the strength of character you get from your mother, the independence and the talent no doubt.

but there must have been things you got from your father. >> he was a fun guy. you know, he was a fun guy. you know, he liked to laugh. i remember him laughing a lot. god, yeah, i mean, look, i'm sure i'm -- i'm positive i'm from both of them, but i'm very -- i feel very similar to my mother. very, very similar to my mother. we're going to take another break. we're going to come back and talk about what you've given back to south africa now since you've been here, which has been an extraordinary thing that you've achieved, i think. who ned

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back with charlize theron, and the charlize theron outreach project in south africa to reduce hiv/aids and violence in south africa where you have come from, and 12 years you have been doing this and you have had real success and achievement. tell me about that. >> well, we launched this program in 2007, but i started to work with the anti-rape -- the rape crisis center in south africa 12 years ago. when people -- well, at that time we were the rape capital of

the world. rape is still a big issue in south africa. what happens when you start talking about the rape crisis in south africa you start understand that there is a bigger problem because you are dealing with a country that is highly infected with hiv/aids. south africa, the epidemic in south africa is the worst of any other country in the world. the number of premature deaths caused by hiv/aids has increased in the last decade from 39% to 75%. we are only 1% of the population, but we're 17% of people living with aids and hiv in the world. so when you start to hearing things like that, for me, obviously, i'm south african, so it made sense for me, but i think that if i wasn't a south african and i heard those numbers i would --

>> what is the main reason that you believe it is so bad in south africa, and what can be done to tackle it properly do you think? >> i think it is a lack of education. i really do. i really believe it. and this program has made me aware of that. i think that we take for granted people knowing how to prevent hiv and aids. there is a lot of time and resources and money being poured into immediate care for people who are already positive. and i think that is very important, but there's -- we have a real problem with governments and donators not understanding the importance of prevention care. i think that to end this vicious cycle, we have to seriously start looking at prevention care, and it is all about education. i mean, when we launched this program in 2007, we started -- when we started the sex educational part of it, you know, culturally it is not accepted to kind of talk about these things, it is taboo.

so to start some conversation with teenagers about sex was impossible. we would get these real amazing beautiful african mamas who would represent a mother figure to them who made it okay to talk about sex and condoms and prevention. and also, explore, you know, kind of to broaden the horizons of just making it about hiv and aids and finding the things that are integrated to that which is how you behave with a woman, and how you value a woman in your community, and what is sex and what is love and hygiene and all of these things. we started realizing that once they realized it was okay, they didn't know anything. they didn't have the tools or the knowledge. >> these t-shirts i have here, lively little numbers. tell me about these. >> well, they are amazing. this great group of people at give and take partnered up with us, incredible people and i'm so grateful to them, and 50% of the proceeds of the t-shirts go to african outreach. >> how do you get them? >> you can go to our website, charlizeafrica.org, and you can

buy them there. >> and directly help? >> yes, and directly -- look, here is the thing. when i started this, you kind of go in very naively thinking that you can do a lot with little, but the truth is you do need good access to money and donors. and i feel like people especially in this country want to help and do with the help so much. it is a question of kind of letting them know how to reach out. >> and what is the single biggest problem of the young in south africa just don't really want to use condoms or even know much about them, is that the problem? >> it is knowledge. i think they want to use them, and we have a survey that we did on our program and 70% of all of our children who have access to

condoms use them. again, i feel that -- i feel that we forget the importance of knowledge, of just purely -- when we started the program i had a 16-year-old boy tell me that he was not going to be hiv positive. i said, good. why? and he said, because i have a condom and i wash it and i use it. so it is little things like that that you wonder how many lives you can save if you tell -- how many children you tell, teenagers who are sexually active that you cannot reuse a condom, something as small as that. we have great data on what anti-retroviral drugs have done in africa, but we don't have great data on what prevention care has done and can do. you know, it is something that is going to take maybe a whole generation to figure out. i think that is why we have a problem with donors and a government supporting these kinds of program, because prevention care just kind of doesn't feel as necessary or as important as somebody who already is infected. and in saying all of this, i'm not taking away the importance

of that, but i do feel that we can't just focus on one and neglect the other. and it is proven when you look at the statistics. >> it's been a pleasure to meet you. >> it's been really nice to meet you. >> thank you so much. >> thank you very much. thank you. coming up next, the shocking true story behind his newest film. the new movie "sarah's key" [ female announcer ] now you can apply sunblock to your kids' wet skin. new neutrogena® wet skin kids. ordinary sunblock drips and whitens. neutrogena® wet skin cuts through water. forms a broad spectrum barrier for full strength sun protection. wet skin. neutrogena®. you know that comes with a private island. really? no. it comes with a hat. you see, airline credit cards promise flights for 25,000 miles, but... [ man ] there's never any seats for 25,000 miles. frustrating, isn't it? but that won't happen with the capital one venture card. you can book any airline anytime. hey, i just said that. after all, isn't traveling hard enough? ow. [ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet?

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the new movie "sarah's key" is a shocking story. joining me now the man behind the movie, harvey weinstein, the author of the book that inspired the film. let me start with you. it's an extraordinary book. it's an extraordinary film, it exposes as i said there, one of the great dark secrets of the war. and particularly one of france's darkest secrets. tell me the genesis for how you came up with this, because i hear that it was incredibly difficult to even get this book published. >> yes, that's true. it took me two years ago publishing it. it was rejected about 20 times. this is a story of an american journalist married to a frenchman living in france. and she's going to be investigating for her magazine the roundup which is one of the darkest symbols of french. and while she's doing that, she will be unveiling a terrible family secret which links her french in-laws to a little girl called sarah.

the two stories come together through this family secret. that's how i wrote it. >> in a nut shell, the scandal is that a lot of parisians were collaborating with the nazis in the early '40s and basically shopping jews to the nazis. >> the scandal or the taboo rather is the fact that the french police collaborated so heavily with the nazis and it was hidden for such a long time if my country. proof of this is i was not taught about this in school growing up in france in the late '70s and early '80s it is now taught in school to young students. but for long it was a silence shrouding this event. >> it was in france and now came to america which is a smash hit. you've sold over 5 million copies of this book worldwide.

even though it's a taboo subject, the fascination is huge. harvey, if i could bring you in here. what was it about the story here that grabbed your attention? >> i loved tatian a's book and this is a story that is particular relevant to me. i had lost relatives and it's a story that i never get tired of hearing about. there are always new facets to it. it's done as journalist investigating almost a detective story, almost a thriller. and it always gets me rowed up when we'll say, oh, another one of those movies, you know. well, why not? this is something that's so fascinating and something that we should never forget. >> i want to show a clip now from the movie, and then we'll discuss this afterwards. >> in july 1942. >> 16th and 17th of july '42 they arrested 13,000 jews. mostly women and children. they took 8,000 of them, put help in the village in inhuman cons. >> imagine the superdome in new orleans, only a million times worse.

>> a million times worse. and then they send them to the camps. >> tatiana, harvey is right. there's always a sniping a comes up, another holocaust movie. but certainly from my pint of view how can there ever be enough movies about that atrocity. what do you hope the movie will achieve? the book has had a huge impact but the movie takes it to a different level, would think. >> first of all, i want to say the movie is very faithful to my book. the young director did a wonderful job sticking to my book. and i was so relieved that i didn't find that my sarah and my julia had changed. secondly, i want to say that i think the movie of that importance is another way to be able to tell young generations about what happened. using the vehicle of emotions, this is a very emotional movie. as it was and it is an emotional book but it's also sticking to fact. this is exactly how it happened. people can learn from it. as harvey said, we need to remember this and we need to explain to younger generations what happened so it doesn't

happen again. >> how has it gone down in france? i would imagine there's a split view, people who are very pleased that you've exposed this and others are so ashamed and embarrassed by it. >> it's done very well in france as well. the movie came out in october last year. and it was a big success there, too. and this took is still selling very well and actually it's being read in schools by young students.

i can think of haven't we had enough dumb raunchy comedies and a lot more horrendous categories that i'd like to see not on celluloid that are a waste as far as i'm concerned. this is a good epic story and a story that educates, but it entertains at the same time. it is a real thrilling movie that one of the movies that i'm most proud. >> and kristin scott thomas plays the star of the film, the american writer who lives in paris. why go for her, harvey? what was the thinking? >> i think kristin scott thomas who i first worked with on "the english patient" is one of the smartest, best actresses. we've had a long association. i was one of the producers on broadway. she's magnificent. we've done four or five movies together. you know, she brings the truth to the movie. she brings the validity to the movie and has lived in paris, as well. so she has all of it. it's when you seept her, you see the truth and you feel the pain, the suffering and also the humidity and optimism that she brings to the movie. >> i'm sure harvey will agree with me, the young girl who plays sarah, she's an amazing actress. this is one of her first big

roles. she's 10 years old. when i met her for the first time on the set and she said i'm your sarah, and she was. this was all of a sudden there in front of me, the little girl that i had imagined and that i had brought to life in my book and there she was. and she is, you will see, a wonderful actress and so poignant. >> it's not often that writers respect that will enthusiastic about the movie version. normally hollywood gets its grip and ruins everything. >> i have a special message for readers. i know i have 3 million readers in america and i want to tell you guys if you love this book, don't be afraid, go see it. because if i the author have come all the way from france to tell you this, then you can believe me, go see this movie.

you will love it. >> it's a powerful story. it had to be exposed. thank you very much for coming on. >> merci. >> harvey, when does the film get released in america? >> opens next friday. >> harvey, stick around for a little chat after the break about your other new project, which involves margaret thatcher and meryl streep, two names you didn't hear too often together. >> looking forward to it. ♪ [ mrs. davis ] i want to find a way to break through. to make science as exciting as a video game. i need to reach peter, who's falling behind. and push janet who's 6 chapters ahead. ♪ [ male announcer ] with interactive learning solutions from dell, mrs. davis can make education a little more personal. so every student feels like her only student. dell. the power to do more. with aveeno nourish plus moisturize. active naturals wheat formulas target and help repair damage in just 3 washes.

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and the pearls. >> but the main thing is your voice. it's too high and it has no authority. >> i may be persuaded to surrender the hat. the pearls, however, are absolutely nonnegotiable. that's the tone if we want to strike. >> it's the first exclusive clip from weinstein's forthcoming move on margaret thatcher "the iron lady." another fascinating movie project which is the first proper film about margaret thatcher called "the iron lady," her nickname for so many years. tell me about the film. >> i think that plays margaret thatcher is not the word. conjures margaret thatcher, transforms margaret thatcher. it's truly, you know, i'm

blessed this year to have meryl streep as margaret thatcher and michelle williams as marilyn monroe and you will see a surprise performance by this woman andrea rice borough as wallace simpson in madonna's movie she directed. but margaret thatcher would probably be the last subject matter that i thought i would be involved with, and yet, it was incredibly fascinating journey of margaret that mucher. >> did you ever meet margaret thatcher? >> i never did, but as a liberal. >> i met her a few times. >> as a liberal democrat, i certainly spent many years detesting her. >> yeah, i wasn't too far removed from that. i met her a few times. she used to take her bony fingers and they were quite long and bony and actually poke them hard into my chest. i mean, she really was the real deal. it was like meeting a sort of

female mike tyson. >> you know piers, when is you look back at some of those decisions she had some of the toughest in british history. and you might not have agreed with the diplomacy, shall we say, but my god, when you look back in retrospect, those decisions turned out to be some of the best decisions ever made for the benefit of england. >> the great thing about margaret thatcher, whichever side you were on, and she's now in her 80s and sadly is pretty frail these days so we don't get to hear from her very often. i was always a huge fan of her personally as a leader. whatever you thought of your decision making she took decisions and she stuck to them. and that i think is often the greatest characteristic of any leader, isn't it. >> she put her principles first. you see the this quite clearly in this movie. you know, it's really fun to watch meryl do margaret thatcher transform into margaret thatcher and to play it across, you know, 30, 40 years of her history. it's spectacular. some of this is just, you know, spectacular. >> how are your liberal friends going to react, harvey, when you seem to be the one man who rehabilitates thth