i went to juliard. i'm kidding.e have strong theater backgrounds that come from that, so they've done that play in high school or college. >> barack obama took michelle on a first date to your film, do the right thing. >> michael jordan, tomorrow. >> come on. get him out. >> i'm trying to get him out. >> they went to discuss the movie. michelle might have had ice cream, i don't know. >> it's been a rocky road ever since in terms of race relation and gun violence. do you think that film which tackled race head on, did it change the dynamic? where do you think this country is? we're looking at fergferguson. >> this country is in transition and progress. one move forward, two steps back. it's a living organization anymore. that's where we living. you have to keep at it. >> i'm hopeful. i wouldn't make the films i make. i think my films are realistic, truthful, and may seem gloom and doom, but we have to do everything we can for our children, for our grandchildren to make the united states truly the greatest country in

and then how did you get from there to juliard? >> i was interested in it before -- before i joined. >> jimmy: absolutely, yeah. >> and then, yeah i guess when i got out, i had all this kind of, i guess, maybe false confidence. like, civilian problems are small. you know, now 'cause i have lived in the military. >> jimmy: sure, yeah. >> which is an illusion. then i moved to new york, and i'm like, i'll go to juliard. if i don't get in, i'll live in [ laughter ] >> jimmy: your plans are fantastic. you really got it all planned out. >> they're very spur of the moment. >> jimmy: i guess so. >> then i happened to get into school. i was very lucky. so, i got in. and i moved here. >> jimmy: then you got into juliard. well, the first time i saw you was "girls." you probably had other things before that. but that was the big thing i saw you in. i go, this guy is fantastic. and then -- now you're in "star wars." >> yeah, i am. >> jimmy: and this is -- kylo ren is the name of the character, right? >> right. or ren kylo. >> jimmy: ren kylo. [

then i moved to new york, and i'm like, i'll go to juliard. if i don't get in, i'll live in central park 'cause i know how to survive. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: your plans are fantastic. you really got it all planned out. >> they're very spur of the moment. >> jimmy: i guess so. >> then i happened to get into school. i was very lucky. so, i got in. and i moved here. >> jimmy: then you got into juliard. well, the first time i saw you was "girls." you probably had other things before that. but that was the big thing i saw you in. i go, this guy is fantastic. and then -- now you're in "star wars." >> yeah, i am. >> jimmy: and this is -- kylo ren is the name of the character, right? >> right. or ren kylo. >> jimmy: ren kylo. [ light laughter ] again, i just see you in the phone book. so, if i call you, it goes in alphabetical order, yeah. we do know if you're -- we do know you're on the dark side or we can't say? we don't know. >> no, yeah, that's the dark side. >> jimmy: yeah, that's pretty dark. [ laughter ] that's you there. >> yeah, that's dark.

studied at yale and juliard.nk you for being here. >> it's a pleasure to be with you. >> before we talk about your ideas for widening the audience, what inspired you? >> i was very inspired by this series of broadcasts that took place in the '70s called previn in the pittsburgh. it was a series where andre previn basically came out and did these educational concerts in the evening for adults. airing in prime time. each program had a theme to it. and through this series i began to understand not only the conductor's ability to connect with the orchestra and over the life of the audience as well. i thought this might be a nice vehicle for me to express not only the thoughts i had about the music but also, in a larger way, to educate, which i think is so much of what the orchestraal world is about, bringing this music to other people. >> why do you think there's still not a very diverse audience for classical music? >> because i think classical music has not been a part of many people's upbringing, their background.