>> rose: welcome to the broadcast. tonight, academy award nominee for best actress sandra bullock whose movie called "the blind side." >> that's why the film did so well because it's an aspect of how to be a family in a time when we're not doing so well sometimes on being a family and i see that in football how they pull together. we saw hit in the super bowl. it's about being a community. there's so many different aspects of being a family that i don't think we've shown that enough in what we d in our business. we're so quick-to-show an explosion or someone getting killed but it's nice to show something that works. >> being an architect and an engineer, i understand the importance from very early stage

you see you cannot imagine parenties without the beautiful bridges so i focus from early work as an architect as an engineer to requalify place places. >> rose: we conclude with an appreciation of congressman charlie wilson dedicated ten yee to it and didn't do anything else to it much.

sandra bullock and ♪ ♪ if you've had a coke in the last 20 years, ( screams ) you've had a hand in giving college scholarships... and support to thousands of our nation's... most promising students. ♪ ( coca-cola 5-note mnemonic )

>> rose: sandra bullock is here, she is one of hollywood's most indelible actresses. she is also one of its most versatile with performances in hits like "speed," "miss congeniality" and the oscar-winning drama "crash. here's a look at some of her work. >> yo k you handle this bus? >> sure, it's like driving a really big pinto. i'm fine, just tell me what the plan is. is there a plan? >> just for you to drive. just keep us above0. >> good plan. so you're a cop, right? >> that's right. >> i should probably tell you that i'm taking the because because i had my driver's license rejoked. >> what for? >> speeding. >> i have gel in my hair, i haven't slept all night, i'm starved and i'm armed, don't mess with me.

(laughs) i'm fine. i'm cool. i'm good. i wake up like this every morning. i am angry all the time and i don't know why, carol, i don't know whynd i... yeah. yes, i'll call you back. okay. kate! >> hey, um, alex was... alex was just telling me about the... um, the lake house. >> in the meantime, let's start talking to people. you don't need his blessing for that. i think we should just speak to people on the street. >> and in our nicest way, the way that would most put people at ease. say, madam, may with ask you at the gruesome murders out at the clutter home

>> maybe you should drop the word "gruesome." there he was standing. >> kneeling. >> like a man. >> on a bed of rose petals in a tuxedo. your son, your son. he was choking back soft, soft sobs. and when he held back the tears and finally caught his breath he said to me... >> margaret will you marry me and she said yup, and the end. he who's hungry? >> rose: sandra bullock has been nominated for her first best actress oscar for the blind side. she plays a feisty memphis mother who adopted a homeless african american boy with unusual football talent. here's a look at the film. >> i'm not cutting, i'm just asking. let me tell you something, all right? we have been sitting around here for over an hour and when i look around all i see are people shooting the bull and drinking coffee. >> how can i help you? >> oh, he was first. >> no, yo go ahead, i think i want to hear this. >> me, too. >> you all right? >> excuse he?

you're right? how did those words taste coming out of your mouth? >> >> like vinegar. >> who is that? >> big mike, he goes to high school here. >> what is he wearing? it's below freezing. do you have any place to stay tonight? don't you dare lie to me. was this a bad idea? >> what's the big deal, it's just for one night. it is just one one night, right, leigh anne? >> tell me just one thing i should know about you. >> i don't like to be called big mike. >> is this another one of your charitys? >> we need to find out more about his past. he's been enrolled in seven different institutions, his grade point average begins with zero. he needs to do better in school. >> i'd love to work with him. >> is this mine? >> yes, sir. >> never had one before. >> what, a roo to yourself? >> a bed. >> michael's grades have improved enough that he can go out r spring football! >> how's he doing? >> hasn't quite gotten the hang

of it yet. >> it's all very nice what you're doing but don't be surprised if one day you wake up and he's gone. >> i heard you got you a new mama now. she's fine, too. >> michael was here? >> tell him to eep with one eye open. >> you threaten my son, you threaten me. >> sandra bullock. >> we're in the middle of practice leigh anne. >> you can thank me later. he is your family, michael, you have to protect him. tony here is the quarterback. you protect his blind side. when you look at him, you think of me. >> yes, ma'am. >> s.j., you're gonnaant to get this. >> mike's the best left tackle i've seen in years. ♪ we'll be better all somehow, someday... ♪ >> you're changing that boy's life. >> no, he's changing mine. >> the blind side. >> i said you could thank me later. it's later, burt.

>> rose: "the blind side" has been nominated for best picture. i'm pleased to have sandra bullock back at this table. welcome. >> thank you. >> rose: good to see you and that incredible body of work we just saw. >> (laughs) well. >> rose: (laughs) it's good! tell me about this story. >> i got the script... it was a beautiful script. i mean, sometimes you read a script and you can see the whole thing play out. it was beautifully written, every beat, every moment. but the character of leigh anne was a bit much. i didn't buy it. i said, you know, nonyon how to play this. i don't know how to find the person in there and i didn't buy that she was real. i thought it was sort of a writer taking liberties on a character. and our director john lee hancock could not describe her. >> rose: this is before you took the start >> before i took the part because i wanted to know why do you think i can play this woman? i don't see... he couldn't describe her. so finally eight, nine months later he says "why don't you go to memphis and meter? " so there was a time i was in austin i said "why don't i go

down to memphis and meet this woman and we'll call it a day." and i met her and eight hours later i was thoroughly exhausted. she... i can't describe her. i can't. because it's an energy and it's a drive she has that i... you either get behind her and get caught in the draft or you get out of her way. because she just... she... she doesn't care who she hurts along the way as long as she gets done what she needs to get done. and so it... i didn't say yes after that. but i think weeks later i was... i think i saw... i did. i saw a crack in her veneer which said "i understand why she's that way based on her upbringing and things she experienced and... >> rose: but i also said once you were there, once you started filming.... yeah. >> rose: you said to... >> oh, it was the worst, worst... >> rose: this is a mistake, i shouldn't be here, why am i here? i don't get this. >> it was horrible. was actually a tiny piece of the scenleft in the movie but it was literally maybe two lines that i had with one of the guys that was... one of the gang members and i could not figure

it out. couldn't gel, nothing clicked. it was hot, i was not good. john couldn't help me. it was literally a scene that should have taken maybe 30 minutes to shoot, went on to like three hours. and i literally not go the car and said "i've made a huge mistake and i don't know how i'm going to get through the next three months. and we're all going to be miserable." (laughs) batten down the hatches. >> rose: then what happened? >> i don't know. i think week two happened and there were some scenes that actually had flow of dialogue and energy and the kids came. the kids got there. lily collins and jae head and quinton aaron. and once we were in the family unit, if it made sense. working with leigh anne, i don't know what happened. but once the kids got there something connected with the banter back and forth and i found the rhythm there and it made sense to me. but that first week was not a good time for me. >> rose: did the director say to you "this is why you're right for this"? "this is what makes you the

perfect person to play leigh anne"? >> no, i kept saying... he was so calm about it and i thought there was something wrong with him. and when someone has such ease about what they do, you always question it. we're okay with drama and someone struggling b i couldn't understand why he was so calm. but now looking back he spent two years with this family. and, you know, later on i looked at it and go maybe leigh anne and i have more in common than i thought. i thought myself to be gentler and apparently i'm not. >> rose: (laughs) you mean people have rushed forward to sayo you you're exactly like. >> my sister said that. she said "you might want to look at this." >> rose: tell me who she is, leigh anne. >> leigh anne tuohy. if i could tell you who leigh anne was, this would have been a lot easier. she's... she's... what could be a stereotype of the woman that we imagine coming from old miss, from the south, well bred, beautiful, cheerleader, very

christian, very... very much on the right path. and there's nothing... nothing in her brain that i believe makes her feel like it's not entitled to her whatever she sets forth. not in a bad way, but in a very clear way. >> rose: (laughs) i should have this, thereforely get this. >> and i've seen it. it works. and i don't know how a person is made like that. but i always feel that someone who has that much together in their life at that age had speed bumps along the way. and i need to find the speed bumps in order to figure out who who she is or i'm not bayh her. >> rose: so how did you figure it out. >> i asked some personal questions. >> rose: did you really. (laughs) >> i did. >> rose: like what? >> well, i wanted to know... >> rose: why are you the way you are? >> why are you this way, leigh anne? what's wrong with you? as people often say to me. >> rose: (laughs) yes, exactly. so there was your identity right there. >> because i see the whole born-again christian world, i see... i saw it as very hypocritical. i had a lot of issues with it

because i went to school in the bible belt and i saw a lot of hypocrisy that went along with it. so i love the aspect of the film that doubted their intentions going did you take this child into your home in order to breed him to immerse him in this world of football for your alma mater. >> rose: were you thinking about ole miss or the welfare of this young man? >> i loved that aspect and i wanted that to be bigger because everyone else was thinking it because we tend to think the worst of a good deed more than we do, oh, this is a kind loving gesture. >> rose: so what was the answer to that question? >> she would do this any time... i mean, once you got to know leigh anne, she takes over people's children. she takes over your life. she... she pulls... she's a collector of people who need things done. and she does it with such love. and i think having been raised in a place that wasn't open minded..i mean, completely the other direction. she could have gone in that direction. yet she was placed on this planet to break the stereotype

that she... you think she is. and i don't know how else to... i know i stammer a lot, but she's a dichotomy of so many things but she needs to be all those things to do what she does and she does it with such love and you see that family and those three kids together, i go i don't know which kid wasn't here before because of the connection and love that they have and the protection that they have for each other. >> rose: tell me who the character is in michael lewis' book. >> michael o her. it is this... i don't want to say child. this huban being, this young human being who conceivably should have landed hardened, shut off, angry, had every right to be, was not taken care of the way he needed to be taken care of yet there was a light inside of that i mean allowed him to want the best for himself. and the fact that he got as far as he did before the tuohys stepped in says that's a human being that... he was going to get somewhere in life and find what was best for him but in steped this woman who saw a child on the street and said

"it's cold, get in my car, i'll let you sleep and figure out what to do with you later. dwhats's exactly what she did. it could have been a green child, a chinese child, it didn't matter to leigh anne, there was a child on the street in shorts and freezing weather. but he, michael o her is the one that is the extraordinary story in this. >> rose: this is the scene in which leigh anne talks to her memphis friends about michael. here it is. >> hey, does michael get the family discount at taco bell, because the he does sean's going to lose a few stores. (laughter) >> he's a good kid. >> well i'd say you make it official and just adopt him. (laughter) >> he's going to be 18 in a few months, doesn't make much sense to legally adopt. >> leigh anne, is this some sort of white guilt thing? >> what will your daddy say? >> um, before or after he turns over in his grave? daddy's been gone five years, elaine. make matters worse, you were at the funeral, remember?

you wore chanel and that awful black hat. look, here's the deal, i don't need y'all to approve my choices all right? but i do ask that you respect them. you have no idea what this boy has been through and if this is going to become some running diatribe, i can find an overpriced salad a lot closer to home. >> leigh anne, i'm so sorry. we didn't intend to... >> we didn't, really. >> i think what you're doing is so great. to open up your them him. honey, you're changing that boy's life. >> no. he's changing mine. >> rose: how does he change hers? >> she thought she was doing something... doing a good deed when, in fact, she had no idea that there was i think a piece missing in their family and in their life. and he stepped in and made them be a better family. you know, they were a great family, but i think they were... they were a great family and they go in different directions

and this yng man stepped into their lives and it made them want to stay home and be with each other and take the time. and like most things in life, you think you're doing the best thing and you're... i'm here to save and i'm here to fix and something comes out of left field-- no pun intended-- and completely breaks you nope a way that i don't think they expected. she's a tough nut to crack and you want to see tear in a woman's eyes, you have her watch her kids. and he just... he was so present and open and that's what i think sort of made them all stop and realize this... we... this child means more to us than just us helping someone out. we need him. >> rose: what do you think makes it such a successful film? >> we had no explosions. >> rose: (laughs) >> no sexy scenes. >> rose: no chases. >> no chases. no siege eye. nothing, nothing, nothing, no cop chases.

>> rose: no c.i.a., nothing. >> n.c.i.s., c.i.a., p.d.q. i just have to go back to our director john lee hancock who said "this is a story about a mother and a son. this is a story about a mother and a son." and i think in a world where we consider ourselves very open minded until we're presented with a situation that doesn't fit into what our life is supposed to be like and then you find a lot of open-minded people quickly shut down and their minds aren't as open. but i think when you see love happening and you see it in a delight is bigger than you and it's about something good and it has trials and tribulations, we all need that in movie making, you can't make something sticky sweet from beginning to end. i think when something's really out of love and it gets back to the basics of good story telling i don't think you can go wrong. >> rose: well, some people make an argument it touches all the bases. >> i'm sure it does. >> rose: you've got the christian community, you've got

the football community but the question also is did you know... >> no. >> rose: (laughs) you know the question. did you know this was an oscar... >> no. then i would have said yes right from the beginning. i need my oscar, i shall take this part. >> rose: do you need your oscar? >> no. i thought if "speed two" i had it clincd. had hit in the bag. >> rose: how about "crash"? >> "crash," a week before i signed on that film it wasn't getting made. i read it and said "i want to be a part of this story." i think it was made for $6 million. all of us sat in our little honey wagons and wanted to make this great story. i thought people chose things according to the oscar path, i did. so i thought the wle road there was completely different. so me saying no, obviously i had no how special it would be for me. but i also don't pick things... i mean, i've snowed to films that you've seen actresss go on and do very well with awards wise. >> rose: you say no because it

doesn't feel right for you. >> it doesn't feel right at the time and years later i tnk i might be able to do this. >> rose: do you think there's something to this idea that when you stop reaching for it it will happen? >> i wasn't really reaching for it. i'm still baffled by the events that sort of transpired in the last two months. >> rose: the huge success of the film and being nominated and now being a front-runner and all of that? >> yeah, the whole front-runner... it's so funny. you know meryl was in here, gabbie, they'd be a front-runner too. >> rose: you don't have to worry about this. you're only up against meryl streep. >> have you seen "precious"? >> rose: yes, i have. terrific performances. this could be a... go ahead. >> it doesn't matter. we're all there to enjoy this moment together and i... i'm happy truly to be there and i've never been nominated. >> rose: take a look at this. >> give me a minute, burt. >> we're in the middle of a practice, leigh anne. >> you can thank me later. come on.

do you remember when we first met and we went to that horrible part of town to buy you those dreadful clothes and i was a little bit scared and you told me not to worry about it because you had my back, do you remember that? >> yes, ma'am. >> the team is your family, michael, you have to protect them from those guys, stock? listen, okay, tony here is your quarter back, all right? you protect his blind side. when you look at him, you think of me, how you have my back, how you have his. okay? go back. all right, oopl pa loom pa here is your tail back. when you think of him you think of s.j. and how you'd never let anyone or anything hurt him. you understand he? all right, go back. got it? >> what about collins and mr. tuohy. >> fine, they can be on the team too. are you going to protect the family, michael? >> yes, ma'am. >> rose: >> good boy. now go have some fun. >> rose: tell me about that

particular scene. from an acting standpoint. >> given that i knew absolutely nothing about football... >> rose: really? >> nothing. >> rose: you live in austin, texas! >> i know, i know, see, you passed judgment. >> rose: (laughs) your husband, by the way... >> who was a ballplayer and i was a cheerleader. >> rose: exactly! what goes on here? >> i don't know. craziness. >> rose: that, probably, too. that, too. >> but having not known what i know now and then coming to it this way to understand and love the sport has been the greatest experience i think of this whole process in an odd way. >> rose: to learn to love... >> well, to learn what an athlete and a player has. cause i love athletics. i always secretly wanted to be some kind of athlete on some kind of professional level. never did it... >> rose: on a professional level? like... skiing or tennis? >> i don't know. i was a dancer, gymnast, i did everything. so i love what people can do

with their body and i enjoy that in physical comedy, to see what you can do with your body in order to get a reaction. i identified that with the players and their stamina and their agility and so many of them coming from tricky and hard places to form this group with this one man shepherding this entire team of young men. it was beautiful. so to learn how to speak the language and learn what i was saying was fun. >> rose: okay, so that's part of the challenge. what else? because the way she walked in there. >> the high heels in the moist mud. it was sopping wet. >> rose: and the expression on her face after she's sort of done her... >> oh, leigh anne when she talks to you has this thing where she's like... not that she's looking down at you but she just... she knows and she's letting you know that she's one above you and if you want to question her, yo go right ahead. >> rose: i'm the captain of this ship. >> yes. and she does have a head where she's always picking up her head when she's making a point. >> rose: and you picked that up

and put hit in the portrayal. >> uh-huh. >> rose: and she loves it. loves it. >> she... does she? >> rose: i don't know. (laughs) all i know is you told me i had to get her here at this table. that's what i remember. the whole family, maybe. >> i loved her. i loved them. and i still love them. and i just didn't want her to be offended by the portrayal. i wanted her to know that... you know, here it is thing. she knows the difference between real life and movie making and she got that completely. you know, i thought she'd be in there messing around and telling us how to do thing. she would show up with some of her lady friends on the way to dinner and say hi and the entire set woulstop and crowd around leigh anne. >> did you talk to michael lewis about this? >> yeah, i didn't talk to him. >> rose: he's a very funny guy. and brilliant. >> he's a great guy. and very much like john lee hancock, understated and quiet. they aren't people who toot their own horns. and he wrote the foundation that was the catalyst for all of this and between those two men, i

learned so much about... i want to say being a guy, but i'm sure there's female football players, but the love of sport, the love of coach, the families a expect of things i came to it completely new and fresh and i think that's why to your question earlier, that's why the film did so well because it's an aspect of how to be a family. in a time when we're not doing so well sometimes on being a family. and i see that in football, how they pull together. we saw hit in the super bowl. you know, it's about being a community. there's so many different aspects of being a family that i don't think we've shown that enough on... in what we do in our business. we're so quick to show an explosion or someone getting killed but it's nice to show something that works. >> rose: what you were infusing in him was the sense he had a protective gene. so you're translating the real life idea of you've got to protect the family hand think of it as if you're protecting the

family because i know you want to protect the family. >> yeah. yeah. and leigh anne's got that eye, you know? >> rose: and she acknowledged finally ma that what she really cared about was getting him to ole miss. the fact that it wasn't in her game plan. >> she realized maybe unconsciously it was. but the whole family... she wants all the kids to go to ole miss. all her children she wants because that's the family tradition and that was... it twount go to ole miss to get a scholarship to get money to... no one knows if you're going to get drafted... traded or... no, it's drafted. that's where i made the mistake before. i said traded they said "no, he was drafted." >> rose: archie manning went to ole miss and so did eli but peyton went to tennessee? >> see, see what happens? >> rose: (laughs) >> but it was the fine line and i like that in the script. it's the fine line for selfish reasons and for school or was it because it was the family thing to do? you know, my parents want me to

do certain things they did because that's what the family did. >> rose: like roop? >> god, no. if you heard me sing... they knew not to send me in that direction. but they want today in go... my dad wento juilliard. he wanted me to go to juilliard or school of the arts and i said "that's not for me, i need to grow up first. i don't have the strength that you did in your craft at your age right now ani would never survive. i don't have what it takes." and i knew that about myself. >> rose: are you a work hall snick >> i used to be. >> rose: so what happened? >> i found such happiness artistically and personally in doing what i wasn't doing. workaholic. i wasn't trying to control what i... you simply can't control. >> rose: but it's... you're a little bit like leigh anne, you want to control. >> we all do! i want to make sure that i have every experience or every opportunity and i was going about it by choosing the wrong projects at times. and they were more for someone else's benefit than they were for mine.

and... >> rose: you mean you weren't choosing well or... >> well, i was choosing... i think if you do something that made some money atome point everyone wants you to stay on that wheel. >> rose: this is romantic comedy. >> yeah. and they weren't funny anymore and they weren't good. >> rose: which one told you that this is the time to quit? (laughs) >> well... >> rose: well? >> there was the boat movie. that was sort of the beginning of the end. and then the doubt was... i didn't understand why i'd made that decision when everything inside of me said "don't do it." but other people seemed to know better. and i thk when you're an actor and you're just thankful to work you're more apt to say if it's an opportunity, i'm not going to turn my back on it. "speed" was very, very good to me but "speed" helped me get a little film made called "hope floats" which i loved. >> rose: can you find a balance between all that? >> sometimes. sometimes. but i couldn't anymore. >> rose: so you quit for two years. >> uh-huh. uh-huh. >> rose: and did what?

>> i produced the george lopez show. >> rose: remodeling your home. >> restoring. >> rose: restoring, that's true. not remodeling. restoring. to their grandeur? >> yes, and peeling away the layers. >> rose: you like that? >> i love it. i love it. >> rose: still do it? >> all the time. that's what i wake up thinking about. it's if frustrated architect or... i don't know what it is but i... it's a passion in me that i just... it's... i feel sometimes i'm in the entertainment business to fund that habit. but it's my sculpting. i'm not a sculptor, i'm not a painter but this is where i can put my hands on something. >> rose: what do you do after you restore them? >> find a use for it. i can't let them go but weut a bakery in one, a restaurant in another. lease them out to people who can enjoy them the way they are now and not destroy their integrity. and it's just... i've been... it's a luxury that i've been afforded with this wonderful business but the business is no longer being... i wasn't being

good to it and it wasn't being good to me. >> rose: but now it is. >> yeah, then one day i was restoring a place here in the city that took me four years and i got a script called "crash." and i said i wand to do different work. i didn't need money, i was willing to audition. i said "i don't need to prove anything other than to the directors." i want to work with great directors. >> rose: when you look at meryl's career... (laughs) >> you mean ms. mirl streep? >> rose: (laughs) meryl streep. what do you learn from it? what do you see there? >> the extraordinary actor who could do something like "sophie's choice" and completely disappear is the same actor that says "i'd like to do something like the river wild." and does it brilliantly. and people go "meryl streep can't do an action film." guess what, meryl streep can do anything she wants to do. that even in her brilliance she has to fight to get out of a box that i think people place her in. it's the classics box and she did it. >> rose: yale educated and all

that stuff. >> she belongss on the stage, she believes it's classical pieces on film. and she broke through that and made everything available to her by fighting for it. and here she is years later her career thriving even more than ever but she's a good woman. she's a broad. >> rose: and a very funny one, too. >> oh, my god. and that's the thing i don't think people realize. >> rose: so therefore my last question. have you come to something like that yourself in terms of where you are and the capacity, you think, to do... >> well, i think in a smaller sense i have. i think meryl knew earlier on-- and i could be wrong-- how to say no and to be selective. she was also... >> rose: more secure? >> was she what? >> rose: more secure? >> could have been. could have been. very... i mean, she seemed that way, you never know. but i think when she started working, the material was also so much more risk and abundant than i stepped in and it was sort of action film time and women were sort of arm pieces

and the sidekick or the girlfriend. so i was lucky enough to step? a business in a genre that was pretty limiting and you have to carve out your own personality. >> rose: has that changed? do you look forward to the future in which you'll see lots of roles? >> i'm seeing it now. i've seen hit in the past five years for myself but you have to stop the flow. you have to stop what becomes easy and what becomes comfortable and you have to be willing to give up all the amenities that come with it. it paralyzes you and if you're not scared when you're stepping into something, at least for me, you're not doing the right thing. i think if you go on to something with ease and go "this is a piece of cake for me. i'm going to be doing look number seven," you've lost it. i need something to paralyze me in order to break through and sit down and hunker down and fine the tools. >> rose: great to see you. >> nice to be here, thank. >> rose: as the counterdown to

the academy award continues, we bring you another oscar moment. >> she was a woman who had a lot of experience before she ever met him. she had been traveling with her family since she was a child playing at the grold old opry and doing stage shows and singing duets with all sorts of famous men, elvis presley and jerry lee lewis. and she was just... she really didn't suffer fools. i think more over than just acknowledging his talent, i think she really saw through all of the glitz and the fame to the real person. santiago calatrava is here. his recent works incde the light rail train bridge in jerusalem. the samuel beckett bridge in dublin and the peace bridge the calgary. he's also involved in several in downtown manhattan and he's collaborating the with new york

city ballet on their stage direction. i'm pleased to have santiago calatrava back at this table. welcome. >> thank you. >> we have the pictures of the railway stage in lge, belgium. tell me about it. >> well, liege is a crucial city in the whole network of railway in europe. all the lines coming from germany toward france and holland and england pass through liege. and according to the importance of the city, that i decide to build also a significant railway station, it took us 13 years to build and it's really a very modern... >> rose: and how do you approach building a railroad station that might be different from other buildings? >> well, you see at the one side there are gates. the gates go out of a city and gates enter into the city. and they are also places in which people spend even a short period of time. but they do that day by day,

those who who commute into the station. so, indeed, in my opinion, according to our experience, they are very, very important. >> rose: tell me what the driving vision was when i look at this image. >> well, the driving image was... vision was that if you need 30 minutes to go from one city to another as it happens here, the distance clean colon and liege or brussels and liege and in two hours you are almost in london it means you see the station has to be very open. it has to be very welcoming and it has to be seize city to use and accessible for everybody. >> rose: should it remind me of anything when i see that from an image standpoint? >> well, it's a gate, it's also a lupl us in place. >> rose: okay. the next slide. what's the material? >> the material is steel and the big canopy you are seeing is important because belgium and

this part of the world is very rainy. so it's a way you can approach the station and you are already covered before being in the station itself. >> rose: next there's an interior. >> yes, i think the quality of the interior space is very important because people have to feel the quality of the transportation, the quality of the service, and also that they are novel places in the city. >> rose: and the next one you'll see a shot from above. >> well, this is the integration in the overall cityscape. you see the significance of the building itself but on the other side there's a link between the hill full of trees a the open city. >> rose: and you think this will contribute to the renal of liege? >> for sure. liege has been historically a very prominent city and with the depression of the steel and coal market in europe became a place that was rather depressed.

but through the university and through the station they hope the create elements that will revitalize the city and the region. >> rose: "newsweek" magazine said that this project somehow contributes not only the the renewal of liege but also it illustrates how the train station is back in fashion. >> yes, you see, as i say, we can use today in europe the high speed as a tramway going from city to city. >> rose: and technology may allow that to be an increasing factor because, you know, they're understanding a lot more about fast trains than they ever have before and they're developing the ability to make them even faster. >> exactly. and not only that, you see the security problems entering in an airport, when you use high speed you can reduce the distance between cities... from liege to patience you can go to one and a

half hours. from liege to london, a little bit more than two hours. you are competing with aplane without any doubt. >> rose: the next thing i want to see the samuel beckett bridge in dublin. >> there two bridges. sp. the this shows a bit how they are in the local culture. and, indeed, we wanted to provide functional testimonyty but in the other side significant ones. this is also a swing bridge. it can turn around and has an enormous span for the bridges around 300 feet. >> could you do this if you weren't an engineer. >> i think being an architect andn engineer i understood the importance of the bridges from a very early stage. you you caot imagine parties without the beautiful bridges.

so i know dprus an my early work as an architect but also as an engineer the potential of bridges to requalify cities, to requalify places and imagine also new york without bridges, you see. it's much more difficult to circulate but also it will be... if you of images... >> rose: there's no more beautiful drive in new york than drive around the f.d.r.and see the bridges that cross into manhattan. >> you see how important they are in the image we great the city. >> rose: are you satisfied in the judgment on your career will be about the bridges you have designed? >> the contribution i have done in terms of bridges is just, as you know telling people bridges are important. that is the key point. you sigh bridges have been regarded as many places as pure functial tools and they have been put at the level of other

important public works but more you see utilitarian ones and suddenly you see by the fact that as you recall to people that the cities are what they are because they have important bridges or beautiful bridges, think of san francisco, think all the beautiful bridges along the mississippi and think new york itself. it's probably a very important contribution. >> rose: let's look at the peace bridge in calgary. this will be completed this year? >> well, yes, this year. in september we want to have it finished. >> rose: how long does it take to build a bridge? >> depends. a bridge like that can be built in less than one year. >> was this more difficult than many? >> not especially. it's a pedestri bridge but it's very particular because it's almost enclosed and on the other side it has a tubular structure to make it more interesting and then it's painted in red and white

according to the colors of the cade unanimousian flag. >> rose: let me see the next one. i think this is in jerusalem. >> yes, this i'm particularly proud about this bridge. >> rose: because? >> because it's in jerusalem and second also because there was a very big challenge to build it. it is a bridge that is done for a railway and the any possibilis putting pillars between two supports and having a bridge and a span of almost 600 feet. >> rose: how many bridges are you building in america? i know there's one in dallas. is that the only one? >> yes, i have built also another in reading, california. and i am building a bridge in dallas and preparing also a design for a second one. >> rose: a second one... >> in dallas. >> rose: what's changing about designing bridges? >> well, for sure, you know technological advances has enormous impact in the design of

bridges, the use of cables the use of high-performance steels and also the tools like the computer, you know, to do computer analysis. a very high degree of freedom and the permits us to analyze the problem in different ways, not only priming the economical and also the functional aspect but also aesthetic ones and that seems to me to be very important. also not only in cities but also in landscapes people are waking up to the importance of the landscape as a cultural element and the integration of bridges and beautiful structures in open landscapes are also more and more impornt. >> rose: talk about the cost of building bridges and whether it's risky to run over expectation. >> well, you see what i can say my own experience has been doing always different bridges and designing bridges for particular places and designing them for

this particular place and i have repeated that 40 times. my client has been satisfied. so the question of the economics in a bridge is an important question but it should not be a priority. it can be managed and you can do a bridge for a price and at the other side also to do a beautiful bridge for this price. the most beautiful bridge for this price port authority and the project is promising we are approving steel plans. we are approving working drawings. we are going ahead with the project. >> rose: but how much have you had to change it and cut down and reduce its stone? >> well, less than people think. you see indeed we have

working... of course, you see, there has been a city of revisions but my feeling about the project-- and it is not the first station i built-- it is that the station became more precise, more functional and we are facing... n minute a very beautiful and convenient project for this place. >> rose: and your great ambition today is to do what? >> first of all, i'm very pleased being here in the united states and living in new york, i think it's a great place to be. particularly in this time and when you think how many things are hpening here how many... you know, in the last half century the capital of arts and culture and it's such an honor to be and a pleasure to be part of the life of the city.

and to be involved in ground zero is also something that makes me... delivers me a little satisfaction. but also the perspectives of working in the united states, you see, to have other challenges and to get more involved in the... >> rose: in the life of the city. >> one of the things i enjoy very much. >> rose: we just came out of a great economic crisis. did it just put a halt to buildings, the global economic crisis so that architects had to with great reluctance abandon projects that they wanted passionately to do? >> oh, for sure. that is for sure. particularly in the private sector. a lot of projects have been put on hold and this is, of course, something that with time will be put on track again. >> rose: gaining momentum again. >> it's for a sure a big setback. a lot of interesting thing what is's going on and they have been as i say, put on hold.

>> rose: you once said to me or i once read where you said you have the personality of a painter. >> well, i like to paint, i like to sculpt. i like to paint. yes, yes, i do that everyday. >> rose: but you have to personality of an artist, is what you were saying i guess, right? or not. >> yes, i think... i mean, i alwa understood my work as an architect, as an engineer... let's say i understood architecture as an art. >> rose: but you sketched since you were a child. >> yes, yes, i spend... this is my job, to sketch. this is what i do. >> rose: great to see you here. >> thank you. >> rose: former congressman charlie wilson died today at a hospital in east texas. he was 76 years old. charlie wilson served in congress as a democrat from 1973 to 199 during the 1980s, he got congress to pay for the largest covert operations c.i.a. history arming afghan resistance

fighters against soviet occupation. his efforts inspired the book "charlie wilson's war" and then the successful film of the same title in which tom hanks played charlie wilson. he earned the name "good time charlie" for obvious reasons, but charlie wilson always knew he played a significant role in afghanistan's history. he appeared on this program in april, 2008, after the release of the film and less than a year after receiving a heart

accusations and to hell with you. >> rose: (laughs) >> (laughs) >> rose: charlie wilson, dead at 76.

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