inspired by eugene allen's story. here's the trailer for lee daniels' "the butler." >> we have no tolerance for politics at the white house. >> i'm cecil gaines. i'm the new butler. >> you hear nothing, you see nothing. you only serve. >> you know he got that job, the white house called him, he didn't call the white house. >> i want to hear all the stories. >> i don't know how many stories you're going to hear because they done swore him to some kind of secret code. i'm so proud of you. >> did you go to an all-colored school, says still >> i didn't go to school, mr. president. i grew up on a cotton farm. >> get back to work! >> don't you lose your temp we are a that man. it's his world, you're just living in it. >> you looking for some help? >> he done stole our food and

now you're asking far job? >> i know how to serve. they say this new white boy is smooth. >> i'll thrilled to be working with all of you. >> what did your daddy do. >> he's a butter whether. >> the black domestics played an important role in our history. >> something special is going on in there. mr. president? >> i know your son is a freedom rider. i never understood what you all went through. you've changed my heart. >> there's this whole black power movement going on. i gave them the green light to gut those sons of bitches. >> you know what they're going do to you? they're going to kill you! >> you need to go. >> what? >> get the hell out of my house! i'm sorry, mr. butler.

>> everything you are and everything you have is because of that butler. joining me is lee daniels who directed the film, the and two stars, forest whitaker who plays the butler and oprah winfrey. welcome one and all. i'm pleased to have you here. you are at your creative best. congratulations. >> thank you. >> you, magnificent. >> thank you, sir. >> but you, sir, are just brilliant. this is an extraordinary performance over a span of years to capture this person, these ideas all that you have done

you've really done an extraordinary achievement. >> thank you. thank you. >> rose: how difficult was it for you? >> it was a challenge. it was very challenging. i think because of the being able to communicate without words. the process of going through all these years and the aging process. trying to carry the experiences carried in the script by danny and lee to feel them and know them and understanding the history so i could take that tapestry and pull it together. but on the whole it's really -- it's a love story. so i guess trying to navigate the feeling that i have for my wife. >> hello. (laughter) and trying to make my life not to make her upset because it's challenging. it challenged us and challenged me and my son.

but it was about that. >> because it's also for me a love story. a love story through the eyes of this man and one of the reasons i said yes to lee-- after he was relentless in asking me to do it-- is because i wanted the tapestry, the depth, the broadness of that communication between a husband and a wife and particularly a middle-class black family to be seen by the rest of the world. it's something we don't see very often and i think that women have been the backbone regardless of race during that period for a number of reasons and i wanted to be able to show that in that one character. >> rose: what did you hope to bring in this script? what story? >> well, i wanted to tell the history of the civil rights movement. it seems to me that that movement has not been properly told in hollywood. you have world war ii, the

holocaust, they're extremely famous, part of our national consciousness and partly because there's movies and t.v. shows made about them but there haven't been movies made about the civil rights movement and it's a shame because it's a dynamic and dramatic event of the 20th century. it deserves to have many movies made about it and for me i wanted to try and push that into the national consciousness the way that these other events have been dramatized. >> rose: told in intimate personal stories. >> exactly. exactly. that's the joy of doing "the butler" because the butler is in the white house. so you can see him in meetings where decisions affecting the entire nation are being made and through his family you see how those decisions are played out in the lives of everyday americans. so it seemed like if we could make that work it could be a powerful film. >> rose: who saw the possibilities of this as a movie? >> lashz iskind, amy pascal from

sewn fwhoi told lars iskind and produced "pretty woman" and she told lars to option it and she's since passed and danny was brought aboard and i was brought aboard and me and steven spellberg, can you believe that, chargely. >> so steven said "i'm busy. sglts i don't know what happened. >> rose: this is what they do in hollywood. if steven is busy -- (laughter) >> i wouldn't make taking second place to that. (laughter) very good. >> steven's busy to go to lee. so they go to you. what's the challenge? >> the challenge is trying to get the budget to meet this epic story. the studios will only give african american dramas a

certain amount of money. and is so danny's script spans decades and that's a lot of money. the movie was green lit far budget and i couldn't cram it into the budget that the film deserved. so it was frustrating and oprah -- i said "oprah, we're doing this movie." "i don't know. i don't know about this." and solarz -- >> i didn't believe that you would get anybody to green light this because of the whole money issue. because i had done "the great debaters" and i knew how hard it was. what he was saying is really true. it's very difficult to get a black drama green lit in hollywood because the theory is that black dramas don't work. >> lars passed away she had cancer. and on her deathbed she was

raising money on her deathbed and she hadn't raised money before because she was a studio girl. so she said "lee, how do you raise money?" i said "come with me." >> rose: been there done that." and i think after her death a lot of investors we went to felt guilty and rose to the occasion and -- >> if not guilt a sense of respect for her. >> i love her. >> we need oprah on her shoulder. (laughter) "what charlie meant to say." (laughter) >> she left enough money in her will to keep her company open so this film could get made. that's how important it was to her. >> wow. >> it's so interesting, guys, we

had a screening in new york last night -- or recently and what was interesting to me when you were talking about her i really do believe this -- so don't call me cuckoo -- i believe that all of us are energy and even when you pass on you're energy. something that we were talking about last night i thought laura is all up in this and she's going to usher the film in a way we can't imagine. so the spirit is throughout the this film and we'll feel the spirit of her once this is released. >> so you got the money. you got the script. you have to get actors. >> >> yes. >> so forest whitaker came to you instantly. >> with forest, you know -- with forest this is so beautiful and it's a testament to who he is as a person and how he -- his sense of humor. >> and an oscar winner. >> he came in to audition and i

was humiliated asking him to audition. i said "dude, i -- you are who you are but i have to see how the --". >> rose: you're idi amin. >> yes, he is idi amin and oprah how is that going to work? is there any chemistry? >> the two of them came in and it was magic and i grabbed oprah and i said "this is it." and then we grabbed -- he must have thought "what the hell is going on?" >> we were in a little suite at the chateaux and after we had done a few lines together and i think we did -- we rehearse it had birthday scene, you want to talk about the chemistry and lee pulled me into the kitchen and said "i think he's the one." i go "i so want to work with him i had wanted to work with forest wfr. did you know this, charlie, that when he was nominated for -- i think you had already been nominated when i called you.

>> yeah. >> rose: yeah, for "last king of scotland." i just called him up in that way that "gee, i would love to meet that person." i'd seen "last king of scotland" and i said "i admire you so and i would love to meet you and your family and would you like me to have a party and would you come to my house and bring your friends so that we could celebrate you whether you win the oscar or not?" i also met lee that way. i saw "precious" and i called lee -- (laughter) i called lee -- i got lee's cell phone number and i called lee and i said "hi, lee, this is oprah winfrey." and he goes "i'm at the since dance film festival, we just won the award." and i said "why is your damn cell phone on?" anyway, i love calling up people >> rose: i want to meet you. >> i want to celebrate you. >> rose: charlie, the reason why i answered is because it said "unknown." we talked about this. the first time you interviewed

me, "unknown" meant "that's money." hello as i'm walking up the stage to get my award. crazy. >> rose: if it had said "oprah" you would have answered it, too. >> i don't know! >> rose: did you have any sense of the power of the script and the power of the story or did you have clearly understood that if we get this right we've got something here that transcends movies and transcends -- >> i think i felt that way when i read the script. that the most of the movie, the historical moments that were so reflected in our emotion because we're so connected to what's going on. i thought if we can accomplish that, if we could accomplish that then we could do something special. so i started just, like, bearing down on it as an artist to try to understand how to convey that. >> rose: did you -- even though this is a script, did you go in search of eugene allen?

>> i did. i talked to charles allen, i talked to people who worked with him. i had some confidential conversations with some butlers. i talked to a number of individuals all the way through and started working with butler coaches to understand the mentality and philosophy behind it. i spoke to some civil rights leaders and stuff that i wanted to just pick their mind a little bit about what they were thinking and then started thinking about my own past and parents and "greater boston" grandfather because i knew my "greater boston" grandfather and my grandfather. they lived to very old ages. their 90s both of them. so i'm remembering some of the incidents i lived in my life and starting to combine these things together to make something true. >> rose: how about gloria for you? >> well, i was nervous about this because i hadn't picked up that instrument in 15 years. i really -- >> rose: an acting instrument. >> the acting instrument and i put hit in the corner and said "well, those days are gone. and wasn't that nice?" >> rose: really. >> yes. >> rose: it's amazing to think

of. >> yes, i had! >> incomprehensible. >> well, i had because i had that day job that took over my life and it was always difficult to get someone to say yes, i can do the movie but can you do it between july 12 and august 14 because i have to be back for the september start of the new season. so i had just let this go. and also my disappointment over "beloved" and when i started talking to lee about this he said, you know, you need to come back and you need to act. he sent me several scripts. (laughter) which i shall not mention. >> rose: why not? >> i sent her a script about a serial killer where she was a serial killer! >> rose: not only am i not going to -- i said i'm going to burn this script and do not send me anything like this again and if you do that your karma's going to change. >> rose: like hey, dude, what are you doing? >> what are you doing? >> he said "i want people to

lose the oprah thing." i said i don't have to go to being a serial killer to lose the oprah thing. hello! there's some character in between. can you believe it? so i was a little nervous. i called -- he suggested that i call susan batson, the acting coach. she came and had a session with me because i was saying -- >> rose: this is before you decided? >> this is before i decided and she came and i had a session with her and she -- in 20 minutes i was exposing all of my stuff and she said "you still have it. you have the vulnerability, you have the spaces where you can go inside and you can reach and you can find gloria. you have to do the work to do it." because i started out saying to her "well, it's just a small role. it's just a small role." and there's no such thing as a small role! and she to me represents -- she's a composite of that era. you know night we screened -- we had a screening and nun of us

said charles allen, the son of eugene allen had not seen the film before. >> rose: oh! >> and he stands up at the screening at the end because gale is hosting this screening and she says mr. tom allen is here, tell us what you thought. he stands up and the first thing he says is "well, you threw my mother under the bus." and then we all go, oh, lord, what's he going to say? he actually liked the film. and i said "well, i certainly took some liberties with your mother." his mother smoked a couple packs of pal malls everyday and, you know, i don't think she was -- she wasn't a drinker and not to that extent and certainly wasn't tiptoing out with the next door neighbor because the next door neighbor wasn't terence howard. so we took some liberties because what she loved to do is watch "the price is right" and watch the soap operas so -- >> rose: you got that.

>> we got that. >> rose: so you finally said yes because something -- >> because -- >> rose: because this was a busy time in your life. you did own. >> i was trying to get the network going and i said to lee no, no, no, then finally said yes. my entire life i've been a student of the history. when i was a young girl i knew all of langston hugh's poems. i knew all of -- and that's a lot of poems. all the major poems i knew and i knew the entire god's trombones and sojourner truth's speeches and fanny lou hamer speeches so i knew history and i was an orator so the idea of knowing who you are for me has been the reason i can sit in board rooms and be the only woman and be the only black because it reminds me of that line from a maya angelou poem where she says "i come as one but i stand as 10,000." i stand as 10,000 because i know where i come from. i know the path that was paved for me. i know the crown that i now wear holds the jewels that all of

those people before me prepared for me. and i know that there's an entire generation that doesn't understand that. they don't have the context for who they are and how they got to be who they are. as, you know, african americans, young african americans. i also i just wanted to offer that story to people in a way that they could see the greater pictures. >> rose: you saw something you had to do in the end? after all this, i've got to do this. >> yes, and my whole work is about opening the heart space for people and i said wow, i think here's an opportunity that you can show people something in a way that they can see the best of themselves. >> rose: what was the hardest part. you've got your cast now, you've got everything in place then -- >> rose: really making sure that everything is from the shoes to the makeup to the -- their accent to their head movements. everything is honest, that everything is really, really honest and keeping it honest and

it's the hardest part. >> he's a truth-seeker. may i say this about him? he is the kind of director -- i mean. that's why every actor that ever works with him loves him because he will not let you get away with a split second of anything less than the truth. he literally -- >> rose: it has to be truth? >> not only truth. he will call you over to the monitor-- this happened to me. call you over to the monitor and say "look at that, see where she's leaning in right there? that's good. but see where she took a breath." i say "yeah." he goes "drop the breath. too much. too much drama." >> rose: this is also about family. a lot about family. tell me a little bit about that. >> i think it's tipifyed in the father/son relationship. our relationship is more about the absence in my not being there for us that causes a lot of problems and for her and the family. but with my son i'm trying so desperately to keep my family together and let my family have all the things they need and

desire and it's my quest for my son to live a better life than what i did. and he makes a decision to do a pursuit of trying to pursue a great life, too, but in his mind doing that he has to confront what he considers the demons of the country or the demons of social injustice and so i -- my motivations are all about caring i care so much for my son i don't want him to go the fiske, i want them to stay out of the south, i know what's happened in the south. i want him to stay at washington, d.c. at howard university so i can protect him. i say in the movie "i can't protect him there." he goes there to this place and then he starts this movement of what i taught him because of the way my character was a trailblazer. he left a sharecropper town in -- and went to washington, d.c. my dad, i used to think about that, too. he left texas and went to los angeles. in my family that was unheard of. in my family you stayed right there on the farm.

you could put a trailer on the land but you don't go. in that case my grandfather is not coming there to visit you. you have to make a big step. so i made this step and now i'm here and i've set up a life for him and he goes and starts to confront these things and i'm thinking, hey, stop, you can be okay. you can have education and family, you can have a wife and a home. he's like "no, dad, everybody deserves a life, everybody deserves a home. i can't be happy inside myself unless i know the rights are there." so then we explore the civil rights movement in the personal way. that's what's brilliant about what you did, lee. i'm always arguing and dealing with him over the real moments of history that, like give us an emotional understanding of the civil rights movement, of what's happening. and that's kind of a movement of our family. and then ultimately the reconciliation of our family. the kind of coming back together because of the deep love, the foundation of who we are. >> rose: and of coming to truth. >> coming to truth. and appreciation.

>> rose: and you see that -- there's a moment in which one of the sons goes off to vietnam. you can't protect him in vietnam. >> yes. >> rose: and the agony that brings to you. >> yes. >> it destroyed our family in some ways for just a moment. we lost our heart because we'd already lost one son because he left and i had to make a -- i had to draw a line in the sand to try to force him to do what i considered the safe and right thing. now we lose our son and she starts drinking more and more. >> i love that line that's in the voiceover where you said "you lost them to vietnam and you didn't even know what that war was for. you didn't even know what that was all about." >> rose: take a look. that is scene reflecting some of this. this is when cecil gaines-- played by forest-- and his son louis. take a look. >> what was the name of that movie, honey >> "in the heat of the night." >> "in the heat of the night" with sidney pitt yay. >> sidney pitt yay is a white man's fantasy of what he wants

us to be. >> what are you talking about? >> he won the academy award. he's breaking down barriers. >> by being white. by acting white. sidney port yay is nothing but a rich uncle tom >> look at you. all puffed up, your hat on your head, covering your hair, saying whatever you want. you need to go. >> what? >> get the hell out of my house! get on out! >> i'm sorry mr. butler. i didn't mean to make fun of your hero! >> everything you are and everything you have is because of that butler. >> that's danny's brilliant line. >> you wrote that line, thank you. >> you delivered it. >> rose: we often ask men how they voice and we asked women how they write in a man's voice and we asked you, you know, in terms of capturing the black experience part of that have has

to do with, i assume, something that's within you but also something you went in search of to make sure you had right. >> yeah, absolutely. it's the job of the writer to write characters that aren't themselves. for men to write women, women to write men. in this case of this project i had a few powerful weapons at my disposal. one was memoirs of people that worked at the white house that i read that really helped get me into the mind-set of what that world was like and then my other big secret weapon was lee daniels. lee was an amazing collaborator on the scripts and had a great deal of influence and it was -- we just had a wonderful experience. >> rose: what did the memoirs tell you. >> oh, god, everything. that's the movie is what's in those memoirs, what life was like working in the white house that'd seen these halls of power not being able to comment on what was happening, trying to be invisible while at the same time there are events happening that you know they're going to affect your life. and it's extremely dramatic and very powerful and something that i felt if we could harness into

a movie it could just really be special. >> line that line "everything you are and everything you have is because of that butler" is the essence of why i said yes to this film. because i believed that for my generation and certainly for my life everything that i am and everything that i have is because of that generation. i see that very clearly, i've felt it my entire life. i'm the daughter of a maid. my grandmother was a maid. her mother was a maid and her mother was a slave. so i understand that the perseverance and just the courage, the courage that it took to get up everyday and to walk into an environment where people saw you as not even being fully human. you know, you and i -- when i did cbs "this morning" you and i have the favorite scene in this movie, that scene where cecil gaines goes into the administration -- >> in charge of butlers. >> and asks for a raise.

and i think about the courage it would take to walk into that room, how many times he would have to practice what he was going to say and how he was going to say it and know that he's going to be turned down and still have the courage to stand in there and do it anyway. that was his way of being a war your, of standing up. what it took to get up every morning maintain your values, take care of your family, be a man and know that the rest of the world didn't see you that way. that's real courage. >> rose: he basically says in this scene -- you tell me, forest. what does he say to the guy when the guy says "well, i guess you can leave." >> the black butler is unpaid in the white staff i think we do the same job. >> and he says well if you feel that way you can leave. >> and you said "i knew you'd say that. so i asked the president."

>> yeah. you left the room, not left the job and the second time he says you know the drill, you've seen him say it before so you go in and when he says that you say "i knew you'd say that. i told the president and he said perhaps you two should talk about it." >> it turns everything around. >> rose: it does, doesn't it? >> i was blown away -- >> this is our favorite scene. >> it's a great scene. i was blown away when i was interviewing people that worked at the white house because i interviewed a number of butlers, ushers, engineers, when i found that out that the african american staff was paid 40% less than the white staff for years and years and years and that it was so difficult to get promotions, to get promoted from houseman to engineers office. really blown away that that existed not just outside but in the halls of power as well. >> the interesting story, too, here is the son who we saw leaving.

amazing performance. and he leaves. he's cast out because of his demeanor, because he doesn't seem to have the respect and because you worry he's going to leave and you finally say "just go." that's part of his journey. what happens to him in the end-- without giving the details of this-- there comes an appreciation of father and son. and that's the journey of this film. >> that was the reason why i did it. i didn't do it because it was an important civil rights movie. i did it because it was a father and son's love story and i have a 17-year-old son, he was 13 when we -- when i got the script and he was fighting with me. i'd say black, he'd say white. i'd say day, he'd say night. i'd say go to bed, he'd say no. when does it stop when does it stop, you know? so it wasn't until we were doing

the bus scene that i realized that this was -- that these soldiers were fighting for freedom and that this was a this was a movie that was not just a father and son story but a bigger story. it was as oprah says that ah-ha moment. it's not what you thought it was it's something different. >> rose: tell -- >> tell them what happened on the bus. >> on the bus, it was hot, it was a real bus. danny's in that scene. he's flirting with denzel washington's daughter in this scene. and so we're on the bus and i yell "action." and from nowhere comes the klan members and the nazis and the spitings and the -- >> terrifying. >> you were on the bus. being inside -- the bus is shaking, the bus is shaking, and we hear these deafening noises and the sweat and the sheets and

the crosses and i yell "cut" a little too soon because i was afraid. got nervous. we were nervous on the bus. and i said "cut" and it wouldn't stop. so i'm at the window saying "cut cut." and they wouldn't stop. and i look at danny and ya ya and david and i know at that moment that this is what these kids went through. that that this is what these kids went through and wasn't nobody around to yell cut. wasn't nobody around to yell cut. >>. >> rose: there was the fear and courage right there. >> they were heroes! >> that's what's beautiful about this. when they're traying with lawson and you see the fear that they have. but they are standing by their convictions and you see them breaking and being yelled at but yet they confront their fears because of what they stand for is more important and they sit at that counter. it's so powerful. >> it's so amazing. i had six of my girls at the screening -- >> rose: when you say girls you mean -- >> i mean my girls from south

africa -- >>. >> rose: who are entering american colleges. >> and they -- you know, are not students of american history. they know about the civil rights movement and all that stuff and so last night or actually 1:00 this morning we were having discussions about the trainings and i was explaining to them that all of these kids who -- that that was really real in order to have the ability not to fight back and not to go against you're -- because if somebody spits on you there's a visceral reaction that you want to knock that person out but to go through the non-violence training, to take it, because we had the conversation this moshing with the girls about what would have happened had one of those people hit a white person or spit back. >> holy cow. >> holy cow. i mean, all hell would have broken loose. it would have been a bloodbath

for sure. that's what's so extraordinary. >> rose: it reminds me of the scene in "42" about jackie robinson in which branch ricky is talking to the actor who played jackie robinson and the actor says to harrison ford who plays branch richie "you need somebody here who's tough enough to fight back." and branch ricky says "i need somebody who's tough enough not to fight back." and that's the point. >> that is the point. that is the point. spl. >> rose: as we watched history go forward where do you think we are in terms of somehow making sure that the battles that are being fought have come to where the it ought to be in terms of black and white and racism as a country. >> we're not at the end point of where we're supposed to be but we're not supposed to be there. i'm going to let you speak to that because you speak so

eloquently about living history. but i would like to say when you look at the film, the beginning of the film when the butler is sitting there and reflecting on his life and how he got to be there and there is the lynching memory how that film ends, full circumstance until 2008 and what happened in 2008, that is one man's lifetime. i have to say only in this country there's not another country in the world where you would have the span of that much richness and development i think in terms of culture coming together. i think that's pretty extraordinary. not to say that we don't have a long way to go and lots of other things that we need to accomplish racially and otherwise but that's pretty extraordinary that from the beginning of eugene allen's life-- cecil's life-- in 2008 that off black president.

from 1926 when the movie opens until 2008, that's extraordinary. that's really pretty extraordinary. >> rose: it's an extraordinary story your character is not going to see barack obama elected but you understand what a a -- >> do you know the real mrs. allen died a day before he was elected? she died on november 3! they campaigned for him and she died november 3. >> rose: there's another great line in which eugene allen is -- the butler comes to the white house. he comes to the white house to meet the president and some young aide says to your character, eugene allen, mr. gaines in this case, "i'll show you the way." and what does he say?

>> "i know way." (laughter) >> that was a great moment. >> we were talking about had we achieved it yet and it's still sitting on that promissory note that martin luther king talked about, the promissory note of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that this is the note that was promised to all american for human rights so the civil rights movement which isn't really a history, it's a living history. because we're still moving in the same shape towards accomplishing what was the initial promise. he talks about that vault, he refuses to believe that it's empty and that all of us can have the things that we deserved. so we move through this line of living civil rights history which is american history. because, in order to reach that final goal, that's when we truly will be americans because that was the promise of the the constitution and the declaration of independence. that was a promise to call of us and we haven't accomplished it so we see these cycles moving like the emmitt till side of the film, we see what happened. we see his mother and her

response and we move to our world and we see this circle going on then is still going on right now and all over the country. we're saying how can we break this cycle to move to the next place so we can finally get to the end. which is the promised land he talked about. he said "i just want to live a few years into the second half of the 20th century." so now we're in the 21st century. those were martin's words. we here in the 21st century. we haven't done it. i'm so disappointed that we haven't achieved his promise yet but that's where we're going and this film is a part of the dialogue to make us keep talking. >> rose: and as oprah pointed out earlier and i think the president said this when he went to selma during the campaign. he's part of a new generation, and my generations stand on the shoulders of those who came before. and other generations will come forward to stand on the shoulders of those like you who are there today. >> but what is so important is to know what those shoulders meant and to know that you are

standing on the shoulders. i mean, that's what i think this film offers. >> to know what it meant for them to have broad shoulders to stand on. >> what's been so exciting to me during the process of promoting the film we were doing a junket the other day and a young white reporter said to me, a guy in his late 20s, he said "i voted for barack obama because i thought it was the right thing to do. it was a r.a. r.a. moment." and he said "but only until after seeing this film do i understand how important it was that i voted for barack obama." he actually said that. i said "well, that's a reason to do the film." he said "i now understand it wasn't a good decision, it was the best decision to vote for barack obama." >> that's the reason to do the movie. >> you did brilliant things because you showed the different faces of fighting against social injustice and there are many ways to fight against social injustice. you can do it by just whispering somebody's ear and asking the boss to step aside or you can do

hit in the arab spring or you can protest trayvon martin marches, however. but there's many do it. but there's many different ways. but you see these different places that people go through that are so different from each other but different ways of trying to find social justice and that's the message to the youth today and the message to all of us. >> this is a story about the sweep of history but it's also very much of a love story, it's a story of generations, a story of responsibility and a story -- i don't know if it's true or not when eugene allen and your character gets to go to the white house -- >> that's very true. they was first butler. >> president reagan invited -- >> he was the first one to be invited to a state dinner. i think that was -- >> mrs. allen was so happy. >> what did gloria say when your character said -- >> well, look at her!

she said "finally got to the white house!" >> i'm going see where my man works." >> rose: roll tape. here's the scene. >> you're very popular! everyone says you're the man that got the promotion. i had no idea. >> i wish i could take credit for that. >> i'd like to invite you to the state dinner. >> i'll be serving. >> no, not as a butler, cecil. i'm inviting you as a guest. >> but the president prefers to me to serve him personally. >> don't you worry about ronnie, i'll take care of that. so we'll see you next week, you and your wife. >> my wife? >> it's gloria, yes? >> yes, ma'am. >> you two were hugging there.

>> i was looking at -- you know that walk she does, too, as she walks away. >> oh, i loved that. >> we practiced that miss reagan walk for quite a bit and we shot it about six takes just the walk alone. >> but we worked on creating -- i didn't want -- i was in another movie 15 years ago where i had a bedroom scene with danny glover and i just -- you know, we arrived on the set in the morning and were like "good morning, how are you?" and then you're climbing into bed. and i didn't want that. so i started working on creating some kind of connection first day in the trailer. >> rose: did you really? so that there would be a natural intimacy? >> so that there would be a natural intimacy. so it wouldn't be "good morning, forest, what side of the bed are you on?" so forest would come in and depending upon what was going on that day with his character sometimes he would be three different ages in one day.

>> that's why the performance -- >> it's extraordinary. and i wouldn't want to bother him, i'd see he was already gone and he's in that space so i would just go over and i would just rub his shoulder and sometimes i'd be standing outside the trailer waiting for him to get done, i'd say "somebody let me know when forest is almost done." i'd be standing there. he'd say "what are you doing here?" i'd say "i just wanted to walk with you to the set." take his hand. >> rose: did you know this was happening to you, forest? >> it was so magical. sometimes it was timeless, just walking hand in hand through the set. >> that was the story in the film itself and that's why i tend music at the end -- everybody wanted know end with something patriotic and -- what i wanted was it was a love story. many love stories. i end with dinah washington's song that they were in their

making love moment "i'll close my eyes." which is -- doesn't say -- "this is a civil rights movie" or "this is a father and son." this is a love story. >> there's a poem where he talks about that, he says "i love you this way because i know no other way of loving, i love you that way when you put your hand on my chest, when i put my hand on yours, when i fall asleep, your eyes close." >> talk to me! talk to me, forest! (laughter) >> rose: i can hear you! >> charlie! (laughter) so all these kinds of things are happening. what went into deciding-- and you talked a little bit about that-- how to put the right

touch on the end. you know that he's going to leave, he tells the president he's going to leave, the president doesn't want him to leave. and you see the relationship there. you've got -- you've had all of this in this film. >> it was crazy trying to figure out that end. i kept trying to reedit it and edit it. danny came into my -- i have so many opinions because i don't have the right answer. >> rose: what did you want to leave them with? >> that there's hope. that there's hope. that there's hope. we knew we had to end up with there's hope. but it was getting there that's troublesome. as always in the betty movie we have a -- it's part of the editing process. >> you put together an impressive process here. we put together lots of people, cuba gooding. >> amazing. >> rose: amazing in this film. >> who added such a lightness to the film. every scene that he's in he lifted a little higher and

brings it n a little more light. and elijah, last night, who plays my other son, every -- you know, that kid, every single line, may i say, was ad-libbed by him. >> he's hilarious. >> well, not all of them. we'd go wait a minute -- because sometimes -- we had p.j. 13 so we had to make sure that they weren't -- >> rose: he's an incredible talent if everything he said without script was -- because it was smart and funny and right on >> all the time. all the time. kudos to him for that. >> rose: so how did you decide on the end? you finally said what? >> we knew we had to have hope and i think the thing was that it was all in forest's eyes. how are you feeling? the way we originally -- the way he walked down. first he was walking up and very

thankful but no, man, you got this. i know the way. >> rose: yeah, that was it. "i know the way." >> >> what's so interesting the first time we heard forest talk about his process of being able to -- his aging process is like nothing i've ever heard before. you want to share that? >> it was a process of taking this experiences, the emotional experiences and placing them in my body and as the more i got placed the more my body starts to get the weight of these experiences. how that's how i did the aging process. i had worked once on trying to figure out the body structure and i realized when i was realinging how you go up and down i said okay, i'm going to take it will pain of our son being killed ant put it here. and i'm going to take my son

running away here. and my wife being an alcoholic and not being able to control her here. and then it just slowly -- these things just started to change and when that happened even your voice starts to change. you just think of those places inside yourself. by the end each time you're carrying those things. the weight of those experiences so i would -- if i broke it down i knew what age i was and what scene i was doing i'd be able to fall into the experience. >> that point of that experience >> isn't that wonderful? that's what we feel. you can't articulate those feelings. >> everybody asks what it's like to direct oprah. >> i thought i'd avoid all the obvious questions. >> (laughter) >> thank you so much, charlie! that's what makes you you! but the great part about both of them is that they are one would

think with all the awards that the two of them have together and the celebrity factor and everything that they come with this thing and they come and they came to serve me to serve the characters with dignity i learned a lesson of humility from both of them. both of them. they were both raw. they were both open. they were both vulnerable and they both -- even if they didn't want it. she would have ultimately caved in but she knew how to trick me. if i want her to do something -- like, for example, i wanted her to do some things and so, you know, she wouldn't pull the oprah thing. she started crying. and i was like -- >> come on! >> because it meant so much to

her and you know -- >> no, lee, i'm not going to let you get away. i think you were not affected by -- was i crying? i ended up crying? i thought it was because of the p.g.-13. >> no, i was deeply affected by it because you were so vulnerable. you opened up. >> i so wanted gloria to represent who/had worked on her to be and who i believed her to be for that era and there were certain things that i felt that woman would not do. she would not f-bomb her husband when he came home after kennedy was shot. fought for that. and she would not even though she was flirting warned the neighborhoods she would not go all the way and i think you wanted to see me rolling around in bed with terence howard, i think that's what you -- >> i did! (laughter) >> i think he did. >> i did. >> rose: why? >> well, why not? >> rose: well, why, first? >> why, because she was alone. you know what i mean? my movie --

>> alone? >> alone, vulnerable, terence howard, why not? she's drinking. why not? and >> and i said she would never be able to come back from that. at the end when she says -- what she says about you being the kind of man my mama would have been proud of, the audience would not -- we don't care about her anymore because she could not have sex in bed in her husband's -- >> with that crucifix above her head. >> i said "lee, there's a crucifix above the bed. the bible is next to the bed table. no!" absolutely not. >> you were right. >> thank you. it worked. my favorite words are "you were right." my favorite three words "you were right." (laughter) >> rose: forest, tell me the end -- sum up what you think this --

in terms of what this experience was like for you >> what the experience was like? >> rose: this film, this character, this accomplishment of making this movie. >> my experience is nothing like what the movie -- there were times where i was working on this movie and i'd be sitting on a chair and i felt like i was in a field of blue. like just everything was blue. no time, no space, no nothing. that's the feeling i have that -- i rarely have. and this is like a spiritual experience. it was it was something that was happening so the experience had that. there was a couple times i thought what year am i in? time? what place. i could feel it was just blue. >> rose: it's a remarkable performance. i fell in love with her -- what was it, the summer of 2011 wasn't it?

>> uh-huh. for me, you know, it was a little different because i was trying to build a network at the same time and i literally was -- i would do a scene and then have to go and shoot an interview and do a scene and shoot an interview and we joked -- lee joked "where's oprah? where's oprah? is she interviewing? where is she?" (laughter) but i was so grateful for the words. i remember hearing spielberg many years ago accept an award on the oscars and he said "everything begins with the words." and for the script that you wrote we are so grateful for the words. for the words. >> so grateful for these amazing performances and lee daniels directing. >> and bringing those words to life, lee, thank you. >> rose: in hollywood they'll say "we can't get lee daniels, can we get spe venn spielberg?" (laughter)

>> rose: thank you all and congratulations. the movie is called "the butler." it opens on august 16. thank you for joining us. see you next time.

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on bbc world news. our top stories. a better life for one little girl caught up in the misery of bonded labor in pakistan. forced to make brick and conditions in near slavery, now there is hope for this 10-year- old. >> there we spent all day in the mud making bricks. now we work for only four hours a day. >> this newspaper headline is causing a row in australia's bitterly fought election run-up. also coming up, putting art on a bigger canvas. classic works, old and modern, take to the streets. also, aaron is here with good news from china. >> the chinese are spending. they are biting more calls can't -- more cars, fuel, and soybeans. more than ever before. the world's second-biggest economy imported in a month more than $170 billion worth of goods from overseas and it is great news for all of us.

hello, and welcome to "gmt." we begin with a story of hope for a little girl for whom childhood has until now been simply nonexistent. if you weeks ago we came across 10 year old genie who worked and lives in a pakistani brick factory. her family were bonded laborers, enslaved by debt. since the first report, the debt has been written off. although life for the girl is now easier, she is still forced to work. and like many girls who dream for an education, it remains just yet. i reporter return to seven pakistan to meet up with jeanie and her family again. fields,in the cotton genie is at work. a child shouldering the burden of an adult.