good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley, tonight a conversation with david oyelowo. he joins us to discuss his latest film "a united kingdom." the co-stars inspired by a true story of an african-american prince to a white clerk who became his queen. we're glad you joined us, david oyelowo in just a moment.

and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. i am pleased to welcome david oyelowo to this program. he stars in and produces his latest project. it's called "a united kingdom." it's based on the true story of the interracial marriage of an african prince to a white british clerk who became his queen. before we start our conversation with david, a clip first from a united kingdom.

>> i'm pleased to meet you, sir. >> i would stick to my nephew alone. refreshments will be provided for him in the house. over two decades of preparing you to be our king. and this is how you face me. a white woman by your side. you're trying to tear us apart. >> i am -- >> my lady. >> don't -- why would you do this to us, to yourself. be something that makes no sense to you. look at them, they are fighting because of you. >> when david did you first

learn of this story. >> about seven jeer years ago month deucer handed me the book. it was the image of the couple on the cover of the book that arrested me, a very proud person of african descent. i felt i should have known this story, why did i not know about these people? i want to know more, i read the book, and that's where my obsession with the story began. >> what about the story caused you to be obsessed with it. >> i know the pride, the self-possession, the dignity with when which i've seen my father walk, my uncles, cousins, i very rarely see that on film.

it's become exemplary in terms of that. a leader who loved his people, a well educated man who was worthy of of the right to lead and had that taken away from him because of who he fell in love with. now is the time where i have just enough notoriety to help that story get told. >> we should ask you to explain that clip just a bit, because the audience saw his uncle being the person speaking to him, you are with the prince? >> yes, you may want to explain how the uncle ended up being the guy in charge. >> his parents died when he was very young. and so his uncle effectively kept the thrown warm as it were while he was away coming of age to rule. understandably turning up with a white wife who supposedly is going to be queen of the village. can you understand he's going to

get a little salty over that. >> when you read a piece like this, let me preface it by saying -- and you know this better than i do. the pieces that most resonate with us, are the stories where we can tap into -- revel in the humanity of the character. how did you go about approaching, bringing this character to life from the standpoint of us seeing his humanity. not the race part, his humanity. >> a man who's been married for 18 years myself as a big lover of love myself. that is what drew me to this story, and i think the best of us as human beings to love,

especially when that love is demonstrated and defined by sacrifice, that's what these two people had and that's what they did, they loved each other and they sacrificed for the sake of that love. and that is a transcendent thing to see. it's very rarely seen in movies. we see lust a lot in movies, actual love is something that is rarer to see. like i say, that's what these two people had, and it was so exemplified what they did. >> what do you make of the fact that there are these films of late that have these interracial story lines and you had no idea seven years ago, when you saw this that loving was going to be out around the time that this film comes out. here comes this film. give me a sense of how these type of story lines fit into the

hollywood of 2017. >> it's a very good question. and i -- normally you say there's something in the area, i think it's coincidence, i really do. these kind of stories, there's very real resistance to seeing them be told. there's resistance and fear around the depiction of an interracial relationship. >> you had trouble getting them made? >> absolutely. yeah. any time you have a black protagonist at the center of a movie, there's a certain amount of trepidation. are people going to go -- is there an audience for this, it's not what we get to see. anything, prejudice is born out of a fear of the unknown, and so films like this have to overcome prejudice, which is -- we don't see much of this, guess who's coming to twiner? 50 years ago, i don't know.

it actually was 50 years ago this year. there are people who find interracial relationships problematic, if you're a financier, a studio, the notion is, i'm not sure people want to see that. >> it's about gatekeepers. i don't think it's a problem for the audience i think it's about the people who run our industry whether here or internationally, and them keeping an eye on their bottom line and therefore constantly wanting to go back to the well of what works time and time again. any time you do something different, you're running a risk. what is art if not the desire and necessity to show me what i haven't seen before. i can't think of the last time where you've seen a character at

the center of his own narrative. i can almost guarantee the film would be either from roots point of view, or a white male character's point of view. a journalist who happens to be covering the marriage -- you know, but no, this is -- we're going to go to the heart of the story where the drama actually is. with no apology that sometimes is a bit scary for people. >> i'm a big fan and so honored and delighted to know she was helping this thing. how did that come to be? >> i had worked with her 18, 19 years ago, one of my first jobs out of drama school is a show she had written called brothers and sisters, i had become friendly with her, i went off and did my thing, she went off and did her thing, seeing how brilliantly she directed belle.

very powerful film. again, a kind of narrative that we very rarely get to see. i know that was a struggle for her to have that film made. the balancing act that she managed with the love and politics, and how the politics never overwhelmed the love, that's what you need for united kingdom, also, i am a big advocate for female directors, i don't understand why not enough of them are getting too have their voice heard through film. everything about her as a potential director for this spoke to me, and thankfully when i made the call, she said yes. >> your friend from selma, nominated for a documentary academy? >> yes, brilliant documentary speaking of which, so when we had this oscar so white year just one year ago, you were outspoken. i was glad you were.

i really appreciate it, i can tell you now face to face, so much of what you had to say. it's so difficult for people -- that's why i know it was a risk on your part to say what you stead so publicly. it's one thing for me to say this, i'm not looking for a job from a director or from an agent or some casting director. it's so difficult for people in the industry who may feel the way you feel to be outspoken about this, thank you for having the courage to say that last year. what do you make of what we have seen this year. >> i'm encouraged but i would appeal to everyone and anyone not to get complacent. because i think infrastructurally the changes that need to happen in order for this not to be an anomalous year hasn't been made yet. the reason it was a struggle to

get made remains, the captains of industry all are of a certain demograph demographic, and we are all unfortunately -- it's just human nature, we are all subject to our own bias of what we want to see on the basis of who we are, and unless you have enough of a variety of people who are captains of industry, we're still -- the pipeline is still going to be of a certain type. and until there's very real change in terms of the decision makers, you know, years like this year are going to be anom house. the thing i'm really encouraged by, i just love that octavia spencer has been nominated for playing a nasa scientist. that's different. that's different. that's what we don't normally get to see. there's a narrative around the kind of things we tend to get celebrated for, you can entertain. can you be in a state of

servitude, a slave or a domestic servant. that's the scientist who's black and female. that's great. not to den great or belittle anyone else. that's progress. a film like hidden figures being made and doing as well as it has. on paper, three african-american protagonists, that story, those faces, that's exactly the lie we've been fed for so long. he's going to be in it, and the audience is talking to us, and we refuse to listen to them at our own peril. >> why do you think to your point about refusing to hear them. why is it that no matter how often -- and i say often, i know it is infrequent, it's infrequent that we get projects like these. when it does happen, and the audience speaks so loudly and forcefully and boldly, it seems to me it would then be heard and yet because it doesn't get replicated apparently they didn't hear it or it went in one

ear and out the other. how do you have a successful film like hidden figures and hollywood not hear that, so that we can see more of that in the years to come. >> prejudice and bias doesn't make any sense. it doesn't -- it's not rooted in common sense. it's rooted in fear. you're either operating in fear or faith, there's no middle ground. the filmmakers, the picket who push these narratives toward getting made, have to operate in the faith. it's faith in the fact that i would get to play dr. king eventually, that means i stuck with that project for seven years. it's faith in this that meant we got it done in six years, and faith i do think is a more powerful force than fear. i'm optimistic for the future. you know, there's a very ugly

marriage between comments and the creator. to have what we do, especially specific voices like eva's, to have those voices have their platform requires not just faith, but support and advocacy, and if you don't have people who it's incumbent upon them to platform those voices, they have to turn the other way and do what they know to be true. i'm just very -- i feel very blessed and privileged to be someone who has just enough notoriety, just enough faith to push for these stories to be told, and there are filmmakers like eva and anna who can meet up with that faith. >> in what, into what is your faith root ed how do you sustai your hope? >> well, i'm a christian, and my life is very much built on the rock that is jesus christ, when

i talk about love being sacrific sacrificed, that to me is where that flows from, no force now or in the future is going to come close to what i believe jesus did on the cross. and so for me personally, that's my example, that's where it flows from, that's where i listen, you know, and so what you said earlier about stepping out and speaking my truth is born out of the fact that what is for me will be for me, who i believe in remains true, and you can't -- you can't fly in the face of that, you know, when i -- i first read the script for selma in 2007 and god told me i would play that role on 24th of july 2007, the director who was attached to that film at that point said no, you're not dr.

king and rejected to me. that's why i was able to stick with it. being rejected from the first director, to help select the director who made it. when you've had that happen in your life it encourages you to speak your truth, to be in your truth, because you know what is for you, will be for you. how does your faith impact the choices that you make. sydney poitier, since you mentioned guess who's coming to dinner 50 years ago. it's the stuff you don't do early in your career, determines how you will be minted in this tongue. he's absolutely right about that. one of the things i celebrated is not just that you're a brilliant thespian.

but the choices you have made, and one can hear the thoughtful nature of the process to get to these decisions. tell me about the way you go about making these choices and why your resume looks as stellar as it does. >> there are a through filters through which the choices i make have to go through. my faith is one, i'm a father of four, i want to have the choices i make be synonymous. they tend to i hope be meaningful about something. i won't knowingly do anything that i deem to be damaging to society damaging to a young mind that glam otherizes the darker side of life.

i believe that the movies is undeniable. the three p's, the part, the project and the people. does it say something? and who's involved, who do i have the opportunity to learn from on this project. being an actor, you never arrive, there's no destination, there's only the learning, because at the end of the day, you're portray iing the most complex thing on earth, the human being, you can be a student of humanity forever and not truly arrive at a conclusion, and so i look to work with people who are better than me in order to consistently improve. >> you're not just playing human beings, you're playing some

iconic human beings. in this country, martin king, across the globe, you don't seem to be intimidated by playing these larger than life real life figures? >> no, because at the end of the day they aren't just human beings, dr. king never thought of himself as an icon, quite the opposite. that to me is what is so fascinated about him, and playing him. if you go into playing dr. king and in your mind you think, i'm playing an icon, you will fail, at the end of the day, what the audience is looking for is how is he like me? what is it about his choices, about his journey, that i can tether myself to and stick with for a two hour narrative everything i tried to do in playing dr. king, what's the humanity behind the iconography.

what's the humanity behind this larger than life scenario that these people find themselves in. make the documentary. i think people go to the movies to see themselves and that's my job, to show you the you in dr. king. >> how much deeper into the producing thing are you going to get? you wanted to act and produce. how much more of that are we likely to see in the coming years? >> a lot more, i'm a believer if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem, i refuse to be someone who's going to complain about the representation of black people or the misconstrued african-americans in movies. if i have a platform to change that. i'm going to take it and do the best i can with it, that means producing, that means being in

the driving seat of what gets made and thankfully i have great relationship relationships. movies i've done, made money. that's a part of it. >> that helps. >> it does. >> as an actor, you are going to blow hot sometimes, blow cold sometimes. i love story telling, at a point where people are seeing me on screen, i'll be behind the scenes still trying to get stuff made. >> what do you hope, think, believe the story lines are that we'll be talking about once they see a united kingdom? >> i really hope people come away recognizing and relating to the power of love. that can sound a little corny, but it is a force that is undeniable. with these two people, it cut through prejudice, nations

tribes, it cut through their own families and their resistance to them. and it made botswana a better nation. i've been there and they don't recognize race in the same way that's just over the border in south africa as we know, it's so much about race. that just goes to show the power of love. the power of changing the perception around who should be together and who shouldn't. >> the son of this relationship is the current president. did you see the fill snm. >> yes. >> i had an incredible experience. thankfully it's all good, we were shooting the film and we were in the middle of it doing a scene.

we hear this whirring, it's a helicopter landing. and the president steps out of his helicopter, comes and sits down next to me behind the monit monitor. he has a certain bearing, he's the president after all. he watches rustleman do this scene, i watch him melt and he comes behind the monitor, we both stand there and greet him, he says, i never thought i'd see my parents again. and he literally before our eyes became this 8-year-old boy, thankfully he loves the film and loves that he gets to see his parents again. also the love they shared. very truthfully depicted. people who know them. and susan willing to write the book in terms of the research, what you see in the film is close to what happened. >> this is why i love hollywood at its best. i love the work of david

oyelowo. he's a powerful actor and big time producer as well. congratulations on the film. i know it's going to do remarkably well, people are talking about it, and it is about the power of love. i'm honored to have you on the program. that's our show for tonight, as always, keep the faith opinion. for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. >> join me next time for a conversation about betsy devos and the privatization of america's schools. that's next time, we'll see you then.

and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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