or maybe you want to help when the unexpected happens. whatever you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer, or donate for the causes you believe in at membersproject.com. take charge of making a difference. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. javier bardem is here. he is, as you know, an academy award winning actor. joining him later will be the mexican director alejandro gonzalez inarritu. they have a new film called "biutiful." >> rose: bardem is known for his broad range and his intuitive and intelligent acting which allows him to inhabit his characters. francis ford coppola has praised his artistic hunger and his drive to do something good with his work. in 2007 he won an oscar for best supporting actor for n his role for "no country for old men." here's a look at some of his other work. >> please, give me all the money you have on you. do you have money here? give me the money. >> you can take everything. you can stay here if you want. >> i have some friends that can solve this problem. >> what kind of friends do you have? >> you know what kind of friends. >> what kind of friends do you have? >> don't go away. >> renaldo. >> i'm leaving. i'll keep in touch with you. >> we have a name, don't we? >> we do now have a name. >> but so far there isn't a manifesto. there isn't a plan, there isn't a spokesperson. we don't have any clue as to who the leaders are. >> there isn't an organization or a known h.q.? >> there is only someone called ezequiel. >> so what you're saying is we don't know what he or she is, who they are or what they want? >> that's right. >> say heads or tails and you have to say call it. >> i need to know what i stand to win. >> everything. >> how's that? >> you stand to win everything. call it. >> all right. heads, then. >> well done. don't put it in your pocket, sir. don't put in the your pocket, it's your lucky quarter. >> well, where do you want know put it? >> anywhere not in your pocket where it will get mixed in with the others and become just a coin. >> she always had problems with reality and i'm not going to get angry. i'm not going to get angry. >> okay, what did they say in our school? they said i was a genius, right? >> i always encouraged your talent. >> not talent. i'm not talking about talent. i said genius. genius. >> i came close to killing for you. >> you came close to killing me, wi a chair. >> i was defending myself and you had an a razor and you were drunk. >> rose: interesting actresses, wouldn't you say? (laughs) >> very interesting, great actresses. >> rose: i would say so, i would say so. let's talk about this film first tell me about it and why this character is so compelling for you. >> well, there are many things going on in "biutiful" characters because he's a man who's facing his end and that is something he knows must be very hard for everybody. and thank god i'm not in that situation and we have to remind ourselves how grateful we are and how thankful we have to be for having the life we have. >> rose: indeed. but it is also a sense of what a good life ought to be. >> uh-uh. >> rose: what is it that we ought to live for? >> i think for the others, as long as we live for the others there's hope. when we are forced to live for ourselves and there is a lot of people in extreme situations where they can't think about the others. they have to think about themselves how they go through to survive. but in a normal situation where there are people not in those extreme situations i think hope is about being able to open to the others and think beyond your own needs and help the others. and this movie speaks about that. >> rose: what do you like about him? >> he's compassionate, he's strength of really facing himself and not giving up but is still trying to find the best out of it. >> rose: probably the only lesson i suspect is to make sure you live today as if it might be the last day. >> yeah, i think that's the most important of them all is to remind the people that you love how much you love him and maybe there's not tomorrow. not for yourself but for that person that you were supposed to say how much that person meant to you. i think the movie "biutiful" speaks about that also. >> rose: how much did your parents shape who you are today in terms of choices you've made? >> i would say a lot along with my friends. my mother has worked really hard in order to maintain dignity in a profession-- actress-- that when she was an actress in spain with a dictatorship they were accused of being something less than an evil person. i'm always saying that the parents of my grandparents were actors in a time when actors were not allowed to be buried on sacred land. so that's how far my generation in the family of actors are coming from. she talked to me about earning the place. earning what you have through the work, through the respect... through the respect to others. and that's something that i tried to do everyday. >> rose: if you look at some of those films that we saw and those characters that we played, do you see any rhythm there? do you see anything that says... (laughs) >> i seek out the rhythm. i seek out the rhythm. i see 20 years going... >> rose: what was i thinking? (laughs) >> yes. no, i guess what i see is a man trying to do the best he could without wanting to go to some place specific in terms of career. >> rose: so it's not a grand plan, but it is what? just an attraction to the craft and... >> passion and respect for having the chance to work when with others and that i learn in my family don't have the chance to work in something that you love so much. everybody knows about actors because they are on the red carpets and they are on the covers of the magazine. but that's the what? 10%? 90% of them are unemployed. it's a very hard job. so if you have a chance to work, work hard. earn it, as my mother said. >> rose: that's one of the things she taught you. if you have the chance, don't blow it. give it everything you've got. >> give it everything you've got and don't think that tomorrow everything will be there for you. don't take anything for granted and don't buy either of the gold or the failure because any of those are are real. when they tell you how great you are, it's as... as far away from the truth as when they tell you that you suck, you know? >> rose: (laughs) >> and you ignore both of those with the same kind of... >> it's hard, i'm sure you know, it's hard to put yourself detached from what the other people say about you. but it's the only way to survive. >> rose: was time on a role which n which you said "i got it. i know what this is about"? >> no. >> rose: no? >> no, there are certain roles where are important for the opposite. for going to a place where i said okay, i lost it and i know what's all this about, which is about every time you try to do something and you think you've achieved everything, one new door opens and you see the vast immensity of the field you have to learn in the future. so it's not about i know what all this is about, it's about i know how much i have to learn. and those are the most important jobs. and they are not necessarily the ones that are more well received by the people. the ones that are rewarded by the people or the awards. >> rose: so you're saying those that have been the most satisfying and/or challenging are not necessarily those that have been the most successful. >> thank you for translating my words! >> rose: (laughs) for better or worse. is there there one that you loved that didn't necessarily do so well? >> yeah, i remember "love in the time of cholera" role. >> rose: because of the author. >> because i was 12 the first time i read it and i read that book i don't know how many times and i was immediately-- as many other millions of people-- in love with that character so i put a lot of hope and work but it didn't turn out well. >> rose: you are now leading man and principal character how do you approach it? what is the process for you? >> it has to have some kind of an impact in you to say i am going to give something personal to it that's going to be worth for the viewer to watch and for me to do it. otherwise it will be just go there and deliver the lines and that doesn't make any good to anybody. not to the viewer, not to myself. so when you read the material, there is an impact and somehow then you feel okay, this is a feeling we have to. do it's not i want to do it, i have to do it. and that's what happened with me. to me with "biutiful" "biutiful." beyond the fear and insecurity of facing somethat that is so big he was the desire of doing something that i couldn't escape from doing it. >> rose: you could not have said no to this? >> no, it was impossible and that implied a lot of fear because what alejandro proposed, it was not a performance, it was a life journey for both of us. >> rose: explain that to me, it was not a performance... >> no, it was a life journey. there are roles where you go okay, i know more or less how to deal with this from a very professional point of view and there are certain roles, like this one, where you see how much i have to take off how much i have to take things out of myself in order to get there. how much of a journey i have to do within myself in order to go to that place and being honest enough to do that lowell. because we're not talking about a man who's... we're speaking about a man who's going through a very strong journey to something very important for himself. >> rose: is it a series of problem sofshing in terms of how you approach him? what you can discover about him. how you feel inside about his own dilemma? >> yes. >> rose: what's that about? >> that's about how how much of your vanity is in the game and how much of your humbleness, can you say? subpoena on the game. because when you're facing a kharker that has to go so deep in himself you are discovering layers and layers of yourself in it and insecurity usually makes you to put yourself in there in a way that doesn't allow you to go through the really... through a real person you're portraying. in other words, it's like a use the character to portray myself and that's not performing, that's therapy. i do that with my therapist. >> rose: (laughs) >> performing to s to really be able to detach yourself from everything in order to go to the place that the character demands. sometimes that place is very hard. and those are the actors i like. the act thoors you see they are not putting themselves in front of the character because they think they are more... they are worth to be listened and watched rather than the character they play. >> rose: so what you what you admire is when you see the character do what? >> i admire when the actors really put himself in the place where he's not there anymore. >> rose: and the character overtakes him? >> exactly, exactly. but we usually don't do that because we are scared because he's like in order to do that you have to be really naked. >> rose: but you know that's when you're the best when you're really naked and you can get there. >> yeah but as we know in live when you're in that situation it's scary and it hurts and we don't want to do it. >> rose: so how do you get there there then? >> i don't know, i'm still looking for it. but i guess there's some other where you have to really take the risk and jump in. >> rose: it has as much excitement and challenge as it has today than ever before? >> more and more because the more i'm able to understand the character, the more i'm able to understand myself. the human race in total because in the end we are the same, we are all the same. of course, i don't have anything to do with the psychopath of "no country for old men" but if you go there and you try to understand that mind you may see things about yourself that you didn't want to see before so it's kind of... i think one of the gifts of being an actor is to be able to recognize yourself in different places in order to complete yourself. >> rose: you once said "i don't believe in god, i believe in al pacino." >> yes! >> rose: (laughs) >> i will say that until the day i die. >> rose: are you serious? >> yes, what can i say about my god? i don't believe in god, nibble al pacino. why is that? because he has done so much for me indirectly. i don't... he didn't know what he was doing but through his performances, through his style, through his respect to the craft through his compromise with the work has helped me to love my job in a way that nobody has. because at his age, after doing all the amazing marvelous thing he is has done as an actor, he's still working. he's a man of work. and that's... >> rose: on stage every night in "merchant of venice." >> here you go, for example. >> rose: at his age. do you study his films? do you look at him and watch it and say how did he do that? >> i say how in the world does he do that? yes. the other day i was watching "serpico" for the 50th time. >> rose: "serpico" for the 50th time. >> yeah. and he's there so young doing so risky things being that young and i think how... i mean, how brilliant is that? when he did "dog day afternoon", that's amazing. how in the world he could do that when he was 30 years old. i have been 30 years old. >> rose: (laughs) >> i didn't do that. (laughs) >> rose: and it wasn't that much later that he did "godfather" was it? >> no. >> rose: "from dog day afternoon" to "godfather." >> rose: >> and here you go, what a performance. >> rose: and that's the kind of life you aspire, the theater and film. and theater means as much to you as it does to him, do you think? >> no. because i'm more scared than he is, i'm sure. >> rose: more scared of live? >> more scared of stage. more scared of theater. i've done very little theater in the beginning. i haven't done much theater and i know that i want to go there and i put myself on stage. but in order for me to do that out of insecurity i need to be protected by a good material with a good director that will allow me to be relaxed and confident. >> rose: do you say "i'm scared" or when you see him, is that part of the creative juice that serves you so well, to be scared of things so that only if you fear can you rise to the occasion. >> totally. but i think i'm learning now that you have to be careful with that. because there is an amount of fear that serves as an oil, helps you to keep moving forward. but there's a good amount of fear that blocks you from doing things. >> rose: right, right, right. >> and that's the legacy of knowing what's the limit. >> rose: what is the most important thing to allow you to access? t things that you might be fearful of exposing? >> i would say love. >> rose: really? love for the character? love for the... >> love for the... >> rose: the story? >> i know it's going to sound very '60s. but love for you, my friend. love for everybody. love for the human race. what i mean is love for the people. because i like people and i believe in people and i still trust in people, including myself. i do this job otherwise i would have done something different because i am obsessed about portraying people in are going through a very hard circumstance struggling with themselves in order to become better and to do less large to others. that's what inspires me and that's what i look for when i read material, when i read a script. and there's a moment where you have to really give up, when you have to really give of yourself and... give up yourself and give all of yourself to something in order to remind us that there is hope that we can see each other and we can help each other and we can thank each other for being just us. >> rose: your love for your country deep. >> uh-huh. >> rose: how is your country doing? >> the ooh. ooh, what a question. it's hard. economically it's very hard. i'm not a professional or an expert but it's very hard... >> rose: but you are passionate about politics. >> it's not about passionate, it's impossible to be detached from politics. everything we do is politics. i don't drive, as you know. >> rose: i know. >> but every time you put oil, you put gasoline in your car, you're doing a political statement. >> rose: exactly. >> so the situation now... is. >> rose: but the political statement is i'm doing damage to the... >> exactly. and you're supporting the oil big empires in the world. that some of them are doing really hard. but what i'm saying is spain is a great place to live. people in spain is... it's very politicized. politics in spain is... unfortunately, my point of view, too much present in the daily life, in the conversations, on the street. everything that is done in spain is seen through a political perspective. and i don't think that's very good to the people. because the people really want something else, which is to have time to relax, enjoy. we are spaniards, we know who we are. we want to have fun and have a good meal and speak with the friends. but last 15 years i think everything so falters on what one says and how the other react from political terms. that it's affecting the people too much i think. >> rose: there a story about spain you want to tell? >> i'm producing a documentary about the sahara, the western sahara. which is a colony from spain and when franco died, spain retreated, the troops, and left the colony alone by themselves and then the moroccan government the moroccan soldiers took that colony of ours and laid themselves there and say it's from morocco. 35 years later, they're forgotten in the middle of the dessert and some of them the occupy sad harrah, which is western morocco, they're being tortured and imprisoned and their rights have been totally blacked out. and i'm doing a documentary on that because the society in spain is supporting that people in a big way. but no government from all these 35 years has had the guts to face morocco and say "that is wrong." and spain is a key country in that, as much as united states and franz. >> rose: what else should spain be prepared to do for those? >> support in the european community and the united nations. the right of them to get independence from morocco, which is something that the united nations and europe parliament agreed i think it was year '75,' 7. so it's like the international community is saying yes, they have the right to be independent but because france, united states, and spain are scared of morocco or they need morocco for their own interest, they are not pushing them, they are allowing morocco to do and to harm people and sometimes to really break the elemental human rights of the people and they are not condemning what they're doing. so spain, france, and the united states should really go to the government, the monarchy of morocco and say "this is not right, we have to put people here, human rights watch and see what's going on" and work for a peaceful solution. >> rose: do you have a prime minister who's listening? >> no. >> rose: not yet. >> not yet and i don't think he will ever. it's not about right or left, it's about the governments of spain and the presidents... no one seems... no one has ever had the guts to face that problem and they all want to put their back to it. but a few weeks ago there was a huge parade in spain, thousands of people saying to the government "enough." because spain has citizens, they have a very strong relationship with the moroccans. >> rose: were you there? >> yeah. >> rose: in the streets? >> yeah, that's very common in spain. >> rose: yes, i know. (laughs) i didn't know whether you were out making a movie. >> i was on the streets at the time. it is for a parade or for a drink. (laughs) >> rose: can you imagine going into politics? >> no. me? no, no, i can't. sometimes i'm very criticized because i spoke against something or for something and i said man, i'm a citizen, i have the right to speak outloud. >> rose: remember you and i had a conversation not last time but the time before that about america, the war, iraq. have you changed in... >> and those things that i call now the massive destruction weapons. not destruction,... i mean, they really put it will attention to something that doesn't exist and we kill a lot of people in there. >> rose: but it seems to be winding down at least and then sometimes it seems not to be because of sort of conflicts among parties within iraq. >> and the things are moving forward and how easy we forget and how easy we forgive. and this triangle of blair, bush and... they decided to do horrible things and bomb, destroy a whole country in the name of something that doesn't exist. >> rose: blair, bush, aznar are no longer in power. >> but they are doing classes in universities. >> rose: meaning they're teaching. >> yeah and i wonder if they should be on trial for doing what they did. because they killed innocent people in the name of something that doesn't exist. and that's... i mean, i'm not an expert, i'm not a politician but i'm a citizen and i am still years later amazed at how easy people go away with major, major crimes, that was a huge crime. i think. >> rose: do you think better about the united states under new lead leadership? >> i do. but it's hard. it's a very hard situation in the world now about economics and i think it's because we created this political... this politic statement based on economics. and on economics. so the social aspects of the politics now is totally lost and they are trying to come back to it but it's important. the train has gone so fast based on economics that we are faceing what we are leaving behind which is a lot of social issues that haven't been taken care of. nor in the states, nor in europe nor in spain. and that is creating a lot of unemployment, a lot of insecurity in people. >> rose: are these things you want to make films about? >> yes, i think "biutiful" smex about how much... i mean, how many of that people we create their misery based on steeling their countries and going there and really poaching their style in order to steal what they own. those people are trying to come to our countries to... and how much we put them away. but now that they are here we'll take advantage and we pay less to them and sometimes we make them slaves. >> rose: where are they coming from? >> in "biutiful" they're coming from seinenal. subsahara. and some of them also are coming from china. but i think it's a very strong social aspect of it. i mean, doesn't talk about that. but that background, i think, makes the movie very powerful and very important and worth watching. >> rose: do you think being a father will make you even more... even more passionate about the future? >> the future is there. i don't know about the future, i think about the president, really. we are to... if we are too concerned about what's going to happen next, it's here and now and next is going to be based on what we're doing now. >> rose: we will introduce alejandro, but before he comes out, tell me what he is as a director. >> he is a hard worker. >> rose: (laughs) >> he is a hard worker. >> rose: and makes his actors work hard, too? >> exactly. he's a man who wants to go to the bone of it and he found another man who wants to go... >> rose: to go with him. >> exactly. >> rose: (laughs) so it's a working combination. >> exactly. so somebody should stop us. somebody should say "stop it." >> rose: no, we should encourage you is what we should do. back in a moment. >> rose: we continue our conversation joined by alejandro gonzalez inarritu who directed "biutiful." he is an acclaimed mexican writer/director. the "new york times" has said his film making is characterized by sheer recklessar dorr and a faith in cinema as a universal language. i am pleased to have him join us here for this conversation about "biutiful," welcome. >> thank you very much. >> rose: now you heard what he said about you. >> yes. >> rose: what would you say about him system? >> we have some things to talk about after? mexicans... you know, we don't forget. >> rose: you don't forget that? you were expecting more or something different? >> (laughs) no, i think nothing. i think after we went through this journey i think we get such an intense process that he can say whatever he wants from me. he has a right. >> rose: so that's what you wanted to do? find an actor that you thought was right and go on a journey. >> yeah, i think most of the films that i have done are emotional journeys. not only what they are about... >> rose: well, you found the right guy." >> but this guy is really keen to that. he's addicted to emotion. like a junky. an emotional junky. >> rose: indeed. >> and we both shared that i think a lot time ago we were looking to work together and began to write this character with him in my mind. >> rose: you wrote it with him in mind? you can see him as the created the dialogue and the scene. >> the character presented to me uxbal in "biutiful" was a character that i immediately recognized as a very complex contradictory person and having known javier, i know... i knew that it would be perfect for him. so honestly it began toly say build these suits, taylor for him specially. taken the risk of could have been rejected because i didn't know if he would like it or not but i told him, you know, maybe one year and a half before he says i'm writing something for you and then i present it to him and thankfully he accepted. >> rose: and what did you want from him beyond the journey? >> basically what i look for... when i offer a role to somebody, in this case i'm looking for truthness, you know what i mean? it's not about the skills, it's not about the craftsmanship, it's not about nothing more than to get this to a level of truth to imprint these characters with that. and i demand that and to get that is very difficult. >> rose: and so... and what's your responsibility to get that other than simply choosing him and having written the script? >> well, i think that's one of the biggest responsibilities. >> rose: write the words? >> write it down first. write it right that has some meat and soul and that is... that has some gravity, that has something that the actors can be attached to. and then leave the decision who have is going to be offered that, to give that gift you are offering somebody that if you commit a mistake there then there's no way back. and that's the first decision which i knew i was right because there was no way that in "biutiful" the skill of javier are there. >> rose: you knew that from his performance bus did you also know that from the man you knew? >> completely. his nature, i think, there's a moment where the character and javier's nature were converging. i saw that and i knew that he will be right for the part. and that was it and i was right. as you can see i think his work is monumental and that's fantastic. >> rose: he said about this, javier, he said "i was never interested in making a movie about death but a reflection in and about life when our inevitable loss of it occurs." so this is about life. >> yeah. you said yesterday that you see life from death. like sometimes we're saying before sometimes we have to face death in order to realize about life. the life we are letting go we are passing by without paying attention. >> rose: makes us understand a good life. >> yes. >> rose: what brought you to the story? >> you know, i think it's a mysterious process but i guess there was some poem of a mexican poet which is very short but very impressive. it was a musical piece from ravel who set the tone, concerto piano number three. and i think that in this stage of my life, having father who's now ill and i have a deep relationship and having fear of losing him since i was ten years old and now being a father of two kids and confronting myself with those thoughts, i think those are things that really... this film is really... and dealing with some of the bipolar disease and things on a very unfortunate level in different areas of my life, all those things for me are close, has been close to me. not a biographical way but in i have leaped and i have gone go to that about love and, you know those things really impact me. and the immigration is something that... >> rose: immigration? >> yes, all this labor, you have the 21st century which is these immigration problems that is not about bars low that. it's in the south of this country, the north of my country in asia, everywhere. so this illegal condition of these guys make slavery now legal. and that's really something that we have to bring urgency to. >> rose: you've described it as a great oak. >> yeah, yeah. my old oak tree. >> rose: your old oak. >> that's beautiful, huh? >> rose: isn't that great? >> it's always when my father was measured. when i was a kid i was measuring with my father trying to see when i will be bigger than him. and when we were close, always my father said, like, feel the old oak. like still. as a joke. >> rose: he would say to you i'm still the old oak. >> i'm still strong. so i always remembered that. he's still the old oak. no matter if he's a little shorter now. >> rose: you'll always look up to him. now you can hear... the character can hear the dead. what's that about? >> well, i guess that's about being that it's a little bit more of awareness, the gift he has of knowing what's behind the death itself. give him more awareness of how important it is to leave his world in peace. it's one more key role in the movie for him to be aware. >> rose: and it connects the dead and the living. >> yes. but in a way it's written and the way we play it is very low key because the real ones are real low key. only the fake ones do a lot of crazy things but the real ones are more... actually they are prisoners of their own gifts. they deal with those gifts they have in a very subtle way. >> rose: do cultures differ in the way they look at death? the. >> i think so. >> i think so, yes. yes. i think at least in mexico i think there's a kind of a celebration almost. we take it as a process. >> rose: which is what i think it ought to be. >> it's integrated. there's cartoons about it, there's the famous skeletons and there's a tradition of that. there's the dead day and it's an integration. i think particular i think latin cultures embrace better that. i think in some other territories i think especially there's more like a phobic culture, to find that thing to be explored, it's like a bad taste. you don't want to deal with that. and it's funny for me. but it's good to talk and kill people. but in a cool explosion and a good fashion. that's very funny. (laughter) and that's millions, you know, blockbuster. they kill 25 in four scenes. nobody cares about that. that's funny. and video games, they get to the kids to play these video games to kill anybody. >> rose: killing is a way of keeping score. >> that is a good way to embrace death. but not talking about the humanized way. i found that very scary. >> there is the scene with the owl about the owl. that came from your daughter? >> yes. it was a line of my daughter, we were walking and suddenly she said "father, do you know that when an owl dies it speaks through a ball of hair through the beak." and i was really shocked by that image and i couldn't understand why and it reminds me about when he dies he gets the flower at the last day of the life. so i thought it was a good metaphor to express how this guy has went through this intoxication of himself. to clean himself before to really get into the other world. i found that it was very beautiful. >> it's also about father hood. >> i think the hard of the movie is the relationship he has with those two kids and the legacy he was for those two kids because he realized beyond milk and bread they also need to be fed some other things which are ethics, values, hugs and kisses. that is important, right? >> rose: he's a romantic character. >> he's a romantic guy. >> i look like a monkey, a gloorl with my broken nose but i have a romantic heart. >> rose: i thought about calling this bill uxbal in bars low that. uxbal is the character. let's take a look at a scene. here it is. roll tape. >> rose: we were just talking about voice and the way he was talking to the kids and i learned to appreciate that while we were watching that clip and you said "the voice never lies." >> you know, when i'm directing and suddenly if i'm trying to get something that is not happening or the way i have... the way i have my better or best way to detect a lie in a performance, if i'm feeling something wrong and i am not getting what i need and i don't know exactly what's going on because the maybe the performance and the things are right but i don't understand what's going on, i just close my eyes and i hear the actor or the actress and i don't want to see it but just hearing it i can find if they are lying. if they are not there. >> rose: you understand that? >> yeah, yeah. >> is it not true? >> it's totally true. >> you can pro tend but the voice, there's a way that you can't use it. >> rose: have you asked for retakes of a scene because you didn't think that the voice was where you wanted it? >> i hate my voice. >> rose: you do? >> of course! doing retakes because everything... >> your english is horrible but it's not that. (laughter) it's not your voice. >> rose: do you have insecurity about your voice? >> i think we'll be... we'll take less time to tell about what i'm not insecure about, okay? okay, let's talk about that. we should get this guy... >> rose: you and i could... right? >> penelope can join us. (laughter) >> rose: what do you want us to walk away with in this film. >> i think the thing is for me at least when i'm working a film that it took me three, four years to put together i tried to see it as a little bit more than entertainment. to entertain people you can find a clown and they will entertain for two hours but i hope that a film not only is entertainment, that's for sure. if people will get me two hours of their life, i have to not only entertain but i will love that the film can explore different territories and, if possible, give you a sheet to create an emotional catharsis, provoke thoughts, emotions and shape some preconceptions of things that you want to bring to the table. not pointing, not preaching, just to shake the tree and expose these stories and characters to bring ideas, emotions, and put the people in a stable territory that they didn't know and that they are uncomfortable in a way but at the same time soothe and love and to have an experience then i think that the film is not just an entertaining piece but it's a little bit more, i will say, they provoke something and that's what i think art should be doing. that's my job. >> rose: and that's the reason you became a filmmaker. >> i'm a filmmaker. i take by telling stories but the positions of images and sounds. >> rose: but all that resonates with you. >> we're bound to work together. and i was saying before hardworking, that doesn't mean anything bad. i was saying that because you work hard and you want to go to the bone and there is no way you can do "biutiful" without going to the bone and the viewer i think will have an experience, as you say, that goes beyond entertainment but also a personal journey. i think the reward after watching the movie is going to be big because it's about bringing empathy, compassion to yourself and to the others. and that's something that not many movies can do, which is bring you to a place which is about emotion. not about judgmental thoughts but about feeling it, feeling the experience of knowing that there are things in life that are important not to lose ever. >> i think that this is a film that for the first time i'll dealing with the tragedy. it's not a drama. it's a genre that i have never touched with a metaphysical element and with a social social commentary. the film, at the same time what javier is saying is true that for me there's an immediacy reaction but i promise that. now i guess that you sometimes can go in or not go into a film and this's the right of it. but if you let yourself go in, and you scratch a little bit on the service and the obvious reaction of people at sometime they find it very emotional. or this bleak or dark or reductive adjectives to give to a film that sometimes put you in uncomfortable position, i have found and i discovered that not all beauty is beautiful. that sometimes beautifulness or real beauty has to be found in ways and places that are not obvious and you can... you have to look a little deeper and even when they are not beautiful in the way that we understand things are much more meaningful and profound and much more full of life. and that's what it is for me. >> rose: did you guys have this kind of conversation about it? >> everyday. for ten hours. (laughter) >> rose: so this is not new to you. to hear this kind of dialogue? >> i have to say that we have to say we have a pretty lot of conversations to plan the whole thing. >> rose: critical conversations? >> yes, because i think the preparation and the things that we share in the beginning of the journey was very well thought, i think. i think there was a lot of planning and to see all the periods of these characters because it's a difficult one. you have to design it in a very precise, meticulous way. so it looks very natural but everything is predesigned and a lot of work behind that. >> this thisry minds me of penelope and pedro, yes? >> of the work, you mean? >> rose: yeah. the kind of collaboration. >> but he is not as beautiful as penelope. (laughter) >> no, but i guess it's impossible to compare one to the other. but this is like what you were saying i'm always remembering what you told me about climbing the mountains. i don't climb mountains, i don't know about that. but i guess when you do that the mountain is high and tough. there are many stages that you're going through until you climb the top. >> rose: and we were attached. there was some times that it was very rough and very cold and emotionally and physically exhausting for him and for me. we were kind of... it was sbiflt it was intense. >> rose: the music is important. >> yes. senate to not only ravel but... >> i think again to have the privilege to work and with my team, with all my family, you know? and i think that in this case it was one the most difficult films to find the right music, the right voice. and after 200 tracks we ended up with seven. there will be a c.d. that we'll call "biutiful" and another track that we'll call "almost "biutiful"" most of the tracks were good but they didn't work. i think the d.n.a. was done is... hits the right chords in the heart. >> rose: the film was shot in spain >> the film was shot in bars low that. in bars low that in all these neighborhoods that are fab tas i can and beautiful. basically all the... it's written, directed, produced and photography, the key elements of the film we are making. >> and universal thems. >> it's a co-construction so it's a mexican film with all the rights. funnily enough, spain selects the film to represent spain schs shot in bolivia with the leader of that fame. so it's a funny thing that in the 200 years of celebration of independence of those countries cinema are proving that it's interdependence and building bridges. and it's very funny that both films were represented differently, you know? >> rose: i want to go out with a scene from this film so both of you tell me... if you wanted somebody tonight to see one scene in this film that would define it for you-- and i know there are many-- help me select. >> i will select one of my daughter and me at home where we leave ourselves a huge very strong hug to each other because that's for me where i think the movie explodes to a different level in an emotional way. >> rose: i'll take that. >> he's the best. he's the best. >> rose: great to see you again. >> thank you very much. >> rose: the film is "biutiful," opens december 29. an extraordinary story. thank you for joining us for this hour. see you next time. captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org