tavis: good evening from los angeles. golden globe nominations were announced. conversations with two of this year's active nominees. kevin spacey and amy adams. kevin spacey is a two time nominee. also thoughts on the passing of richard holbrooke. a key player on the world stage. we're glad you joined us. remembering richard holbrooke coming up right 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 --

>> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment, one conversation at a time. >> nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: thank you. always pleased to welcome kevin spacey to this program. he is a successful producer and theater director. his latest film is called "casino jack", based on the

real-life story of lobbyist jack abramoff. >> and here, a scene from "casino jack". >> it is an all cash business. use your imagination because i've got plans. >> plans to open up my own school. public education sex. >> -- sucks. i am trying to do stuff that matters. >> i do not know. this is not a bunch of native people. i am going to say no. tavis: you're trying to spend jack abramoff as modern-day robin hood in that scene? >> i think in his own mind, that

is the orthodox robin hood. that is an interesting point. when i started doing research for the part, let's face it. he was painted as the devil incarnate. the lowest -- evillest, greediest man. was there a swiss chalet, was there a jet? he was not pay his mortgage. he was giving away a lot of the money and he was trying to do things to justify some of the things that he and mike scanlon did that were not kosher. tavis: who gets himself into that much trouble trying to do as you might put it, that much good? >> i am not saying he was trying to do that much good in terms of

the lobbying industry. lobbyists now and to this day wield a tremendous amount of power and influence and money. into the political campaigns. it really damages the respect that people have for public service. with respect to what he was doing there, he was trying to influence and do what he believed everyone was doing which was selling access. if you put in this bill in congress or you vote in this particular way, my clients will give you a tremendous amount of money for your campaign. tavis: the end result for him, what i meant was the school. let's talk about the scene. the end result is for him to do all this thievery, to engage in this thievery and build a school or some other kind gesture, who gets himself into that much

trouble to end of being -- >> that is interesting to portray this court -- character. he was living in a culture in which this kind of thing was happening all over town. from his perspective, maybe he was doing it bigger and better and faster and louder and making more money. he was not living in a different world than the world i think still exists, because to some degree, the argument can be made they threw him under the best to make it look like a clean up the lobbying industry. we had an election where we saw there was record amounts. john lovett in that scene with me. tavis: what is there to learn on the one hand and what is the challenge for you in teaching us

what we think we know about a story that has been covered by a real-life as much as it has been? >> i probably suspect for most people outside the beltway or people who are not political junkies, people not know. you have to approach it to try to not make it insular. a film that would make sense to be entertaining to people who know the story. that is number one. number two is to find a way to portray someone who has been in many ways turned into a caricature, into a real three- dimensional human being who makes good decisions and bad decisions and you tried to portray someone who is not such, i will play a bill in this guide. for us, i have to say, we recently sadly lost our director. george had this mantra.

i do not want to make an boring movie, i want to make "goodfellas". he wanted to bring humor. one of the reasons that was opened up to us is we met jack abramoff in prison before we started shooting. we both discovered this was a remarkably charming guy and very funny. you could see why at the peak of his power, he could own the room and he was one of the most successful if not the most successful republican lobbyists. you are trying to -- i made a film about the 2000 election for hbo. you can hear the yawning across the country. the choices these characters may, the average is this of the situation, you cannot write this stuff. it is inherently funny. there are some parts where you laugh because you cannot believe

this stuff is going down. tavis: my research is correct -- you will correct me if i am wrong. this meeting you had with jack abramoff, the story that he's tries to talk you out of doing the film. -- the story is that he tries to talk you out of doing the film. >> he did spend time convincing us not to make the movie. when he realized we were, he probably decided it was better to talk to us and become a source, not the source but become a source. for me it was helpful because i was trying to figure of the emotional journey of what he was going through. how'd you get to a place where you make this kind of decisions and how did in facotit affect hs family? tavis: who does not want to make

a film if kevin spacey is going to play you? >> i think he was disappointed it was not george clooney. tavis: if there is a complexity to your character and more to than the american public thinks they know, why we do not want to do the film? it was a chance to see who you were. >> it was a chance to from his perspective. this man winter years and years of being -- winter years and years of being attacked and vilified -- went through years of being vilified. we were not going to fall in line of the methodology. what is funny about that is when you discover what that was about, he wore that have all the

time. he did not wear because he thought it made him look like don corleone. he never wanted to put the yarmulke in front of everybody. tavis: it reminds me of dukakis in the tank. >> you know you are getting in. tavis: just a bad picture but i digress. did you come away, and you are a political guy. did you come away with tha viewf this process that lobbyists control? >> it is corrupt and filled with hypocrisy. we do a scene where jack abramoff was dragged before the senate hearing and in front of

john mccain. the reason this ends up in the film, it ends up in a certain way. jack abramoff told me that if he had known he was going to go to jail, which he did not think he was ever going to go to jail, he would have taken the fifth. we said we would take that as an idea. what would that scene be like if he had not taken the fifth? what it underscores is that here is john mccain pointing fingers at this guy, you're the senators pointing fingers. when mccain had taken a lot of money from competing indian casinos to do the very thing that abramoff was trying to do. the idea that these guys were not involved in that process. these guys were not taking enormous amounts of money and they're the work, pointing their fingers at him. that kind of scene illustrates the hypocrisy that is going on in that town and truly, if we're going to leave cleaning up either the campaign reform or the lobbying industry to the

politicians, nothing will happen. tavis: if congress is not qualified to deal with this, if the white house is not qualified, how are we going to clean this up? >> i suggested something that people attacked before and said i was an idiot and did not understand. look at it from, i do not know the complexities. what is the reason that all this money is being raised? what is the single reason? it is television. you have to buy television ads. that is what it is all about. raising the money to buy the television ads. why don't the networks run the ads for nothing? why don't the networks use it as a public service? for the citizens of this country? the question becomes all right, who debt -- dwho vets the ads? they do not have to be true. you can say something that is not true and imply something that goes out on the airwaves. we may find out months later it

was not true or we have all these televisions keeping a modest or breaking the stuff down. if you want to take the corruption out, take the money away. is complex but just as an idea. why can w't we vet our candidates? someone gets alexielected and ty are raising money for the next campaign instead of serving. tavis: i do not think it is an idiotic suggestion. you hit it on the head. there are two underlying factors to your suggestion we have to accept. one is that the television networks are interested in public service, in doing some public good and i am not sure i bieve that. the comcast and nbc merger, it

raises questions about what is in the public interest. secondly, i do not know that the american public for as much as we complain about this is serious enough to push back on this. >> it is easy to be cynical and say there is nothing to do in that is the way it is and we look at it from afar. you can change things in this country. when people get together as a country and as a people, we have seen enormous come extraordinary change happen. if people really want politics to be cleaned up, if they want campaign reform, they really want the ability for the lobbying industry to not have the kind of influence it has, they have to get angry enough and do something about it. tavis: there's a small thing called money that the networks like to make if you dare -- give away their time. >> they definitely do not like

talking about that. tavis: we will wrap this up and remind you. just go see "casino jack" starring kevin spacey. always glad to have you on. next, amy adams. stay with us. tavis: "the fighteamy adams wasd for golden globe award for her latest project "the fighter". here is a scene from "the fighter". >> like what? like maybe you not showing up in time to train? like having to find you in a crack house when you're trying to -- or supposed to be at the airport. i do not know who you are. why are you talking?

>> do we need to do this again? i am sure lane. -- charlene. >> we are together. tavis:i>> we are going to vegasd getting paid to train year- round. tavis: i saw you glancing at the monitor over my shoulder. what are you thinking when you see your work in this film? >> i look at it from someone else's perspective. i was there and what i enjoy about that scene and watching, they really crack me up and every time i was there, and i see it, i smile. tavis: how do you research what

it is like to be ssa bartender? -- a sassy bartender? >>i ha i had some footage. tavis: what is the story line? >> micky ward and the mother who manages him. it examines his life and the journey to a championship. tavis: what got you interested in doing this role? >> it was a great role. david came to me with 20 pages and i had met him on other projects. it was a no-brainer. i loved mark and wanted to work

with him and with christian. i could not find a reason not to do it. tavis: what is it like working with mark wahlberg? he is the man these days. >> he is the man. he is powerful but humble. just really committed as an actor and a creator. he said, i am a hustler. i have tremendous respect for that because i have zero hustle in may. i wish i had that. i am more laid back. tavis: we talked about the "60 minutes" profile. people got a chance to know -- people not know when you said he was powerful. i understand the point.

he is powerful in a variety of ways. he is gaining power as a producer. a lot of people learned stuff they did not know about the total package. >> he makes things happen. how do we film the fights in three days and he contacted hbo and said, this is what i am looking to do and they came through. that is amazing. that is what he does with everything. from the smallest to the biggest thing. he is not afraid to put the hours and the work in. tavis: congratulations on the golden globe nomination. on the accent, did he help you with that? >> on the sense that i -- in the sense that i listened to him. he will not turn around and ask, what are you doing? i felt very safe. tavis: how're you making decisions about your career? where do you want to take this? are there things that you want to do or something you want to reprise?

tavis: i just had a baby. -- >> i just had a baby. tavis: congratulations. >> it is a day to day process and i am lucky enough to get interesting and diverse roles offered to me. i hope that continues and i want to keep expanding as an artist and try new things. at the same time, i absolutely love the work i have done. i have been really lucky. that is how it deals. i think it is a day-to-day process. tavis: is it working at all like you planned it or drum kit -- dreamed it? >> i will not tell you what i

thought i would be doing because i do not want to offend anybody. tavis: come on. >> i came from dinner theater. i moved out to l.a. and i heard myself and i said, let's give it a try. kind of what this choice has in store. i have been lucky. you put the work in and the time. ultimately, i met up with a really great manager right away. lucky. tavis: two questions here. how is motherhood? >> awesome. tavis: more than acting? you had better say yes. that was a trick question. >> if anything, the reason i paused is motherhood has made me

enjoy acting more. tavis: you are psychic. >> i am. i was not going to talk about that. i took a pause because i really love acting more that i have had my daughter. the focus is off of me. that is freedom, that i am no longer the most important thing in my life. as much as i did not want to admit it that i was maybe self- centered, i was so self- centered. i did not realize how so self- centered. my small day-to-day dramas, it was different. now she is my priority. i cannot think about the dangers. i walked into every in vermin like i was -- environment. everything becomes like a danger. how would i bring her in here? we were on an airplane a couple

of days ago and it seemed like everyone was contagious. it is scary. at the same time, she is -- i hope i can be the kind of mom that she would be of benefit to the world and hope -- help make the world a better place. no pressure. tavis: speaking of -- someone asked me about hosting the show. the thing i love most is every night, i am not sure if it is true. i go home feeling smarter. every day, i learned something. i learned that the reason for myself centered this is i have not had a baby. -- muy self-centeredness is i have not had a baby. the movie is called "the fighter" with mark wahlberg.

all the best to you. >> good to be here. >>tavis: a few words about the passing of ambassador richard holbrooke. stay with us. a few words on the passing of one of this country's most respected diplomats, richard holbrooke. i had the pleasure of speaking to him and the number of times over the years. those public conversations were trumped by a private conversation earlier. during the taping of a prime- time special, he suddenly appeared in my section of the air force plane in the middle of the night, wearing only his overnight sleeper. despite the late hour, we sat together for over an hour and had a conversation i would never forget. it would be the last time i saw him. i told him, i did not always

agree with his world view or u.s. policy. bill clinton summed up this unique american life. richard holbrooke save lives, securities, and restored hope for countless people around the world. richard albrecht was 69 years old. that is our show for tonight. as always, keep the faith. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org tavis: during the next time for conversation with steve wonder on his holiday charity drive. see you then. >> 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 -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley.

with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment, one conversation at a time. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs.