Transcripts For KQED Charlie Rose 20140307

Problems and wallpaper than human feeling which is, you know, when i make a movie, i mean, what i care about are these characters. Charlie i know. Thats what im into into. But i like to make a world for them we made from our imaginations and research and i get pretty in depth. Charlie tom donilon and wes anderson. Next. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Charlie this evening, we continue our coverage of the ongoing crisis in ukraine, the Crimean Parliament asked a referendum today on whether the region should officially join russia. President obama said in a statement that the referendum would violate International Law. The proposed referendum on the future of crimea would violate the ukrainian constitution and violate International Law. Any discussion about the future of ukraine must include the legitimate government of ukraine. 2014, we are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders. Charlie the u. S. Increased pressure on russia by imposing visa restrictions on russian officials and president obama signed an executive order enabling sanctions against moscow, coming as secretary of state john kerry continues discussions with Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in rome. He spoke after that meeting. We want president putin and russia and everyone to understand our preference is to get back to a normality and get back to a place where the rights of the people of ukraine will be respected and the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation will be respected. The United States will continue to stand with the ukrainian people as will our allies and friends in the European Community and elsewhere in order to stand up for the values we all believe in our fellow that define our fellow democracies. Charlie also today, e. U. Officials held an emergency summit in brussels to address the crisis. They suspended talks on a wideranging economic pact with russia and threatened further sanctions if the kremlin doesnt quickly join in negotiations. Joining me from washington tom donilon, former president obamas tom National Security advisor. Im pleased to have him back. Welcome. Thank you, charlie, good to see you. Charlie set this up for me. What is our obligation and responsibility here . Well, the United States has an important obligation here. What we are talking about the europe. Were talking about the preservation of the order, the norms put in place in the postcold war era and they are being violated here you know in an attempt by one state through armed force to lop off a piece of another state. So this is an important leadership moment for the United States, and the United States working, obviously, with its european allies, its going to have to work through this problem, thats why youve had the president take a lead on political embrace of ukrainians interim government, youve had secretary kerry leading the negotiations in europe on trying to get to an agreement on an end state here or at least an interim end state. So its an important leadership moment for the United States. This is europe. Charlie and the russians, you know the president , you saw him, i guess, last may yeah. Charlie tell me where you think his head is in this. Well, you know, as a general matter, you know, the concept of the sphere of influence, balance of power, zerosum games, these are very real concepts to president putin. He, you know, has set about trying to define Russian Foreign policy as separate from, independent from the foreign policies of the west. The principle point as a counterto the United States and the west. He sees threats to his country and his view is very much a view of russia surrounded by a set of countries that he regards mainly the former soviet republics that he regards as a russian sphere of influence to be protected and, in this case, he was dealt a big blow. He also has, as you know, charlie, this rather fanciful view that, in fact, he can put together a Eurasian Union that would be a counterpart to the European Union. Its fanciful in the first place but without ukraine absolutely impossible. Charlie ukraine has a special place in russian history, though. Yeah. This whole crisis really is kind of dripping with history that really needs to be understood. Demography, including the makeup of ukraine i mean, that makeup and those historical orientations have been the whole history of ukraine including the last quarter of century thats been independent and the geopolitics here. But it is important to understand the history of ukraine. It is in many ways a tragic history but in the last quarter century theyve carved out a place as an independent nation for themselves. Charlie you believe putin is driven most of all by this Eurasian Union he can create as part of his own legacy of coming back from the very dakest days after the fall of the soviet union . I believe he believes ukraine is absolutely central to his having a sphere of influence around russia and that includes the former soviet republic, considers it important for the future of russia. I think the comments made about, you know, how there were russianettrussianethnics and spr crimea turned out to be false. So the real point is a protection of russian interest in trying to keep ukraine from orienting to europe. Ukraine is going to orient to europe. Indeed the fall of the president in ukraine was precisely due to the fact that he pulled back from an association of a Free Trade Agreement with europe because of the objections and essentially some of the, basically, payment that russia was willing to make to offset its pulling back, that was the cause of the crisis and putin saw it as unacceptable behavior by a Government Regarding as an element in his sphere of influence. Charlie is there a possibility if europe moved faster they could have made the connection and avoided some of this . I think that, in fact, europe could have moved faster and probably more strongly here. You know, they had a yearlong negotiation with the ukrainians. That said, they fully expected to sign this thing at a summit in november, but pulled back under pressure from the russians. The russians have substantial leverage here. What they did and did with ukraine is affect the trade between ukraine and russia, they have a very large say over the price and supply of natural gas in the ukraine, theyve actually cut off natural gas twice in recent years to ukraine, 2010 and 2009, so putin and the russians have leverage here, but thats really what this is about. This is about balance of power and sphere of influence in putins mind and his trying to get a grip here, more influence and leverage after a big blow. Charlie do you recognize that russia should have spheres of influence . Well, not to the extent that they can determine the direction in which the the fundamental direction in which the sovereign nations are going to take themselves. I think its a fundamental principal that a country of 46 million people, ukraine, should be able to decide whether it wants to have a Free Trade Agreement, an Association Agreement with the European Union and, of course, the position of the United States and europe wasnt that that was going to be done to the exclusion of a relationship with russia. The historical, linguistic and economic ties between ukraine and russia are substantial and would be ongoing, so the United States and the European Union did not consider the association with europe to be exclusive. But putin would not tolerate it. His view was the fact that a relationship with russia was going to be exclusive to the exclusion of any other relationships with the europeans and, of course, what he understood, charlie, is that if, in fact, as i said earlier, if ukraine oriented itself to the west, then it would not be a part of any Eurasian Union and that it would drift toward closer ties with europe which is where that country wants to go. Instead of being in favor of integration, of course, putin is in favor of exclusion and keeping these countries close to him and under his domination. Charlie whats going to happen in the crimea . Its not clear. They set this vote for to decide whether or not they want to associate with russia or ukraine. It is as the president said earlier today and as the europeans have said, you know, its blatantly illegal under the ukrainian constitution and International Law. You know, so i think a number of things have to go on here. But one there could be a number of lines of effort here. One is i think that and we have to keep our eye on all of them one is we do need to support this government in kiev, the new interim government in kiev politically and economically. Putin will do all he can to try to keep it destabilized because he doesnt want to recognize this interim government so its important for us to politically support i would have the next meeting of Foreign Ministers take place in kiev. The United States put a billion loan on the table and the europeans 15 billion in credit and loans and grants, its important we continue the effort of john kerrys leading to get to a definition of a final interim state, a deescalation of the situation. This is really dangerous. You have a situation in crimea where you have ukrainian soldiers on their own soil on bases, activeduty soldiers, right, who are being basically surround bid the russian soldiers, despite the fact that the extraordinary statement that both lavrov and the Russian Defense ministers says they were just highly trained selfdefense forces, not soldiers, in crimea, which is blatantly false. Charlie on one second. HHenry Kissinger was here last night. He said the troops can disappear and the russians dont have to look like it was a defeat for them. Those are true points. One point is it may provide an easier way for them to back off because theyre not identified and they havent claimed them as Russian Troops though putin came close to doing it in a press conference. But i was surprised how dangerous it is on the ground. You can imagine how the young soldiers faced off like that, you can imagine an accident, miscalculation or an emotional action where somebody gets killed and we have a really serious escalating mess on our hands. So its important to try to get to a set of understandings here as quickly as possible. I think the other things that we need to do is to continue to reassure our nato partners and we need to put in place, which weve begun now, sanctions and pressure on the russian government. You know, the discussion has been that we dont have a lot of leverage we being the United States and the west. Thats just not true. You know, putin, his Foreign Policy, as i said, really is kind of a Foreign Policy of standing aside, a unique russian substance in the world to reestablish a major player in the world, separate and apart of counterdistinction in the United States and the west. Can do that. He can stand defiantly aside on the political front. Your economy cant be unplugged from a globalized economy. Someone wrote the other day in 1968 when the russians invaded czechoslovakia that there wasnt a the stock market in russia didnt crash. Why . Because there wasnt a stock market. Thats not the case today. The case today is russia is integrated into the globalized economy and they have all those vulnerabilities, theres a price to be paid and i dont think putin calculated the economic pressure and price that can be put on him. Charlie he has no appreciation of how severe the sanctions if, in fact, europe participated would affect russia . I think hes underestimating the pressure. Youre right, if in fact, you had broadbased sanctions where you had a number of countries participating including and especially europe which is russias biggest patrick. Charlie at the same time, bob gates was here a couple of nights ago saying he worries very much that europe will not be able to come together on this. Well, i mean, well have discussions with the europeans. By the way, the United States can also do things with respect to the banking zip, but this will be an American Leadership issue to work with the europeans in close and lock step to on the one hand do the things i talked about in terms of embracing kiev economically and trying to deescalate, but where i think this is going is that the europeans and the United States will begin to put tests in front of the russians in terms of when will you start to deescalate, what are things we can agree to that would deescalate the situation . Can we have monitors come into all of ukraine to give a fair report of whats going on and ensure that russian ethnics and others with being protected . You know, are there a number of things we can do to get us to a better place step by step and if the russians over the next few days refuse to do any of these things, i think you will see europeans come along with respect to pressure and sanctions. A key will be chancellor merkel. You know, she obviously heads the leading economy in europe and also has a direct and longterm relationship with president putin. I think shes only going to be the key player in europe. Charlie what do you make of her remark that she wasnt sure that he was rational after a phone conversation with him . Yeah, i wasnt on the call. You know, i think that many people, when you talk to president putin, hell have a distinct view of the facts. Hes also willing to make a case as we saw in the press conference the other day, publicly and private, that doesnt add here too closely to the facts. My view is this i think hes pretty clear on his strategic interest and direction. He is a quite direct person to deal with. I do think, though, hes an autocrat, and the longer you are an auditocrat, the less challenged you are by people around you and the more limited information that comes to you over time. Thats how it works. Hes very much an autocrat. Its a misnomer to say the russians have a national Foreign Policy or system. They have one guy who makes all the major decisions, in my observation, in dealing with the russians over the last couple of years. It was different under medvedev. I saw putin in may of 2012 when he was inaugurated and it was clear when he was going in a different direction and had a different style. Charlie including his relationship with the United States . It does include his relationship with the United States and, of course, the principal hot point with respect to the relationship with the United States has been syria where we had a fundamental disagreement. I think putin tells the story from kosovo to iraq to afghanistan to libya to syria and was going to stand up against the west acting under the auspices of the United Nations to move on some of these regimes and thats been the position hes taken, and the russians have been really, really a serious problem and i think quite destructive in the situation in syria. Charlie notwithstanding the initial agreement to get the chemical weapons out of syria. Im talking about the broader scope of things in syria. I think with respect to the chemical weapons, that you know, it was a very good agreement and important for us to get back to cooperation on and, more importantly, to push the syrians to meet their obligations. That act thats an example of russianu. S. Cooperation and, if we hadnt had the ukraine situation, i think it could be something on which we could build. Hopefully we can into the future because it really is an important piece of business to get done. Charlie worst case and best Case Scenario. Yeah. Charlie worst Case Scenario, i assume, would be reigniting the cold war. Well, theres a couple of elements to the worse Case Scenario. One is something i alluded to and something experts have worried about a long time, crimea has been a potential tinderbox from the creation of the ukraines independence 23 years ago, and thats because of the ethnic makeup, thats because of its history and its because you could have a confrontation between ukraine and russia, and thats the thing i worry about in a worse Case Scenario that in fact you have a military confrontation there which can escalate. That would be obviously a worse Case Scenario followed on, by the way, a potential civil war situation in ukraine. Charlie right. So before we get to cold war a new cold war charlie you could have a hot war in ukraine. You could have a hot war in ukraine, exactly, and that is the thing we need to be very focused on. Thats what john kerry and president obama and the europeans are focused on is trying to ensure we deescalate, that we get in place mechanisms here, direct conversation between russia and ukraine and a standdown so you dont have a potential hot war in ukraine, in crimea or, god forbid, in eastern ukraine. So thats the worse Case Scenario and would be an extraordinarily destructive event in europe and one we need to do everything we can to prevent. Thats the worse case. Beyond that, you could have you know, you could have a next stage would be a standoff between the west and the United States on the one hand and the russians on the other, and you could have a real deterioration in relations, you know, for an extended period of time. You know, that would occur, obviously, if the russians dont, in any way, respond to the negotiations underway in europe right now to try to find a way you know, find a stable place and a standdown, a deescalation there, and that would be a place where we would have a difficult time in address ago lot of global issues. Charlie whats the best Case Scenario. The best Case Scenario would be that, one, is that the government of the new interim government in kiev is able to pull off a nationwide set of elections in may. Number two, that that government is supported adequately by the International Community and the imf with respect to economics. So you have a stable government. Still under pressure by the russian, by the way. I have no doubt if the government is elected not to their liking that they will continue to pressure that government. Third would be and this is a predicate to the first two would be that you coul you woula standdown in crimea where you have monitors where the russians go to their bases, where theyre given assurances with respect to the protections of the ethnic russians in crimea and given an unambiguous guarantees and understandings with respect to their very large black fleet based there a. When putin got back, im pretty sure that his folks said was we have, you know, we have to make sure that we can protect our base. Charlie first of all, the United States is suggesting the Russian Troops in crimea are arguing or making the case its a violation of International Law for Russian Troops to be in there. On the other hand, you have Vladimir Putin saying its an unconstitutional coup to overthrow in the street a democraticallyelected president. Yeah, well, he left the country, number one. Number two, the interim government was approved by 82 of the Ukrainian Parliament and, in fact, all but a few of yanukovichs party, the party of regions, voted for the new government and, indeed, that party issued a statement saying that their party and country have been held hostage by a corrupt family, which is true. I mean, the level of corruption i think well find here is pretty extraordinary. So the facts are that he was rejected by the ukrainian people, they had a process in their elected parliament, charlie, right, where they elected an interim government. He fled and, indeed, his own party has disowned him and, indeed, you know, its a little rich for putin to make this comment, given if you watched his press conference the other day how dericive he was about the former government of ukraine. Charlie is it reasonable to say putin was embarrassed by yank i cant thinbyyanukovich ao something . I dont know if he was embarrassed by yanukovich, but its basically they lost the battle to keep ukraine from orienting toward and associating with europe in the west and he was going to try to leverage and disrupt that in any way that he can. You know, the fact is and the russians understand this yanukovich is not coming back to ukraine, and his own party wont have him there. So you have a situation where you have an interim government and they set a date for elections and seems to be a sensible way to proceed. In all events, a response cant be that because you disagree with events in a sovereign country that, in fact, it provides you with any sort of legal basis on which to bring your troops into that country without that countrys permission and occupy a portion of it. You know, thats obviously not called for and, indeed, putin had a number of other ways he could have gone, if he was really worried about the protection of minorities, he could have entered in negotiations with the ukrainian government, he could have asked for monitors to come in, he could have built a case and gone to the United Nations about threats against russian ethics and others in crimea. They didnt do any of this. This was a swift operation led by the Russian Security forces to go to and try to reestablish leverage in the wake there, having a blow to their geopolitical situation an thats what this is about. Charlie Henry Kissinger was here last night and he has an op ed today called the right outcome for ukraine appearing in the Washington Post and the Tribune Media services vindication and makes four points and i want to go over them with you and see whether you disagree. Point number one ukraine should have the right to choose freely political associations including with europe. Everyone would agree with that. Thats the key point europeans are making. Doesnt have to be exclusive with us, but you cant call on ukraine to only have exclusive agreements with you russia. Charlie two, ukraine should not join nato, a position kissinger says i took seven years ago when it last came up. Do you agree with that . Well, it would be obviously very provocative and i think were well short of that at this point and, indeed, i think i saw polling, really at the time when this was considered, where the majority of ukrainians didnt want to join nato. Charlie third point. Ukraine should be free to create any government compatible with the expressed will of its people, wise ukrainian leaders would then opt for a policy of reconciliation between the various parts of their country. Internationally, they should pursue a posture comparable to that of finland. Do you agree with that . Well, a couple of points i would make on that. With respect to the finland point, thats the point about their being able to have relationships going in either direction, which i think is perfectly appropriate. Charlie four. It is incompatible with the rules of existing world order for russia to annex crimea but it should be possible to put crimeas relationship to ukraine on a less fraught basis to that end russia would recognize ukraines sovereignty over crimea, ukraine should reinforce crimeas autonomy in elections held, process including removing ambiguities about the status of the black sea fleet. Do you agree. I think thats sensible but i dont think the russians are interested in that sort of outcome, right . I mean, thats not where the russians are. I think its sensible and certainly i think kerry is probably pursuing things along these lines, i would think, but certainly, as henry says later in his piece, he understands not all of the parties will agree with this, but you have to get the best possible outcome and balance. I wanted to go back to the third point you made which is a really important point henry makes on reconciliation. Ace said earlier, its important for the United States and the west to support ukraine politically, to embrace it and, indeed, i would have the next Foreign Ministers meeting be in kiev. I would have john kerry bring the entire group there to demonstrate the embracing of the world to the new kiev government and im quite strongly advocating quick economic assistance. But we also need to make clear to the kiev government that the point henry makes about reconciliation and sending signals embracing all ukrainians is absolutely required for going forward. The history of ukraine over the last quarter of a century has been this back and forth, this eastwest divide, this fight over whether or not whos going to be on top, whether it be russian oriented group in the east or the western oriented group and there needs to be leadership that sends significance falssignalsand emb. The reconciliation is important going forward. The next thing important, ukraine did was to null fya 2012 law that nullified russian to be as the language and that was repealed. Charlie does this move forward or backward u. S. Russian relations . Well, this is a a pretty severe crisis in the u. S. Rusta relations and the outcome will determine the relations for some time to come. The history of it, obviously, is we came obama came into office, pursued a relationship with russia, we tried to get as much done as we could in our joint interest and we got quite a bit done, including the arms treaty, russian succession to the wto, russias support in afghanistan and other terrorism efforts and a number of other things. President putin came in in may of 2012 and really i think the right word to describe the u. S. Russia relationship since then has been stalled on big issues. We have a number of things we do back and forth, but on big issues, its been stalled. Putin, its interesting, had expressed to me then and when i saw him last may an interest in deepening the u. S. Russian economic relationship and, of course, thats going to be damaged by this. But big things like the next steps in arms control, addressing Missile Defense issues, these things have all been pushed aside by syria and they will be pushed to the side for the foreseeable future while we work through the situation of ukraine where russia has acted in a way, really, incompatible with the order put in place in the postcold war world in europe in a forcible a annexatin or occupation of a sovereign countrys territory. Charlie tom donilon, thanks for joining us. Very interesting and helpful to understand it. I thank you and look forward to talking again with you soon. Thank you, charlie. Good to see you. Charlie wes anderson is here and we are very happy about that. He is one of cinemas most original filmmakers. His movies are known for their unique tone and visual style. His new mov movie is a caper in preworld war ii europe, following a legendary concierge and the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted film. Heres the trailer of the grand budapest hotel. Why do you want to be a lobby boy . Who wouldnt . Im at the grand budapest, sir. And so my life began, junior lobby boy in training under the strict command of gustave h. Many of the hotels most valued and distinguished guests came for him. I love you. This is also when i met ago thamplets shes so charming. Hes with you . Yes. I approve of this union. Became his pupil and he was to my counselor and guardian. The police are here. Ell them i will be right there. Shes been murdered and you think i did it. Hey stop youre looking so well, darling, you really are. It must be the cream they put on you down at the mall. I want some. This is madame d. s last will and testament. A bequeath painting on his boy with apple. What . Whos gustave h . Im afraid thats me, darling. If i ever learn you once laid a finger on my mothers body, living or dead i go to bed with all my friends. Oh we need to make a plan for your survival. I did. Its a code. You might need a magnifying glass but it tells you where and how to find boy with apple. May i offer you a plate of mush . [ music ] i want road blocks every junction for 50 kilometers. Every train station for 100 kilometers. 50 men and ten blood hounds ready in five minute. [ music ] you cant arrest him simply because hes a bloody immigrant. Take your hands off my lobby boy [ music ] have you been questioned by the authorities. Yes. When. Arrested and tortured by the militia after the uprising. Charlie pleased to have wes anderson back at the table. Welcome can. Thank you. Charlie we looked at a rather long trailer. Now you dont need to see the movie. Charlie when you watched the trailer, tell me what you saw. What is the art industr artistrn this movie . We have Ralph Fiennes at the center of the story. I always had the impression of rafe as a shakespearean actor, but the thing i realized working with him is he is really more like a method actor, like a Marlon Brando kind of actor and i love that because, you know, i had a similar experience with gene hackman as somebody who just takes it. Charlie with the royal tenenbaums. Yes, years ago. And we have a great ensemble around him. Charlie describe jude law then. Well, jude law plays theres a sort of framing device in the movie. The story is in the 30s, most of the movie is, but in the 60s in the communist era, we have an author played by jude who meets a character played by f. Murray abraham, and jude sort of narrates it. Hes our guide into the story. Charlie and the story is . The story is its about a Hotel Concierge who has a whole kind of circle of women admirers, mostly older women rich older women and one of them dies and he gets sort of caught up in the family in kind of a you know, a fight for the inheritance. Charlie so some say about you, and weve talked about this before, that you want people to have fun on your set and you want people you like on your set. You love making movies and, so, why not make it an adventure . Well, thats exactly it. You said it perfectly well. Thats exactly how i feel about it. On this movie, we had you know, we went to this town we went around hungary and the Czech Republic and poland and wandered around where we were going to do this movie and how. We found this Department Store in a city called gerlitz on the polish boarder in germany and it was a great location to build the lobby on the hotel, would be partly a location and partly a set in this thing. But we also found a little hotel in the middle of the city a that i thought, we can take over this place, live there and get a cook. It turned out to be a perfect kind of home base for us. Charlie how did you find the story . Well, theres a real person who is one of the inspiration the character played by Ralph Fiennes is based on an old friend of mine and hugos. But theres also i started reading this author Stefan Charlie yes. And only six years ago i started reading his stuff and i never heard of him. And the more i read him, the more i think, i think i can do something i can do my version of his world. Charlie yeah, and what happened to him . Well, you know, he was hes from vienna. Charlie right. And he, you know, grew up in the vienna before the first world war. Charlie right. Where art was the center of everything. The morning paper had poetry. Charlie and vienna was the center of art. Was the center of europe, culture. And he saw this sort of obliterated by the first world war, by nationalism and then by fascism and the communism was on its way, and he got out early. You know, he was a jew in vienna. He got out long there were some episodes that he cleared out early, but he didnt really recover from what he witnessed and what he felt was happening and what was happening in europe, and he ended up eventually he was here, in new york for a while, and then he ended up in south america, in brazil, and in 42, he commits suicide with his wife. Charlie yeah. And its the end of the stefan story, which is also part of why, at least until two years ago, he was a bit of a forgotten voice in america, at least. Charlie he really was a bestselling author in europe. He was the biggest. Charlie and gustave is who . Gustave h. Gustave h. Charlie yes. This is the concierge sort of manager of the hotel. Charlie based on a friend of yours . Yes, our friend is not a hotel guy, but the way he talks and his personality. Many details of his personality. He wears a heavy dose of cologne. My friend is like six squirts every morning. Charlie and such is where movies come from. Exactly. [ laughter ] charlie one of the things people say about you, as you know probably unfair but they say, hes more interested in set pieces and interesting characters and the little nuances of relationships fatherson all kinds of relationships, thats what he cares about. Hes not as interested, as many other filmmakers are, in story. You dont like that . You dont agree with that . Or, yes, its true . Well, i guess the rap i get is more into props and wallpaper than human feeling, which when i going to make a movie, what i care about are these characters. Charlie i know. Thats what im kind of into. But i do like to make a world for them that weve sort of made from our imaginations and research and all that kind of tough and i do get pretty into that, so i cant say its an invalid criticism, but, i mean, if someone says whats the most important thing, i say the thing that makes the movie live or die is the relationship between Ralph Fiennes and the lobby boy. Charlie if that doesnt work, you have no movie. Exactly, however great the wallpaper is. Charlie the wallpaper for you is important. Why do you think that is . Its the setting and accentuates the moment. I think, you know, the thing you see the most, weve got this you know, weve got this square or rectangle that is the movie. The faces are a big part of it, but the clothes and the set, weve got this amount of space going to communicate, whatever feelings and ideas, so i want to work on all of it. Charlie we have talked about this, too this as well, is this about surrogate fatherhood . Yeah, i mean you know, im very close to my father. Often people ask me i seem to do these fathersonnesque relationships, even more than fathers and sons. Charlie you grew up in houston. In houston, yes. And i do have, a long with an always great friendship with my father, i have had various mentors. Ive had good friends over the years that are, you know, 30 years older than i am, an thats always been important to me. In particular, owen wilson and i charlie another houstonian . From dallas. And we went to School Together in austin. Charlie that would be the university of texas. The university of texas. And our first movie we did together, that we wrote together was produced by james l. Brooks, who was our mentor and sort of taught us everything about how to make a script, how to edit a movie and, for me, how to function as a person in the movie industry. I mean, to this day, when i know im just doing what i saw jim do in so many situations, i saw him be strong and clear and i just saw him kind of get it, and i said, oh, i see, so this is how its done. So those kind of relationships mean quite a lot. Charlie Martin Scorsese is a great admirer of yours. You know that, obviously. Well, i mean, hes been kind to me. Charlie he said in his own words how much he admires you. Is there a relationship there . Theres a relationship with me idolizing him. [ laughter ] i mean, over the years hes the one person i can think of who will screen movies on film and every now and then over the years ive gotten the invitation to go over and see what hes looking at that day and its always a little master class, two movies and one of the films i made we made in india. I made this movie because i went over there and saw this movie called the river that Lawrence Scorsese was screening and i said, i think i know what i want to do next and, you know, hes got the Film Foundation which is one of the most valuable, you know, resources and organizations for this art form ever. Charlie one of the best shows ever done on this program over 25 years is on the death of falini he came to talk about him. It is his passion for craft and wants to share and to share the enthuse yafflesenenthusiasm. The wolf of wall street, we dont even think about how big this thing is, and basically a comedy of that length but it has such power and energy and these surprises. Every time Leonardo Dicaprio is talking to us on camera, its like a jolt of adrenalline. Charlie lets show you where gustave h and his lobby boy, find out when they must visit a recently deceased house guest played by tilda swinton, just to show you how great this cast is. [ music ] [ sound o what do you want . Look. Dear god. Im terribly sorry, sir. She needs me and i need you. [ woman calling ] just a minute darling. Five minutes. Bring a bottle and two classes. Charlie what did i just see . One thing about it is, you know, this is two guys who weve got Ralph Fiennes, someone with tremendous craft and training and experience and hes talking very, very fast and there arent too many people who can take this dialogue and blast through it and you still understand every word and hes acting opposite a great kid whos never been in anything, you know, whos been in high school and the funny thing is that on the set of the movie, very quickly this kid, tony, we forget hes never done this before. You know, he just acts like its business as usual, and hes never not only is it his first movie to be in, hes never even had a job. Hes showing up for work every morning. Charlie did he do well . He did great. He was so resilient. Hes very charismatic and selfpossessed. Charlie when you write, every movie youve ever made you wrote yeah. Charlie could you imagine doing somebody elses movie . You know, i mean, i yes, i can. What i can imagine is, if ive got nothing of my own, you know, so far, every time i finish a movie, i have something brewing that becomes the thing i really, really want to do and, so, i stay with that. But if at some point i dont have that and i go for some period of time, somebody else give me something. Charlie when you where, do you have your actors in mind . With this, we had rafe in mind. I wanted rafe from when we first started. Charlie you got him before there was a script. No, i didnt tell him. The one thing ive tried it different ways. One thing ive noticed is the best way to get an actor to not want to do the part is to offer it to them. Thats the first signal for them that this might not be as good as they thought it was. So ive tried to kind of be psychological about it. In the case of rafe, i sent him the script and said, is there a part you like . I mean, he has the biggest part, the best part, but i sort of just, you know, edged around it. Charlie did he come back and say gustave h . Yes, he did. He claimed the right part. [ laughter ] but all the other actors, i didnt have any of them, i didnt even think about them until the script was done, then i thought of who i want. This is the only time ive ever had this happen. We got everybody that we wanted, except for Tilda Swintons character is 85 years old and, originally, we had somebody we had offered it to Angela Landsbury and she wasnt able to do it. And i thought, well, i love tilda, and she can be 85. Shell figure it out. Charlie yes. But is there much room for improvisation on your set . Well, for my i think maybe the actors describe it how they describe it. For me, when we get on the set, weve prepared everything weve done on this stuff and weve got everything sort of arranged, and then they take over. And we usually do a lot of takes very, very quickly, one after another, and its more like i mean, depending on the kind of scene it is, but most of the time, we work very, very fast, and they bring a lot of energy to it and it usually feels a little chaotic on the set. So i feel like they may not change the lines, but they improvise everything else, how theyre going to do it. And it usually feels very spohn spontaneous on the set. Charlie this is bill murray, he plays a concierge. You and bill murray. Yeah, i think bill and sri done now seven yeah, i think bill and i have done seven movies together, which is a pretty good run. And ive had him in bigger and littler parts. Charlie the life aquatic. The life aquatic was the biggest part, maybe. Charlie all right. And the first was rushmore. Hes one of the people i got to know him for the obvious reasons. I was such a big fan and i managed to luck into him doing this first movie, and hes a very loyal person, but not only have i had the luxury of getting all these characters to be played by this, you know, spectacular actor, but ive also gotten the luxury of having him involved with these movies in a daytoday way which is you know, he brings more than you can even more than you would expect to the set. You know, hes somebody whose energy is kind of experienced by everybody youre working with, and he can be a very, very wise person. So hes a great kind of advisor, a great friend to have. Charlie heres the scene. Roll tape. Get in we found the butler, hes hiding in the remote foothills near the peak. Our contact is tomorrow at the observatory on the summit. Tell no one. Hell explain everyone. The train departs in four and a half minutes. Here are your tickets. Third class. It was overbooked. He pulled some strings. You will need these for the dining car. One last thing [ whispered ] only had half an ounce. You should give something of a symbolic gesture. How much money have you got . 25. Bless you. Please. [ laughter ] charlie is that the scene you remember some. Yeah, bill, you know, he has just a little part in this movie, but hes one of those people where you can say, if youve got one part that you want to kind of penetrate, you want to grab people with, hell grab you. Charlie so, marty says its the editing room you love the most. What is it you love the most . You know, i find that each time we finish a part of the process, the script or the shooting or whatever it is, i am ready to end that, and even the editing ram, you know, im ready editing room, im ready to shut it down. But im always eager to get on the next part. To me, the time thats kind of the most exhilarating is the shooting of the movie and having the actors and being together and doing the thing. But the editing room is a special thing because usually it has this rhythm of each day you make a scene, and i like to, you know, work on the scene today and show it to my girlfriend or whoever is there with me, and this one we edited at a house that we have in england. Charlie have you made the movie you most want to make . Well, when i first started making movies, i had three or four movies in mind. I had a sort of sequence of movies in mind, and i did those. We had Bottle Rocket rushmore, the royal tenenbaums and the one after that is the life aquatic. Charlie right. Those four movies, i had in mind when owen and i were in college together. I mean, we were working on them and in some little form they existed, then everything after that, you know, is something from later. So im sort of past all the movies that i felt i needed to make in the beginning. But, you know, i have something kind of brewing for the next one, so im really i just do them one at a time. Charlie great to have you here. Thank you, charlie, so happy to be back. Charlie wes anderson, the film is called the grand budapest hotel, it opens on friday march 7. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this is nightly Business Report with Tyler Mathisen and susie gharib. Brought to you in part by thestreet. Com. Featuring stephy link who shares her investment strategies, stocks insights and more deescalate learn more at the street. Com nbr. S p closes at an alltime high deescalate its 50th record close in the past 12 months deescalate whats driving it and which sectors should you invest in for the long haul . Good for your health . Think your employer will offer a health plan ten years from now . Why you might want think again. Whats your broker hiding