tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with laura dern. she is once again receiving acclaim thanks to her appearance on the hbo series, "enlightened." the show is in its second season. we are glad you joined us. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i try to live my life every daywe know that we are only halfwaywalmart committed $2 billion toas we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your

pbs station from viewers likethank you. tavis: please welcome laura dern by on this program. the oscar nominees is enjoying great success on her series called "enlightened." here is a scene from "enlightened." >> where have you been for two days? >> i was in la. >> and? >> i do not want to talk to you

about this kind of stuff. it would be great if you were happy for me, but it never works out that way. >> happy for what now? >> things are going to change for the better, so when the time is right. >> you have a new boyfriend or what? >> it is more than that. the bigger liar i dream about. be happy, mom. that is all i need from you. tavis: all right, then. how cool is that? >> it was cool getting to work with my mom. tavis: it really is mom. since you were last year a few

things have happened. you actually won a golden globe for the series. >> which is so amazing. i will say the foreign press and the critics and you, there were so many champions of the show, which was huge for us to find our following and get to the second season. it is a half-hour comedy, but it is filled with pain and sadness and poetry and is a new format in half an hour in a way, so everyone supporting it helps us a lot. >> doing a half-hour comedy on hbo verses the typical network tv, what is the difference? >> all i can tell you is i am working on another independent film, which is my background.

i had never done a series. people say, what is that like? it is a 12-week movie shoot where we work in same hours to make our film, and it happened to be five hours of content or four instead of an hour and a half, so you are scrambling in terms of how much work you are doing in the day, but it is seamless, and that is why so many artists are going to hbo or cable networks to do shows where you have less content and a ton of flexibility. it is like working for united artists in the 1970's.

>> the other thing that is happening is you have become a twitterer. i am laughing -- on this program we had the actor tony goldwyn, and he had not been a twitter person, and he was going on about how is actually worked. >> it is a huge story. for my character. we are on par about how nice we are. she does not have a clue. i do not have a clue. she writes for the show. her first tweet is my first twit. i have no clue. there were a group of friends. everybody thought it would be fun to do it because it is

something my character uses this season. on another note with what happened in connecticut over the holiday, so many of us wanted to support the families about the question of gun control, and many of us thought, it is wonderful we can educate ourselves by reminding each other where we can read and who we can call and what letters we can write. that was the first inspiration. it is a great way to utilize communicating with fans of the show. >> i was late to the game on the entire social media thing. now there's a lot of good that can come of it but a lot of silliness. a lot of cyber hates and nastiness, but i think on balance i have come to

appreciate the social media thing. are you starting to appreciate it? >> i am. i am looking forward to it. i am like, wait a minute. no one has tweeted me back. >> the third thing, i read an announcement there is going to be jurassic 4. what do you know about that? >> i am not signed up, and i think there was a lot of back- and-forth and still is. the think there is an opportunity to do a new world and dinosaurs, and i think they are figuring that out. it is a great joy for those of us who have been lucky enough to have the experience. i do know i will have the pleasure of sitting in a dark room watching the original jurassic park in 3-d, which is

being released this summer and is going to be hilarious. stevens said, do you think we can do press? how are you feeling about it coming out? i said, i am in a blockbuster, and i am 23 in its. no actress could write out for herself, so i am really comfortable. >> you just had a birthday this week. congratulations. jurassic park was just three years ago. you started up here, and then

you get kicked down to the basement, so tell us about this story line are and where your characters are concerned. >> the first thing about was her having a breakdown and being demoted and having to find her way back from the basement in this corporation she worked out for 15 years. the focus is very much about how to fine voice, how to be healthy, but as many of us do after coming back from the realization you have to keep your eyes on your own paper, amy does that by deciding she is going to change her mother, change her company, make it a better place, i think that is

what happens, but as it rose, she believes she can take this energy and make the world a better place, and she gets doors slammed in her face constantly. at the end of the season she makes a decision to burn it to the ground symbolically. now this season starts with what is amy going to do. the question is what is a whistle-blower. you and i spoke the last time about the cultural apathy that is going on. where are our voices, and does it take someone who is crazy enough and overtly emotional that she will lose her job, lose her marriage, moved back with her mom at 40 just to make sure justice is seen and that we heal. >> i know you are a producer. this is your project.

how cool is it -- what is the challenge where you want to entertain us, but you get a chance to address some of the issues that matter to you that are important in the world, the human dynamics of the things we wrestle with, tell me about how you process the opportunity to put that on the page for the character. >> it is a great dream. you feel if you have a vision that can make the smallest possible difference, that you are going to have that opportunity. to go to hbo and say, what if this rager is going to be the only one to raise a voice? could we make it someone over

to? will you let us explore this? to give us carte blanche is an incredible gift. >> i am not making any comparisons. i want to get your thoughts on this. we know the whistle-blowers' get treated a certain way. i think the country is going to come to terms with having another conversation about this.

my name was written in this manifesto, so i am part of this. i think the country is a bit skittish about whistle-blowers. i wonder if you will share some of your thoughts. he said, and i was a whistle- blower. somewhere they went off in the direction. i suspect they reopen the case not to appease him, but so the process is transparent to the public. apparently they were getting

pressure to reopen the case, and they want to make sure the public does not think this guy was not treated because of that. i suspect we are going to come back to another conversation about what it means to be a whistle-blower. tell me about why whistleblowing is a thing. >> i think we have turned an odd corner, and there is such a misunderstanding. corporations would love the word whistleblower to be of feared name, because it is complicated, and there is loyalty and the workplace. you do not want someone airing dirty laundry of the corporation in theory, but the whistle- blower was dr. king. whistleblowing was put in light on something that had been buried. our greatest gift had been whistle-blowers.

what is interesting is what if now, the whistle-blower does it in the right way? does that affect change anymore. what if the person is nuts? they are dumping in the l.a. river. she is going to keep saying it until someone hears her. she things, i will probably lose my job. >> that is what i have been thinking about. if this man had a legitimate case about whistleblowing, to the extent it has been given

another black eye because he responded after he felt he was not treated. going back to dr. king, dr. king had to pay a heavy price for being a whistle-blower. why take an issue that is so serious and choose to do it in a comedic setting? >> network does one of my favorite movies of all time, and it is the script we will never forget.

the idea of the newsman wh so fed up with how crazy the world has gotten that in the middle of this live telecast, you can say, i am mad as and i'm not going to take it, but it is one of the greatest moments in cinema. there is something really fine and wonderful to do with satire, that you cannot say the same things. i think internal watchdog have become a huge focused now in negative and positive. british petroleum fell to until board members were saying, we might be interested in tony hayward stepping down because of how the oil spill was handled, nobody was listening.

people say, we did not make a healthy its choices. you have a moral responsibility in to use your voice. my grandmother -- i remember her having said if somebody needed something, you cook a meal and bring it out to them. if you have it, you will feed them. my grandmother would see a news report about a horrible atrocities in the streets of new york city, and 80 people were

watching this and nobody did anything. my grandmother could not commute. there was nothing about her generation that could understand how that happens, so we have become anesthetized, and the hope is we continue to get fired up for the truth, and maybe with a character we can get away with a lot more. >> i do not get the impression anybody needs to fire you up. you are pretty much on. all the time. i raise the issue to ask in the right thing or the creating of a character, have you ever come to see the character as a mirror? do you see my point? >> i pray i am quitting acting

if i ever have to say to you that i do not. there are many aspects that have nothing to do with me, but there is a core connection, an opportunity to take personal responsibility for some wound or some place i can learn more fun i should be having, because the truth is she is so honest. she is not trying to hide that she is a nightmare. i am impossible. i am not guarded from her flaws. that is very refreshing, as we tend to be very careful about anybody finding us out. tavis: how much is this process spoiling you, this notion of being able to write a character, a star in the project?

not everybody works that way. how much does this spoil you in the future of your career? >> i need my cappuccino. if you are 7 years old, you are old enough to handle that. for my children, i do not know why this is, but life will always give you opportunities for humility. there are other things that make life difficult. i wish for opportunities. tavis: how are you finding this process of raising your kids? how do you think you are

navigating this parental journey? >> i am learning every day. they are hilarious. they teach me every day. i am starting to navigate. there is a lot to learn in terms of how to serve their needs. every day i am learning. they may give really funny. >> you talk about your grandmother.

one of the things, the divorce rate was not as high as it is today. what would your grandparents say about the challenges of parenting? you did not plan for this. what would your grandparents say? >> she was always very forthright in a southern an amusing way. she would say, that is a fine dinner. that kind of sums it up. the take-home might be more complicated. maybe you have to leave it at the dinner. i have amazing, hilarious parents, but then not trying to shy away from why they are together or how life looks

different in my family and his family or that family, even though it is so common now. it is part of the process. >> how much longer do you want this series to run? >> i think when we first started talking about it, we clearly saw three seasons. i think we would be intrigued by completing that vision. i am not sure beyond all that. that is a fine thought. tavis: tell your mom i said hello. >> i will. tavis: laura dern, star of the

series, "enlightened." that is it for tonight. until next time, as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on at pbs.org. join me next time for a conversation with blitzer prizewinner taylor branch. that is next time. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the

right thing. i try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminating hunger and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion toas we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs.

tonight on "quest" -- most of us have heard of "atom smashers." but what do they actually do? "quest" explores particle accelerators and the role that bay area scientists had in designing the machines that reveal the most essential mysteries of the universe. and, the relationship between dogs and people has always been a mutually-beneficial one. find out why curing dogs of canine cancers may end up helping their human companions. major funding for "quest" is provided by the national science