tavis: good evening from los angeles, i am tavis smiley, first up is popular leading dennis quaid, who is in the new hbo project, "the special relationship" and hip-hop artist nas, and damian marley here. they have formed up for their african heritage, called "distant relatives." we are glad that you have joined us coming up now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference. you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports "tavis smiley."

tavis and nationwide insurance working to improve literacy and the economic power that comes with it. >> and from contributions from your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: please welcome dennis quaid to this program. the talented actor has been a powerful force in hollywood. in "breaking away" and the right stuff, and you can catch him in the new hbo film, "the special relationship." playing bill clinton.

>> don't be surprised if you feel completely overwhelmed in office. all the time on the road to get that job, no one briefs you what to do when you get there. you seem a quick study, i think you will settle in fine. did anyone ask you about the moon rock? >> they did, actually. >> it's six billion years old, and sometimes when things are hectic, i hold the rock to chill. tavis: ok, how many big mac's did you have to eat to beef up? >> it was like the angus select.

tavis: yeah, clinton is now the pillar of good health. >> i gained 35 pounds to play clinton. i could have worn a suit or device but i wanted to get my face fuller. and there is no way to fake that. tavis: how do you do, because he's been imitated so many times. how do you do the voice and face and not like look a character? >> yeah, i had my clinton voice, as many did. it was really a question of pulling it back so it wouldn't -- i didn't want to do an impersonation of him. and i had the privilege of spending some time with him in the white house in the late 90's. so i had a lot to draw on there.

tavis: this special piece covers what about the relationship between blair and clinton? >> it covers '96 to 2000, clinton's second election. and blair was just coming in oft at that time. and both were people, politicians who were center-left politics. and this relationship was a time and place in history where it came together. they formed this relationship. which was personal as as well as political. tavis: yeah, i was about to ask how many of their relationship was about these two countries? because one gets the impression of reading about them in office, they had an interesting and special relationship with each other as individuals. >> right, the term special relationship goes back a ways.

great britain and united states have had that relationship before. with churchill and roosevelt in particular. blair took clinton's play-book to win the election in britain. they had problems in the relationship along the way but they got a lot of things done together. tavis: michael sheen, i was honored to have him here and he played tony blair, your first time with clinton on the krescr. >> yeah, my first time. tavis: michael sheen had you on the number of times.

>> yeah, i almost said no to the part. i would have met peter morgan and talked to him. because the script was so good, and he wrote "frost/nixon" and the queen, and the way that he dealt with making them human. and i was shocked that two months later they offered me the part. i didn't see myself as clinton. tavis: why, dennis? >> i didn't see myself in the role. i have played historical figures before. but this is one of the most photographed, known people in the entire world. and everyone has an opinion about it, so it was daunting. but i feel i should do the thing i am most afraid to do, and i said yes. tavis: is there a particular challenge to playing historical

figures? >> yeah, it's different than creating a character out of cloth. i feel like i have a responsibility when i play a real person to capture their spirit. and to tell the story from their point of view. tavis: bill clinton is a guy who would tell you for your portrayal, are you ready for that conversation? >> i guess. tavis: it's a little late now, so when the president sees you and how will you handle it? >> i didn't contact him. for one thing i would feel a little quizy about someone doing parts of my life story too. but -- and i had his

autobiography with me, which is very thick by the way. tavis: yeah, i am still reading it. >> yeah, every day in the office. well done. so i used that and watched miles of footage. but i don't know what he will think. i think in the end is he's portrayed as a human being. and i admired the man, a lot. i think he's the smartest man i ever met. and i think he was a really good president . tavis: when you play a historical figure and they are alive. and when he was president, how do you balance being true to the character and knowing that you literally know this person? >> for me it helps. every time i have played a real person, i have been lucky

enough. tavis: jerry lee lewis. >> he was on the set everyday, ov over my soshould,you got it wro. tavis: how do you play that, when he's over your shoulder? >> yeah, eyes in the back of your head. he was grace. and then i played the rookie, and i was lucky to have them on the set everyday. because it remind me of what i am doing there. and i have the real person to give me the opinion about it. like i said, i am trying to capture their spirit and tell their point of view. tavis: when i met you, i was a kid growing in indiana, and i

was going to indiana university, and you know where i am going. >> yeah, "breaking away." tavis: yeah, that was a good movie. >> that was a good movie. that was my first real big break. i had done some movies before that, like driving movies. and this came around and in the 80's there was a lot of youth movies. and i think this was the first one. it was made in '79 came out in 80. tavis: i started there and it came out in '82, it was an about big deal, a recruiting tool. >> yeah, they cut their team. tavis: you were the biggest recruitment for inu. you have been become very active, and i only raise this

because i know are passionate about this. the story that happened to your babies a few years ago made you quite an ambassador for this issue. >> yeah, our twins, zoe and t-boone were overdosed when 10 days old with heparin, one thousand times the doze they were to read. the same incident killed some infan infants. after that we formed a foundation. and we are, what we are out to do is to try to get the people who die from health care harm in our country, 100,000 people, trying to get that down to zero. it's all preventible.

tavis: wow, a lot of deaths that's preventible. >> when you take that and add hospital acquired injections, it's the total of 20 jumbo jets going down in it country. and because it happens in thousands of hospitals, a lot of people in health care are not as aware of the problem. tavis: did that make you an overprotective dad? >> we had a happy ending, our kids are doing great, and they are in their terrible two's now. tavis: you are glad to be out of the house. >> it's like a circle in the house. we have done a number of things, testified before congress. and going through the courts. and going through the legislative process. and raising public awareness

about how big the problem is. and there is something that can be done about it. tavis: i am glad you are the case, you and your wife. i know you want to get back to those terrible two's. i will let you go. the movie on hbo is called "the special relationship" about the relationship between clinton and tony blair. nice to have here. up next nas and damian marley, stay with us. please welcome nas and damian marley to this program, they have teamed up to perform "distant relatives." and here is some video from the single as we enter.

♪ ♪ tavis: damian, good to see you. nas, how are you doing? >> i am good. tavis: how did this collaboration come to be? don't all speak at once. >> well, it came about first and foremost of being fans of each other's music. we did some work on my last album and on his hip-hop. and it came from there and our management teams came up with

the idea to do this together, for african music and three to four songs and decided to make it an album. tavis: when you hear nas' music, what do you hear? >> i hear someone that has guts to say what he is saying, if i was jamaican i would be damian. in his music, i would definitely do what he does. and think vice versa if he was a rapper. tavis: tell me about the project about africa? >> we are all africans, everyone. black, white, yellow, it started there. there is such a mystery to african history. and i have been talking about africa, pieces in my music. and it was what i did to make

the theme africa. and so once damian said let's make the theme about africa. i said yeah, i jumped on it. it felt good, me being from the hip-hop community. and i felt like that would be cool with a voice from the hip-hop community to acknowledge that connection. tavis: why africa for you? >> well, africa in particular, the idea came up in the management teams to do ep idea from africa. and i thought it was a good idea to be where we come from and to shine light on that particular moment and time would be great. and in the process of doing it, i thought that the album would be stronger. tavis: to your point as you talked about this in bits and

pieces for years. what is so hard to get traction on that subject matter? you think of all the subject matter that rappers rap about, why is it hard for the motherland? >> it seems so far and kind of pushed back from our minds since we were kids. being born in america, you don't know anything but america. and the history of the african-americans going back to slave slavery, it stopped there. or until we got this new dna find your history thing. and some people got upset with the history, and felt like something huge was missing. and more you start to learn about what is missing, the further away it seemed to be. and next you know you pull

yourself in this history and you don't know where to start learning. to me i am on this big learning experience. tavis: damian, when you decide it take on a project something this big, africa. musically you start where? how do you decide what the sound of the project will be? the lyrical content? >> well, the subject, i didn't want it to be color content but for africa and the theme of the music. and we used african songs and things of this nature. and having that in mind and going into the project. was just moving up in inspiration. and being about africa is an inspiring things. so there was never a lack of creativity and inspiration. we didn't have to focus so many

about how to make music than just making music. tavis: your stuff, you have always something to say on your projects. given the creativity was this given for the project? >> well, the projects is hip-hop beat and producers, and it had a street sound. this one is a lot prettier. it's a lot more beautiful sound, and african sounds in the music. it's a lot, the topic is a lot lighter even in some cases on this record. tavis: when you writing your lyrical contribution, you approach it how? what do you dig to get the stuff?

>> for this record since it was different from my other hip-hop albums it was a challenge to slip you up the flow and fit with "d." because "d" is all in the track and all around it and doing incredible things all over the track. he's been living with the music a little longer. so i don't want to embarrass myself and not be able to stand and rise to the occasion. so i had to challenge myself and fit in. tavis: just because you are a fan of someone's music, damian, don't mean that the collaboration will work once you are in the studio. that the voices mesh and it will connect. when you got in the studio what made you know that it was working? >> well, aside from even before i got in the studio, i knew that nas was very much aligned with a lot of the subject matter that i

speak about in my own music. as you said earlier, we are like mirrors to each other from different genres about what we stand for and how we approach our music. so the experience of working on this album, and designed my last album and chuck's last album. so in terms of how it sounded, we knew it sounded good together. and being that the album's theme is africa and nas has bits and pieces of that in his music. and i knew it would work. tavis: i got the role, i don't know what role you play, but when i got it, there is a lot of knowledge. the way it's laid out and the book and there are african facts inside of it. i don't know if you can see

this. but even -- it looks like a bunch of color. it's a map that shows that everything comes from africa. the thought process that went into the project? >> we talked about the packaging for the record while we were recording. and all of these ideas were just popping and popping up. too many ideas popped for me. i think that damian gets the credit because he was catching the light in the bottle and containing and remember it and make ing it happen. tavis: the response to this is what? >> beautiful, it's great. tavis: i asked that because i wonder when you take on a project like this with this level of consciousness, if nas, people might not get it. >> yeah, definitely especially

when you talk about things that people don't know too much about. or don't want to hear about necessarily. but every project you do is a risk. even when you make the most pop record of your life. when you are trying to make the biggest thrill album you can, you take a risk. there is always a risk so why not do it for the truth. tavis: this project and the success, is there something else in the works? >> we have lots of ideas. yeah, not a definite focus but a lot of ideas. tavis: this is an age-old question and it comes up when you do a project like this. and that's the notion if you think there is a move back towards greater consciousness in the music? >> yeah. tavis: you think so?

>> yeah, there are a lot of artists out now saying something. you got to always kind of talk, you can't isolate yourself, you have to talk to all the people out there. there are some good stuff going on. tavis: what are the tour plans? you got dates? >> yeah, on the road now, we're in san francisco, i think tomorrow. and keep rolling from there, on the west coast and then to europe, we have dates lined up. tavis: nas, good to see you, and damian, great project. it's called "distant relatives," and the collaboration between nas and damian marley. that's it for tonight, you can catch us at pbs.org, thanks for watching and as always, keep the faith.

[captioning made possible by kcet public television] ♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tavissmil tavissmiley@pbs.org. >> all i know he's james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> with everyone you help us all living better. >> nationwide proudly supports tavis smiley, tavis and nationwide insurance working to

improve the literacy and the economic power that comes with it. >> and from contributions from your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.