new movie called savages with old and new faces with oliver stone, with salma hayek, blake lively, taylor kitsch and john travolta. >> you know, my take on savages is it is really, how far would you go for someone that you love? how savage would you get support someone you love? because each of these characters have someone they deeply care about. >> and someone, he is so open to people, and hearing their ideas and thoughts and then you come with all of these ideas that you have been working on and, on and you think he just wants to argue with you about it and, you know, he has this reputation of being a very tough man and you think that, you know, he is just trying to beat you down in that moment but you realize he is trying to see if there are holes in your story. >> your theory. >> and if it is flawless and answer every question he says perfect let's do it and that was something very interesting and a revelation it is not that he is

-- he wants to the argue or question you, it is just he thay thought about it and it is truthful and if you didn't think about it well enough, it is out. >> rose: i think that is what keeps it fresh because we don't know, it is like chemistry, we put the chemicals together, john is he he going to work with blake? the movie is unfolding and it is a living chemistry set. >> when you see this, it is a very sophisticated commercial film, incredibly -- it is also like all of his movies, a piece of journalism that is brought into the beauty of poetry, and this is something very difficult to find today. when you see this film, you get the action, you get the surprises which by the way it is almost impossible, you know, there are so many movies but you have the responsibility of telling something about society which for me as a mexican is important. >> rose: cast and director of

savages for the hour, when we continue. funding for charlie rose for was provided whic by the following.

captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: in 2010 the american crime rate winslow published the novel savages, it followed two pot growers in california as they faced off against a mexican drug cartel who kidnapped their shared girlfriend, the book received glowing praise and quickly became a best seller. >> stephen king called it butch cassidy and the sundance kid on overload. >> oliver stone turned it into a movie. sheer the trailer for savages. >> here is the trailer for savages. >> just because i am telling you this story doesn't mean i am alive at the end of it, it is that kind of story where things

just got so out of control. >> went to berkeley and doubled majored in botany. >> this is the best cannabis in the world. >> i think we just struck gold. >> he takes 99 percent of the violence out of the business. >> the other one percent, that is where shawn comes in. >> you guys, you have a clean business, but now the cartels are moving north they want a piece of it. >> and, yes, i am with both of them. >> it is your method we want to partner with. >> we don't want to join you. nothing personal. >> i am afraid our client would take this very personally. >> i found their weakness.

>> oh, my god. >> i would take the deal instead of decapitation. >> i will do anything, anything to get her back. >> i told you they would come for me. >> stop. let me remind you that if i had to, i wouldn't have a problem cutting both of their throats. >> there is something wrong with your love story, baby. >> let people think you are weak

-- >> hang in there, baby, we are coming for you. >> rose: joining me now, oliver stone, the director, four members of the cast, salma hayek, blake lively, taylor kitsch, and john travolta, i am pleased to have all of them here at this table and begin with oliver stone. >> did you see and read this book or did somebody bring it to you and say, this is your -- >> early before publication i read it and brian lord gave it to me, you may know him. >> rose: yes. >> and good taste. he never gives you much but he gave a business special, read it right away, i loved it and bought it myself and eventually got it made with universal, it was a tough movie, you know, a lot of violence, current violence and sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll. >> rose: what is it about? >> it is about savages, six people, six major characters in

the cast and all of them turn out in one way or another to be savages. >> rose: let me go around the table and talk about who does what and how they see their role. blake. who is o? >> well, ophelia, she is the girlfriend of two pot growers, and he is very much a modern girl, but with a soul of times past, very much that like hippy, free loving sort of spirit. and she is somebody who is experienced a lot of privilege in her life, but also a lot of sadness and loss, she comes from a broken family and she finds a way to create her own family and that's in these two men. >> rose: she loves both of them? >> she does, she loves both of them equally. challenging. >> navy seal, served in afghanistan, and iraq and he comes back and he works with his best mate, aaron johnson's character, ben, who is basically

this scientist that has created this highest strain of marijuana possible at the time, and these guys have this boutique and they work together and they share o and they are both in that trilogy of us, worked really well together and i don't know, it is just an amazing role to play and dive into. >> rose: it is a perfect life for them until -- >> it really is. >> i until that time, yes. >> rose: and you play? >> i play elena, elena is very conservative housewife from mexico, and he is very devoted to her family and she has -- her husband is murdered and her twin sons are murdered, so she has been forced to take over the family business, which is the cartel of mexico, and she was very successful, he is a very successful businesswoman. >> and her business is? >> her business is drugs. >> rose: and when she sees

somebody else in her business she wants their business as well? >> if they are very, very good, yes. >> rose: and then along comes dennis. >> oh, yes. >> well, let's see. den space duplicitous, crooked dea agent and he has his own agenda, and he is on both sides of the fence. he is serving the mention cab cartel, mexican cartel as well as the u.s. government and these young guys that have this very successful marijuana business, and, you know, my take on savages is it is really, how far would you go for someone that you love? how savage would you get for someone you love? because .. each of these characters have someone they deeply care about, and dennis is in a situation with his wife and kids, it is also justified for his ill behavior, but i think that is -- it is really a question of -- >> rose: someone or something? mainly someone? >> someone and some thing, let's

say, in benito's character it could be some thing but for the majority of us it is someone or someones. >> rose: so it is about family for you and family for you, right? >> yeah. i mean, my family is gone, more or less so my family is o and ben, basically. my purpose in the film is more or less to protect them, to get o back and i found him as a guy who lost his purpose since the war and has come back and through this insane circumstance finds another one within this group of basically doing everything he can to protect and get o back. >> rose: and what i what is the search that o has? >> i think this whole movie is a love story. it is a very twisted demented love story but it is a love story between our characters, the love triangle, it is a love story between the a mother and a daughter,. >> rose: mother and daughter -- >> salma's character, you know, her daughter, she loved her, she wants that, i want a mother.

you know, it is everybody trying to fulfill that need for love and validation and they all find it within each other and, you know, within that we get into interesting circumstances, i am missing a mother and he is missing a daughter and here we are, we are together and the twisted way our love intertwines which is so fascinating and vast in this story. >> rose: so here you are. you have winslow has written a great novel. >> yes. >> rose: you wrote a great screen play out of that is a challenge. >> right. >> rose:. >> with don and -- i like the word twist, there are so many twists in this movie you can't figure it out and you don't know what is going to happen next. among them is this theme of blake's relationship with taylor and aaron. she feels as a young southern california beach bunny or -- that she could -- they could be happy together, the three of them in an equal balance. salma as you saw in th the taylr questions that and says there is

something wrong with your love story baby and we get into that issue in the movie, and that -- it is part of the resolution at the ending, which answers that question, but blake let's say is ideal-lific in the beginning of the movie .. >> rose: is it mostly about relationships. >> yes because action without characters doesn't work, it is tedious so it is working out these six people and the power games they play and it is quite a twist in the end. >> rose: do you think there is savage i are in all of us in the right circumstances. >> i think there is stanch i are in all of us under the wrong circumstances. >> rose: and love in all of us under the right circumstances. >> yes, yes. >> rose: but the heart of darkness, did conrad have it right? >> >> oliver? >> i do believe so. you know me. >> rose: yes, i do. >> i would like to see the light though there is a lot of tenderness in the movie and frankly john said it was a love

story too, i feel i make love stories too, it is buried in there. >> the thing about savages, when we are done and did a ton of the rehearsals and each of us sitting down together as a group and at the end i say oliver this movie is called savages but i looked up the definition and what kind of savage we are because there are a lot of versions of it and remember it was cruel, crippled, uncivilized, which are all very different versions of -- you can be one without being the other, and one of them was just regress to the primal state of being which is very beautiful and i knew each of us were a different version of a savage and throughout the movie we became different versions. which one am i? and what kind of savage am i? so that is something you said that can we all be a savage? well we are, you know, if we regress back to the primal state of who we are, if you are in that circumstance, then it is who we are innately is savage. >> rose: directing.

you had a screen play from the novel. >> it is quite an exercise. >> rose: how important is casting? some people said as much as 75 percent of creating a great movie. >> i couldn't give you a percentage, charlie, it depends on the movie, it is a collaboration, it always has been, in this case, you are dealing with -- each one of these people you talk to differently, you have a different approach. >> rose: but certain actors and certain performances can take a movie somewhere in an exalted way different actors would not have made happen and directors have intrinsic understanding of that material and they know who can do that. >> i think that keeps it fresh because we don't know, it is like chemistry we put the chemicals together, john is he going to work with him? is she going to work with blake? that's what you want, the movie is unfolding, it is living, it is a living chemistry set, and at the end of the day, you need a script, you need a sense of something coming alive on that day, i think every day was

fresh. >> my opinion is, oliver cease genius, excuse me if i brag about you, but specifically he hired some of the most decent people. >> rose: sceent decent? >> with the most physical appealing, appeal. >> to do the most despicable things, morally, ethically however you want to look at it it doesn't matter, but the balance, the ying and yang of that is what allows this movie to elevate to another level. if you put questionable or despicable people doing despicable things it is not as interesting and as fun to watch, you know, because i said, damn, oliver you take the most appealing people, how do you do it? he said john it is a movie we want to watch these people. and the other genius is that i think that he -- oliver puts us on third base, and he knows each one of us has an ability and a brilliance to bring it to home. >> rose: right. >> but it is up to you, and will

is a moment, it was a pivotal moment i looked at oliver and said this guy, loves me. he wants me to do the best performance i can possibly come up with but he doesn't know thousand get me from third to home base. what do i do? and i said it is not his responsibility. it is my responsibility now. so then you ask permission from oliver to do little things to help it be your own, to spin it to, let's say the bridge, something that is not working for you to get it to the level that oliver wants it. i would ask permission to improvise let's say a little bit that was in my sub text as an actor unless i voiced it i couldn't get to the next level to be where i knew oliver wanted me to government he wanted me to hit it home. in order to hit it home i had to come to an emotional level that wasn't maybe written at that moment so you have to ask permission to play with it. and so in that last take whether take 17 or take 54, you are saying, okay, oliver,. >> rose: what was the most number you had? >> let me go home with this.

and when you get permission from oliver then you go home with it. >> rose: don't forget, you said to me, eddie the dea agent that worked there for 30 years he said i knew he could -- you said he sold out people left and right. >> yes. >> well oliver set us up with individuals that would support our historical characters. >> rose: inside the historical character. >> five days i spent time with this guy that i was, my mouth opened with stories from -- i couldn't believe the lifestyle he lived, i said how do you live this way? how do you live with a family, let's say a saudi family, undercover you are going to betray within days? and you have fallen in love with them and you have fallen in love with you how do you live with yourself? well, you know, it hurts me but i know it is my job and i have to do it. but you are pretending -- i said, okay, i get it. so there was a moment, after three or four days i said, i get it. i have to go there. i have to be a complete (bleep) full throttle to get through

this, you see and then i understood the character but even with all of that being said oliver can only take you so far, then you as a hired actor him expecting excellence from you which all great inspectors do, mike nicholas does this, they expect excellence from you and you have to deliver that. >> rose: how did you see the role? you are a woman who has been aggressive about what you want to do in your life, and you have done many things, in terms of acting and directing and producing. you are someone who seems not to know limits as to your own ability. >> i don't know. but i do believe -- i don't know about that, i mean, i would like to think da. >> rose: do you disagree with that? >> i would like to think it is true. it may be looks like that on the outside and when you live inside, you know you have so many questions about your possibilities, but i am brave in

going out there and sailing. i am brave about that. and sometimes -- >> rose: and taking risks. >> that leads you to discovery. you know, it is a sensation of falling because, you know, at least if you make a step and you fall you stop -- you fall one step ahead, and not standing in the same place, you know. at least i have that kind of courage, but i have to -- i want to make a comment about what you said about the percentage of. >> rose: director -- acting -- >> it depends on the film, i agree with him. the casting but i have to say, when we were doing this film and i was working with these actors, it was amazing, i mean, to be able to work with them and the process that we went through and the rehearsal, i felt it was all about the acting until i saw the movie, i have to be honest, because the way he creates these worlds, the way he created these

worlds, completely different, you know, and really went into it, and ale found the soul, the soul, not just of the characters, but of the world they operate in. and then the style in which he approaches each one of them, it is sublime. >> you see, i experienced one film as we were doing it, but then when i saw it, even the nature shots, each almost, the music, the colors, how it came together, it really -- i was so impressed, i was impressed already, but it is sublime. when you see this film, gas very sophisticated commercial film incredibly -- like all of his movies, like a piece of journalism that is brought into the beauty of poetry.

and this is something very difficult to find today. when you see this film you get the action, you get the energy, you get the surprises which by the way it is almost impossible there are so many movies but you have the responsibility of telling something about society which for me as a mexican is important, you know, it is a crowd pleaser, but just the way he movies the camera, it is sensual at all times, there is a sexual tension this, in each shot, with each character. fluid would have had a field day with this. it is very interesting. >> rose: did that resonate with you? >> fluid, fluid fluid, freud would have had a field day .. >> they were young people and i didn't know them, i knew these three, i went for them. these three i discovered along the way. blake, to me was like frankly i don't want to over exaggerate

but reminded me of a young grace kelley, an elegant blonde but not the character in the book, there is a bit of a difference there. >> rose: did you audition for this? >> no we met and talked a couple of times, she wanted to be clear whaabout what she could do, she. >> and it is a tough role because the role is different in the book, but you will see where she went. i have to say it is elephant portrayal, very cool. >> rose: it is really someone caught one relationships first with two men in your life and then later with her, because you are -- >> she crosses the line like dennis, john does, crosses the line, she in both camps and as i said to you, she goes through a massive change in the movie. as does by the way aaron johnson who is not here but he does another -- he is also a pacifit in the beginning and a rational man who wants to negotiate with the cartel. >> everybody changes this the movie and everybody has a journey, everyone. >> rose: so you come away from this having acted less than some

of the others at the table, learning what? >> at the end of this movie, your sense of what this business is all about. >> i learned so much on this movie, you know, to be able to work so intimately with oliver, i mean, that alone, you know, just the rehearsal process of is one of the most rewarding experiences i have had in my life and shooting this movie, you know, just being able to work in this caliber of talent and just watching these other actors, i mean it was hum blink and, you know, something that i was saying before, with benicio, he created an underbite, and he literally is in my face as you saw in the trailer and had no idea soy learned even more as i am watching the punitive there are things that happened in scenes right in front of me every day i didn't realize at the time so this was such a dense experience there smolinski way i can walk away and say wht i learned, it was just life

changing living this for four months. >> >> rose: you worked out with a seal, navy seal. >> yeah. >> i was lucky enough to work with this guy in austin, texas with which is where i live now, i won't go too intense into it, you only go away for three months or 90 days, three months, and he has to come back and he is in solitaire for two weeks before she allowed to go back into the public zero so just to work with him and to the psychological state he is in and see that and see what he sacrifices, it was incredible and then just aesthetic and that kind of stuff, training with him and a couple of mates was great, but i think it was more for me was the, just the psychological, you know, what it does for them. >> and the mindset they have. >> yeah. it is incredible. >> all right let's take a look at the first clip. >> welcome to the recession, boys. you should be grateful you still have a product people want.

>> so you don't mind -- >> you guys, you guys, you know, you have a clean business, there is, there are no problems, there ain't no ben and cho. this, so my envelope stays the same. >> it is just a matter of time, guys. before they legalize it. >> i mean, i would take the deal instead of decapitation. you know? bang it out sweet california ass. >> take the deal rather than decapitation. >> there is a line for you. >> that was a fun day. >> that was the first day working together. >> it was really great. >> what is oliver like on the set? >> intense. i love it, man. i love the accountability, i love the bar he keeps raising and the challenge, and i mean, it is insanely thorough, and if you have an idea, if you want to

do something, he asks why and prove it, it is not just okay, well, you know, you have to come grounded through that idea or that process, you can't just throw stuff and i love that, he just holds you accountable and that's why you get what you get with these performances and of course with the past films. >> you embrace it and come up with what old we are is asking you to come up with. >> rose: and take upon yourself to -- >> yes, absolutely. >> rose: you had a relationship with your daughter which is part of the storyline here. which is -- makes you unhappy. and then she comes as your captive. >> uh-huh. >> rose: tell me what the psychological ramifications of that is. how are you thinking about that as your character. >> well, she is incredibly lonely, and very bored, and he is surrounded by all of these

idiots, you know, that are unsophisticated and just brutes, and they are all men, cowboy bull (bleep) -- >> yes, yes and she has to keep a distance with everyone. so it is -- it is this strange and young girl, i never had a relationship with somebody like that. i never had a relationship with anyone except my husband, that she is very, very lonely, and he is intrigued by this girl in many ways, she comes from the world that my daughter is now trying to be a part of, you know, she wants to be like her, she wants to be like one of them but at the very beginning i am not very impressed with certain aspects of her but like the two men that fall in love with her there is something magical about this girl. >> rose: like she is your captive but you become her captive. >> in a way, yes, in a way there

is something about her, there is something about her superficiality that makes it very fragile, because i see a lot more inside, you know,. >> the brilliant thing is, her reaction to you is with equal interest, she is just as fascinated with her character as you are with hers. two people fascinated with each other. >> we are alone, except he is alone and i, because i am making her alone. >> you are a little bit alone i am trying to get her to understand, she was already alone when she got to me, you know. she just didn't -- i think she just didn't know it. >> rose: and where is chon going? >> at the end of the movie or -- >> rose: throughout the movie. >> throughout. i don't know. i think, you know, ben and i have an incredible debate and i think what i loved is, it comes through experience in both of our lives, it is not just we read this about -- chon is going through experience and ben comes from, you know, black and white,

and that's why there are some scenes in the car, after we get their money that i love that is just finally starting to break, you know, this relationship between these two guys and chon wants to engage, he knows it is inevitably going to come to some combative state, and. >> rose:. >> absolutely, and i think that is the beauty of these two guys going at it and it was a great debate that we have almost every day, really, you know, like when is it cogoing to come? even in the scene ther there is a subtlk where chon is looking after he asks if the envelope wants to be a little thinner. >> he looks to ben. he wants to engage, you know and it is ben that just gives him a small little -- no, not yet and you see when he starts to get the green light, chon's purpose goes -- >> rose: he lets c -- chon lets ben -- >> to hold him back. >> without a doubt. >> rose: this is talking about elena and o, take a look at

this, this is talking about o's love life. here it is. >> let me remind you that if i have to, i wouldn't have a problem cutting beth of their throats. >> well you will never get them together. i am the only one who can do that. >> come on. are you really bragging about that? >> there is something wrong with your love story, baby. >> they may love you, but they will never love you as much as they love each other, otherwise they wouldn't share you, would they? >> rose: so tell me about that scene. >> well that scene, initially, it was much different, you know, these were the two women that are in the most power, this is a very male movie, but the two queens are the women and the men are the palms, you know, and

here they are facing off on either side of the board, you know. and it was a very combative scene initially and it was just them flexing their muscles to see who was stronger, and, you know, we statistic down and talked about it, and, you know, we were talking about their back stories so much and what they are lacking and what they want and what they need, and it made perfect sense to us i need a family, what i need is a mother, and what she needs is a daughter and here are these two people, so lonely, and prisoners in their own hive and sitting together. >> rose: and they know it at the moment? >> and they sort of -- i have to tell you, there is a lot more to it. this is a little bit con problem facial, sort of, there is a lot more to be seen. >> rose: what did we miss that we might have seen in that conversation? >> just being very innocent in many ways. she telling competent about things, it is such a far away

world, you know, it is really shocking to watch. and sentence she asks me personal things, and also for her, it is such a far away world where i come from, but somehow we come together, my weakness with her and with the two guys, which i normally don't have weakness. >> rose: yes. >> but this is the first time via weakness, is because i am not sure if i resent them for their innocence, and letting them get away with it. >> rose: after all of the things you have gone through. >> after i have lost in being a part of this business. but they give me hope that even if i don't, if i did not survive it, and my children to survive, my life is over. if they give me hope then maybe it is okay that they have that. so my character internally, it is always a little caught between -- this is why they touch her. i resent them and at the same

time i secretly almost want them to succeed. and i think for my character, it is a bit of the opposite, you know, i believe in my life, you know, like any young person, everybody that is advising you just doesn't know because yours is different. this time is different, you don't know what you are talking about and, you know, i believe in this love, and yet somebody tells me for the first time, no that is not true that can't work. i never had a mother to pass that judgment and so as much as i hate her for saying these things, i question my knowledge or may have at this, so i am intrigued by her because she says the last thing i want to hear, but i also know it is something that i need to hear and so i am equally as intrigued by her even though -- >> our relationship, and it is a birth of a love story there. >> as the rove story. >> rose: back to dennis and your character. where is he going or simply a manipulator from day one to the end. >> oliver wrote a scene we didn't use in the movie that explained dennis's trajectory.

>> rose: maybe oliver can explain why he didn't put the scene in. >> well, i am glad we didn't ultimately because i think it would have spoiled the fun of dennis being just a complete (bleep) to the very end. >> rose: is that with why you didn't butt it in. >> you see his two children and his concern. >> oh, no, for the very first scene you see his concerned about his wife is dying and you see his deep care for his children, when benicio comes to the house, it is all very evident there but there was a further seen that oliver had written at the deathbed of my character's wife that explained that he started out really wanting honest things for being a policeman, but he pound the world so corrupt that he got trapped and sucked into this world of crime on the other side that he thought was honorable. >> rose: right. >> and it was just a juggernaut for him and just ended up evolving into this world that he just went to the other side. he went criminal. >> rose: and in his view

that's the way the world works, that's the reality. >> and to be stronger that than that, so obviously dennis was not stronger to hold his integrity and honor together and he was wea weakened by the temptation and might be can be weakened by criminal urges, there is always this ever ongoing idea of, you know, the better self and the animal-lific instincts of the more criminal instinct ms. this conflict .. man had since day one, the better spiritual aspects. >> rose: in competition -- >> yes, competition with the human body, the urges and needs. >> when you see movie, the final cut, do most of you find that, gee, that is sort of the way i would have cut it too or do you say, that is not quite the way i imagined. is my ego going to answer the question? >> rose: yes your ego. >> no the first time you see it, you just see -- you just watch it and you are like, okay, he

cut that out, okay, how is he going to play this part? and there are monologues and half, this, this and that that are cut out which were a part of your puzzle but, you know, in oliver you trust, man,. >> rose: so you trust and say look i was hired to be an actor i did my thing and he was hired to -- >> yeah. >> rose: he did his thing and it is his role to cut the movie. >> i think that's why you sign up to work with oliver because you have to trust that director. >> rose: salma you were in there. >> they made very strong suggestions, these are two queens. i hope -- >> rose:. >> well, the men are palms. put it that way. >> >> they are strong and i am glad i worked with these two strong women. >> rose: i want to talk about other things. using her, o, as the narrative, was there a reason you did that in terms of the way -- tell me why.

>> you know, the book would have been a five and a half, six hour movie, of course, 130 assistance and i had to -- we had to unify. >> rose: why did you choose this narrator is the question? >> because she is one -- i believe she was a central character in the book, and she tells the story from her point of view but in the book of course other, there were other voiceovers too, it is a very hard call. >> you say you liked her voice and i think her voice changes in the movie. she becomes less in the middle and then she comes back at the end with observations but me is a young girl, yo, you, you know as the g person's movie and to be about this younger generation needing this older generation that -- and to end this conflict the societal divide but it turns into a personal journey for each to the six. >> i, we did that at least 100 times, on the first day. >> well i am looking at the movie and it is like music, you know, ask blake. >> well, you know, you were

talking about seeing the movie at the end. >> you trust in oliver that there will be the unexpected, you there uh trust that in his movie and you trust that in working with him and you trust that in the final product. i never imagined what it would be like in the screen and, you know, every version i thought of is not what i saw and that's the excitement of it and, you know, also there was so much room to change with this movie because of the voiceover, it was something that we did so much work on before we ever shot, while we were shooting, between takes i would go in trailers and record voiceover and let's see if this works, because it set into scenes they were about to shoot and after we saw the movie, i went to the screening with benicio and oliver the very first screening, preview, yes, for just random people in new jersey and we sat down after and said, okay, now what? what is the movie miss something what are the questions? because there is so much you can solve or take away in the voiceovers. >> with the great directors you

trust the editing process, there are only a handful of great directors in history. you go with this, because you are finally in good hand because often you are spending time with people you are hoping for the best final product but someone as gifted as oliver you don't worry about it, really, i didn't. >> the problem with him is he really does dash he is very thorough. >> rose: thorough means what? >> thorough means he is thirsty for truth. curious about humanity to a fault, to a passion, so he explores the characters over the situation, the branches of it so, of course, he -- it is this thing about the documents, about the journalism in him that is like the spirit of the truth. >> rose: hbo and show time you are making the series? >> yes. ten hours of untold history of

the united states. >> rose: and what dow mean by the untold. >> i can't tell you, that's another conversation, charlie. >> it is an hour itself and you will find out. >> rose: you guys know about this? >> yes, we were a part of it before we even started the movie. he was showing -- >> everything that has to do with this movie, because once we started going into this movie, it is completely -- but, you know, it is harder to get to the editing room. however, i have to say, i saw one version of it and i saw another that had little changes, you have -- i love editing, so you have to he a real eye to realize what he did. it was so well chosen that with very little things, it actually changed the tone a little bit of one of the actors and gave it a whole comedic, very sophisticated moment of the movie that really needed it, i am excited to watch it.

>> rose:. >> one surprising thing you will find about oliver stone is when you get it right, he celebrates and gets more excited than anyone you have ever seen. >> but when you get it wrong -- >> there has to be balance here. >> what i am saying is, no matter how intense the situation is to get to third base when you get to home base, no one gets more excited than oliver. >> rose: and what if you get thrown out at home base? >> well then you do it over again. >> rose: you do not -- >> no, i was kidding. i had a strange problem that i have never had this my life, and i didn't know. >> know how to, i didn't know how to handle it he only let me do one thing, -- i was insecure. what do you mean? but oliver, you know, he is so open to people and hearing their ideas, and thoughts, and then you come with all of these ideas that you have been working on, and you

think he just -- you think that he just wants to argue with you about it and, you know, he has this reputation of being a very tough man, and you think that, you know, he is just trying to beat you down in that moment but you realize he is trying to see if there are holes in your story. >> your theory, yes. >> and if it is flawless, if you can answer every question he says perfect let's do it and that was something really interesting and a revelation that it is not that he wants to argue or question you, it is just he wants to know that you really thought about it and it is triewmful and if you didn't think about it enough it is out. >> rose: how do you view it? what is the sense you have in terms of what your responsibility is to yourself? at this moment in your -- >> in this particular moment? >> rose: yes, yes. >> a guy who could have been a hockey player but ended up with an injury and going into modeling and acting. >> oh, i am very happy, i am excited, i have been doing press eight months straight. >> rose: press?

>> press for eight months straight, and i am excited to go -- i think point for my -- i keep it simple and i want to learn, i want to be surrounded by the best and i want to keep growing through each experience not just as an actor but as a person uh and i want to be pushed and challenged and i think if i can a stay on that trackly stay on that fulfillment and keep pushing and being scared and right now i am in that state where i have incredible opportunities to keep moving in that forward direction, so it is great. >> rose: you have had this extraordinary career, sometimes roller coaster a little bit at certain times and what would be your advice to them? what is the travolta experience to tell these two people about this profession that you all love. >> just do good movies. and do ones that you believe in. >> rose: what does that mean? do good movies. >> i mean the ones that you

ascertain when you read them that they are of a communication of quality, that you like, that you want to display for others, and you trust the elements involved. >> and, look, i mean he made a movie that disappointmented, disappointed did you not, john carter? >> you spent a lot of money on it and in terms of some people the commercial take was not -- >> right. that that doesn't matter. what matters is his belief in that movie and at that moment, was it right for him to do? because you can't control the fate of a film. forget it. that is not going to happen. so you just go with your best foot forward at the time you are making those decisions and you let it happen and you never look back. you are always one movie. i have had five, ten comebacks. [ laughter ] >> >> rose: you mean after pulp fiction there were other comebacks. >> there were three before pulp fiction and probably two since. you are always one movie away. >> rose: from disaster or dab.

>> you have to have trust that you are one movie away from it. i have been colder than ice before pulp fiction it was a young director who wouldn't do the movie unless i did it that catapulted back to write started from. >> rose: it is not a bad director. >> yes, started with an academy nomination and gave me another one and he believed in me, my point is, it is always, there i used it as a battery plugged into a charger, unplugged and when you plug back in, you are back to where you were, it is always there, it is whether you are a part of the current or not. you know, so it is not as big a deal as you think it is, you just have to make the decision that you think are right and always make your own decisions do, not make -- >> rose: is there a toughness about john travolta too in is there a sense of survivability about john travolta? >> there is always a toughness. >> rose: is there something in your dna? >> maybe i think actors are the most sensitive and tough. >> they have to be, a dichotomy,

tough and sensitive and that is tough to live with, more than you are tough, you are strong spirited let's say but you have to physical keep your eyes and ears open to life, because if you don't go out there and rub elbows with life and absorb every experience you have and have it, will is a library for your performances, you will not give a good performance. that's why i don't believe in living in an ivory tower you have to go back and add something to your form. >> a writer does too. imagine a writer who has never been married, is going to be an expert writer on being married? you know what i mean? you get the idea. >> rose: people say you shouldn't read tolstoy until you are 30, because you have experienced something. >> there you go. >> it is my advice is keeping, making your own decisions and rub elbows and live life and you will have something to contribute. >> rose: good time to be in the movie business? or the worst time to be in the movie business? >> it is tricky. >> the best of times, and the

worst of times charles dickens says all life is that, we think thiit is end of the world and certainly i felt like that sometimes, 1962, the missile crisis but the motion picture box office business is the best it ever has been, it is probably going to be the biggest ever this year. >> i think charlie is saying, i am not trying to put words in your mouth, but the type of films that are being done are not our type of films, mean what we have just done. >> w we are old. >> i am not a particularly comic book fan, i mean, i like the kind of movies we make, so there is less of them, and there is a problem of that in the industry, i wish there was more faith in the kind of movies we are making and i do think that there is trouble there as far as the kinds of movies actors want to be in. >> charlie, i really think that in the way that the economy is today, we should be so lucky to get a bad movie.

>> we cannot complain, it is a fantastic time, in any type of business if you have a business, so, really -- >> rose: to be able to go to work every day. >> yes to go to work, evenive movie is terrible. still, you get to do what you like to do, in a good movie, a bad movie. >> i haven't been so lucky to choose a lot of the movies that are done. >> i have -- my -- my children have not been the same after -- >> in fact, why did you do that movie? >> it is the only ones i get, you know. but i am grateful for it, you know, it is about staying alive and being grateful for what we do, it might not be the best time in the industry artistically, maybe, i do have to say that a lot of directors that i used to think were so -- >> have not -- are not turning me on as much. i have to say, but i am still so

lucky, i am 45 years old, i am mexican, arab, short, a woman, it is a miracle i am sitting at this table! >> rose: i can tell you five things about you that -- >> i don't want to complain. >> rose: i know that. >> i think my perception of it -- my perception of it, this movie. >> rose: this movie. >> pertaining to the business, i think it is a once-in-a-lifetime and you have to treat it that way, i really do, to work with this guy. >> i said this to the boys, i am old must have to call them boys, when the three of us are in interviews, and journalists are coming in raving over the movie, it is gosh, you have to register this, because there is just a moment, a sense of flip, kind of glib thing, i said, no, no, no, you have to register this moment as an important moment in your history, and cinema history,

so -- but they are so smart. >> rose: you get to play interesting characters and you have a storyline that is interesting and you have got critics that are loving it and you know that you work with people who are good at what they do. >> exactly. >> rose: and you learn from that experience. >> to be proud of it. >> as the wonderful feeling. >> yes. it is especially exciting because our movie was released amongst a ton of super hero movies and a movie like this doesn't formally exist alongside those and i look back at the movies i loved from, you know, the seventies and those movies were the most successful movies, the best movies were the most successful. and now the most successful are the ones that everybody goes to see but they are not the critically acclaimed ones, so when we made this movie, it is such a graphic, intense, violent, honest film, that we knew that we were very much the black sheep, you know, it is not a movie that is appealing to all of the masses, you know. it will challenge people and, you

know, normally you don't want that because you want people to just pay for your movie so you don't want to challenge them, you want to please them all, so the packet this movie can stand up al amongst those superpowers and all of the other films that is something i feel very proud of .. >> rose: oliver -- >> i am still pleased. >> i am so pleased. >> rose: why don't i say about this movie which i have not seen, as i said, why don't i say, look, you have got very interested characters, you have a guy that has written a story you made a screen play out of, that has received rave reviews for his work and you va director who has already proven what he can do. i mean you have got like here a perfect storm. but at the same time, i will bet you to know you, you are as her strows as hell about whether, nervous as hell whether all of this will come together on a friday night and audiences will see what made you want to do this story. >> well said.

everyone around this table has been so articulate today. it is a delight to be here. i haven't opened my mouth much. honestly you got it that is me. we are opening between spider-man and batman, that is no ride, that is not easy but we are a different menu. >> different superpower. >> you must realize the people in the know and the industry do not, a equals a. this is a different expectation, this is an expectation of dramatic film that has high quality aspects to it that will communicate and succeed at the level it should be succeed at so there is no real competition here. it will be whatever it is. and i don't worry about opening weekends because a great movie, a great movie survives ultimately, you know, even pulp fiction was that way he we had a nice opening weekend but it built to a juggernaut. >> rose: word of out in. >> yes and this will be too. >> all of our bosses obviously

we wanted to -- i hope it doesn't, i hope it does insane numbers but that's not why we get into it. >> at all. and it is not about the validation, the validation was to go to work with travolta and to see benicio coming into the set and talk with him for a couple of hours on and off about the process, his process, and that, and i think, you know, we have done everything we can. >> don't forget this is done efficiently this movie, this is not an expensive movie although it looks like an expense, expensive movie. this was done with all of the smartness that oliver and his producers could come up with to do everything efficiently so we are like looking at a fraction of these comic book strips and the investment to begin with so it doesn't have to do what others have. >> i am very proud because i think the people that will see the bigger movies will be more people. it is not how many are going, it is how many come out satisfied. >> absolutely. that is another way to put it.

>> i am completely confident that the people that go see this movie will be happy they spent the money on this movie. >> absolutely. >> it may be less people, but when they will see this movie, they definitely will be taken on a ride that are not -- is not what they do every year, every week. it is special and they will like it. and one of the most flattering things people say, i have to see it again now that i have seen it i have to come back and i love that. you know, that is really -- that is the biggest compliment you can have, yes. >> rose: congratulations. >> thank you, charlie. >> this is my best show with you. >> rose: thank you. great to meet you. >> you too. thank you so much. >> rose: thank you. savages, it comes out on friday, july 6. thank you for sharing this conversation with us.

>> rose: funding for charlie rose has been provided by the coca-cola company, supporting this program since 2002. and american express. additional funding provided by these funders. and by bloomberg. a provider of multimedia and news and information services worldwide. with bfor love of liberty

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