Lot of horror to it. Theres a little more readiness and suspiciousness with the main character than in other horror movies. Charlie Jonathan Karl and jordan peele when we continue. Funding by charlie rose is funded by the following rose funding for charlie rose has been provided by the following and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and Information Services worldwide. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Charlie we begin this evening with a look at President Trumps first trip abroad. It comes after the report that President Trump leaked information to russians and he responded to the allegation. I never mentioned the word or the name israel. Never mentioned it. End of conversation. Never mentioned the world israel. Charlie tomorrow President Trump will meet with the palestinian president abbas. Were joined now by jerusalem with Jonathan Karl at a very late hour. Thank you for joining us. Ill start with the question, it seems like a remarkable trip to me because it seems to different from the trump campaign. Its an incredibly ambitious trip and the mere fact he started in saudi arabia and not just in saudi arabia the birth place of islam but at a conference where he was surrounded by the leaders of more than 50 muslim nations. An entirely different image for donald trump. I dont think any of us would have predicted that in the campaign when he was declaring islam hates us and proposing a total and complete ban on all muslims coming to the United States. Including by the way, all the people at that event. A very different image of donald trump and the tone was different he didnt utter the words radical islamic terrorism. He doesnt say that. It was a message of cooperation and its more like a message wed heard from george w. Bush after 9 11 or in some ways barack obama. Charlie what happened to change his mind . Governing . I think governing is the big thing. And i think this trip you see the mark of h. R. Mcmaster his National Security adviser who advised him from the moment he took the job to do away with the phrase radical islamic terrorism. And it can come back quickly. Jered kushner a big architect of the trip. He saw a big moment with United States and israel share and israels asia neighbors share an enemy, iran. A unique moment where the president found he had quite common cause with the leaders of saudi arabia and americas traditional gulf allies who thought under barack obama the United States had turned too much towards iran and saw a change in donald trump for all the antimuslim rhetoric. What they were hearing was rhetoric that was antiiran. Rhetoric that suggested the United States would steer in a different diction from obama. Charlie it seems from sitting here in new york city the president said to all of those gulf and arab allies and muslim countries said to them, look, i need your help to fight terrorism and you need to do this because its in your interest and not against your fate. I think he called them criminals in worse and in order to do that ill give you tools to do that. Ill support your idea for isolating iran. A kind of bargain took place there. I think thats exactly right. And the image of that meeting in riyadh the one where the president gave his big speech, this was 50 plus nation. Basically the full islamic world, arab, african, asian. More than 50 nations invited and attending and the only not there were irans aly ally and the message with us isolating iran. It was significant air force one traveled directly from riyadh to tel aviv. Its the first known flight thats done that because of course there are no diplomatic relations whatsoever between saudi arabia and israel. In fact the saudis dont allow planes going to israel to fly over their air space. I was on the press plane not on air force one. We had to fly to cyprus to go to israel so there were some symbolism going right over their air space and you hear that talking to asia arab leaders. They have no beef with israel. Their concern is to a certain extent to isis and the kind of radical extremism isis represents. Thats their concern. Its not israel right now. Charlie but is there hope in this and well talk about whats happened since you got to jerusalem, but is there hope if he can get the asia ab count arab countries on the same side they can cooperate to make progress in a possible agreement between israel and the palestinians. Thats explicitly the hope you hear from white house officials. Theyre hope is this provides momentum to the israelipalestinian Peace Process. Youll see more support now for that Peace Process and for israel in that Peace Process than youve ever seen before. Because again israels arab neighbors do not see it as the enemy. They see it as the ally battle for iran in the region. That may be wishful think. All the same issues and difficult to solve issues between the israelis and the palestinians. None of those go away as a result of this. But what white house officials believe and what they hope is that you now have more support from israels arab neighbors than youve seen before. That will provide more impetus for the palestinians to make a deal. And the president has been very careful on this trip. This was a president who spoke about immediately moving the embassy and he hasnt mentioned that once. We asked official that in public and private settings. Its not something theyre pushing now. Theyre not looking to push anything that will antagonize the palestinians. Charlie so what about the idea the president in his meeting with the Russian Foreign minister and Russian Ambassador offered up classified information that had come from the israelis . Its an incredible story. It overshadowed the trip when netanyahu and he met and as the reporters were being ushered out of the room it was remarkable to hear President Trump saying, wait, wait, i have something to say. He said he never told the russians the information. That wasnt the story. The story was the information came from israel. But it provided a little bit more fuel for the story. Did it do any damage . I dont know. Theres no obvious damage that was done to the israeliu. S. Relationship. The public statements coming out of the israelis are the relationship are as strong as ever but it was clearly Sensitive Information and the israelis didnt want that information to be handled as loosely as it was. Charlie ret let me move to a broader issue and mueller is looking at a lot of things getting ready for his investigation. So all thats there when you come back. Can you look at the trip so far and say its been well prepared . The president made a speech welcomed by the saudis. The president s in israel and hes having good conversations with the prime minister. He goes on now to rome and the g7 meeting where hell complete his nineday but so far the president is doing as they hoped he would do . Absolutely. I think the trip so far has been one of the highlights of the Trump Presidency so far. The speech was well received. Not up universally but well received by the gulf neighbors and hes been on the world stage and it has been a trip that isnt simply going by and talking to people. Its a well conceived trip and a strategy behind the trip and a larger Foreign Policy and National Security objective. But he goes back right before memorial day and james comey has agreed to testify. Well see if that takes place now that muellers investigation and mueller may not want him to appear in public at this point. But as soon as he gets back all those problems await and theres a long way to go on this trip. Charlie who will he see at the g7 . Before he goes to the g7 he goes to nato in brussels. Theres a nato meeting. Again theres a chance for him to walk back some of his Campaign Rhetoric which was nato is obsolete. Nato doesnt do enough to pull its share. Hes changed that rhetoric already. Well see how he does in nato. Then in g7 in sisley hell be meeting with the issues that are the bread and butter of the administration. Charlie i know its late there in jerusalem. Safe travels. Thank you, charlie. Thank you. Charlie well be right back. Stay with us. Jordan peele is here. His work on the Comedy Central sketch series key and peele earned him awards. He made a directorial film and his film is called one of the most satisfying thrillers in several year. Get out has grossed over 38 times its budget for 175 militar million. Heres a look at the trailer. You have your here te theatre. Mom and dad my black boyfriend will be coming up this weekend. I dont want you to be shocked but hes a black man. Ive never seen you like this before. Dont come back all different. So you guys come up from the city . Yeah, heading up for the weekend. Can i see your license, please. He wasnt driving. I didnt ask who was driving i asked to see his i. D. How longs this been going on . We hired them to help with hi parents. I couldnt bare to let them go. Do you smoke in front of my daughter . Im going quit. She can take care of that for you. How . Hypnosis. So look i go do my research. Apparently a bunch of brothers been missing in this suburb. How not scared of this . I dont see no brothers around here. You felt much more comfortable with my being here. Sorry, man. Get out. I got to go. Is everything okay . Get the keys. Ji dont know where they are. Wait. What a terrible thing to waste. Theres too many white people. No, no, no, no. Charlie i am please to have jordan peele back at this table. Welcome. Thank you. Charlie you call it a social thriller. Yeah. I thought there needed to be a new word for this. In, its weird because its not quite full on horror. The trailer looks what i hear a lot is im not a fan of horror movies but this one i liked. This one i could deal with. I think theres something about the thriller genre that has more of an intellectual con owetation. So i connotation so im torn. Charlie you decided to look at racism and put it within a horror genre and bring the two together and it becomes a social thriller. And it becomes a social thriller. I very much patterned this movie over like stepford wives and marys baby which dealt with gender and hit the issues. Both stories by ira levin are about men making decisions with womens bodies. Charlie and if you can do that with gend are er gender you can do it with race. When they were competing in 2008 in the Election Gender and race were seen in context with one another for the first time in a long time. Charlie in context . Almost like in 2006 what will be historys first. The first woman or black man. It almost felt like the two identities were pinned against each other. Which is more deserving in a weird way. But what it did for me was show that theres civil rights plights though they have different paths its the same thing. Charlie how will African Americans view this differently than white americans . Its a really good question. One that i thought about a lot creating it. I definitely knew i wanted to make a movie that would serve the very loyal black horror thriller fan base who comes out loyalty time and time again. We see horror movies we like and we identify that world but were not represented there. Not only is our skin not represented in a protagonist role but our identity isnt presented. Our awareness of staying out of danger. This goes back to the eddie murphy routine, black people in a horror movie make a very different short horror movie. Thats where part of the title came from this amityville title of get out. I was making a movie for black people but i doesnt want to exclude anybody. Charlie have you always wanted to be a filmmaker . Since i was 13, 14 i wanted to be a director. I was so transported by my favorite movies like alien and Edward Scissorhands and it scared me for a while into comedy but it was a good thing. It was what i needed to get my full training i think. Charlie when you thought about being a director did you think about trying to direct a horror film . Yeah, i did. I basically like all the fun genres, action, scifi, horror. I think the title of a horror would be the coolest thing for me. Charlie you went the comedy route which may have been good preparation for being a director. I think so. Comedy is an art form that forces you to study and be aware of the audience. Especially when you get live comedy training which the first section of my career was live improv and sketch and you get this idea of what the audience is going to respond to and you learn to you train yourself to be able to sort of pinpoint what the audience is thinking and what theyre feeling at any point. So when i made this movie it was that same sort of attention to the audience. Theres no way you can sort of regard what youre hoping the audience can get out of it. Charlie and theres also timing. And timing. Timing its a real link between horror and comedy actually. Both require a certain precision with timing because if youre going to stair an audience you need to get the scare at the same time. If youre getting a laugh you want the audience to laugh at the same time. Its about tension and release. Charlie was the thought of racism after the 2008 election or has that always been in there somewhere . The first notion i knew i wanted to make a horror movie about was unwanted attention. You always hear the fear of public speaking is the the images to me of people all of a sudden turning to look at you is universal. I started with that and soon i realized i wanted to make a movie about race which was very terrifying but i thought lets write. Charlie did you show it to people once you had a rough cut or simply work within your own script. I did show people. I did show people. And thats generally how i work. Im very collaborative. Im into anybodys opinion. Like i said, i think theres some filmmakers who have an attitude ill make the film for me and if nobody likes it too bad. Its my movie. Thats not me. I want to make ever person in the audience like it. Charlie you never had the thought of a postracial era. Idea we ever were in a Postracial America is a sentiment that came when president obama was elected and we had a black president charlie the president didnt seem to want to make his blackness an issue. And in key and peele we did the obama and his anger translato translator luther that was the idea he was rise ag above race and we understand he could get pigeonholed if she showed anger. He didnt clap back at donald trump in accusing him not being if this country. Long story short the postracial lie is a huge part of why we are where were at now. Charlie because we denied it with the hope the postracial era is here and it was counterpresident elec counterpresident elect counterproductive is common ground. It was a way to suppress talking about it. If we called out trump for being racist in that nonsense, the vibe i felt was who cares. We have a black president. There was this acceptance that race was unimportant because we had obama. I felt anytime communication and dialog is suppressed it gets out of control. Charlie black lives matter was that an influence . No. The black lives Matter Movement began far into the process of making this movie. I had already written the movie. Actually, i had come out with the movie and by the time i put pen to paper was three years ago so around then. There was a convergence with the movement and the movie. Charlie what about the incidents of Police Shootings and some being acquitted . Yeah, you know, a tremendously horrific and painful realization that we came to. I think the cell phones and the black lives Matter Movement were reasons we were able to come out of the postracial lie, as i call it. But yeah, the interesting thing is i was making the movie as the culture was developing. So by the time the movie was the first round of shooting was done we were in a very different america then when i started the movie. Charlie did you change the movie at all . It did. On the dvd bluray theres a commentary, i talk about it. Charlie the directors notes or whatever. The directors notes. The original ending we shot was a downer. It was meant to be a gut punch. Charlie the original ending. And he ended up in jail. It was meant to be a sort of wakeup call. By the time wed shot the movie, the wakeup call has kind of happened. It was quite clear that audiences needed an escape. They needed a happy ending. Charlie not comedy, a happy ending. Someone who had gone through all the experience hed gone through in the film. He needs to come out of that. We needed a hero. And especially the movie coming out after trump was elected as well. I think there was even more of a feeling of some justice and escape and the ability to look at the issue of racism in a way that doesnt seem to drain everything we have left. You can actually think and have a dialog about race and while seeing kind of a fun irreverent movie. Charlie heres where chris meets the parents. How longs this been going on . Four months. Four months . Five months, actually. Shes right. Im wrong. Attaboy. Better get used to saying that. Some sorry. Yeah, so sorry. Do you have an off button. Its exhausting. I want a tour. Charlie so what do you want us to think about the parents at this stage . It occurred to me at some point in the writing stage that it would be too easy to go at the more typically the people more typically accused of being racist. If i went after the liberal elite type of parents that id really be hitting the postracialness. The people who present that they are not racist the most in a way. And really what i want is complicated. I want the audience know its a horror movie and know its going somewhere dark but we also know they are probably the best version of these mystery parents you could meet. Theyre about as comforting as it gets. Though they have these moments that fall in the micro aggression category you can like them but you Pay Attention to every word. Charlie theres something off. Something a little bit dangerous. Good, good, good. I love subverting charlie like theyre laughing at themselves. They know something. Charlie most of us dont know and nervous about it. And thats one of the fun things about horror movies is that we know its a horror movie. We can sort of see the future a little bit. But i think charlie but the victims dont or the intended victims. Thats right. But i think in this case part of the reason the movie resonates and feels satisfying is because the black experience has a lot of horror to it. Theres a little bit more readiness and more suspiciousness with the main character of the movie than in other movies. Charlie do you need comedic relief in the film . Yeah, you really do. Its a big ask to ask be an audience to sit through racial tension and uncomfortableness and theres moments in the movie i know we were squirming and theres a good deal of patience im asking from the audience. We have who plays rod the tsa guy who we saw quickly in the trailer and he became he became my release valve. He doesnt just come and tell jokes. Hes not a fool. Hes more right and more realistic than most characters in a horror movie in a way because hes saying what we want somebody to say. Charlie does the comedic timing give you the internal sense of when you need comic relief . It does. And with this movie it was very clear we dont really have a whole lot of leavity except for the character. This whole movie was a tonal balance. Thats the whole idea. I pitched the plot to the producers but you have to follow it up and say look, i know the tone is the thing. If its too silly or funny it feels kind of the subject matter isnt done justly. If its too horrific and torturous its just that. We dont want to watch racial violence. You have to reach a level where its fun and serious. Charlie have you watched audiences watch the film . Oh, yeah. Charlie what have you learned . I had a similar question going into the release of the film how are black people versus while people going to view the film. Obviously theres neighborhoods you can go that get really into the movie and theyre standing and cheering. The thing i was most proud of is in a mixed audience theres a familiar vibe. Where people start from, black people recognize certain things and white people recognize certain things. By the end of the movie everyones cheering at the same part. I like to think it brought audiences more together than apart. Charlie that were showing you we still have to Pay Attention to and deal with in our society or Something Else . On the basic level this is the power of story telling to me. When you tell a good story have you a protagonist and whoevers watching it if its done right for that hour and a half, two hours you are the protagonist. Charlie the audience identified with the protagonist and put themselves in his or her place. If you watch the movie youre not charlie, youre chris going through this with him as him. Thats what i think can be cathartic were allowing ourselves to see the world through someone elses shoe. Its empathy and you can take a fun, silly violent movie and transport somebody into someone elses point of view. Charlie what were you looking for in an actor to play chris . Somebody who had the quality of Sidney Poitier and jimmy stewart. The second hes on the screen im that guy, im patient, i dont pop off and daniel feels like the smartest guy in the room and the movie falls apart fast if the hero does something stupid. Charlie the success is amazing. Its up over 150 million. 175 million domestic and a chunk of change international too. Its crazy. Charlie the story telling . Good director, good acting, good script . Is there something about the timing . About whatever elements are in this film . Its a perfect storm. It really is. Amazing cast crew and the talent involved believed in it. Its a topic that i think challenges people. When you hear it works you have to see it. I think theres a freshness and everybody wants new things right now. Most importantly its got reveals. Its the type of movies if you see it multiple times it changes. Thats big. Charlie youve done executed the horror genre well but its the subject matter that makes it so interesting. I think anything we suppress and in this situation its a certain amount of looking at ourselves. A certain amount of talking about race like we were saying. When have you that suppression theres a need for it to escape and get out. No pun intended. And this movie i think what happens with the horror genre like with comedy, with horror there is understanding you may step over the boundary. You may be irreverent. Theres this unspoken contract with you and the audience. It relieves some of the difficulty of going there and talking about race because the way we talk about race is broken. Charlie this gives you a different way to feel it. Charlie beyond the idea of timing and knowing the audience what are the other things horror and comedy have in common . I think theyre both ways in which we deal with the fear of death strangely. This may be going weird and deep charlie we like that. The rhythm of both have set up a pattern for the audience to suspect a pattern and then you break it in a strategic way. When you break it thats when you get your scare, when you get your laugh. Thats the rhythm and timing of it. I dont think its a coincidence that is a mini allegory for life and death. Its part of the absurdity of existence is were hear and we have consciousness and then therell be a break in the pattern. To me theyre royalty among genres for that reason. Charlie between the idea of writer, director, comedian, of those three would you define yourself most importantly as writer . Ive always wanted to be a director so thats the one i got to go with. I think the reason this movie worked was the writing phase. Charlie but you wrote screenplays before. I have. I wrote keanu that im proud of and was fun. The horror genre i think i had more to give. Charlie was anything in your lie that made you like the horror genre . Theres the connect of feeling like an outsider with horror typically as well as science fiction. Charlie so growing up you felt an outsider because of race or Something Else . Being mixed brings a feeling like youre accepted by both sides. Charlie black father, white mother . Yes, black father, white mother. Theres a feeling you have acceptance from both sides but you dont quite fit in perfectly in either way. I have a wonderful family that raised me and everything and thats part of it. Another part is good Old Fashioned some of us are outsiders by nature. Charlie was it the power of the script that got you the opportunity to direct the film . It was the power of the story. I had the story ready. I sold it off a pitch. Charlie what was the pitch like . I said, look, heres a movie that ones ever going to make but its going give you a good idea how twisted and weird my brain is and i said look, its a horror version of guess whos coming to dinner. I took them scene to scene and the story and how everything connected and by the end of the pitch he said we want to make it. Charlie he didnt say anything about budget . We may have discussed under 5 million. Charlie not, jordan, have you made a film before . [laughter]. That was the thing. I have so much respect for filmmakers i didnt even presume i could direct it. Charlie you didnt think of yourself. It was an idea you were selling. I really believed no ones ever going to make the movie. Its too dangerous and scare too many people with a capital s. Charlie you thought you dont want to get in the way of a good idea so lets get the film sold and then well decide on the director. Thats pretty much it. I think a big part of the doubt was feeling like i cant possibly direct something as good as my favorite movies. And no one would let me. You dont let a firsttime director handle Something Like this. Its like a whole thing we tell ourselves. Part of it is because theres a lack of black voices in the industry and only a few role models, spike lees and a few others. Theres this writing through the script that i said you know what, im the only one who can direct it. Charlie what was that moment like . It was this the scene where chris is at the party and hes at a party with a bunch of white people. The friends of the grandfather of roses grandfather and he is the center of attention in a very weird way. They come up to him and say things like, you know, i love tiger. Its a piece of the African American experience charlie i love michael. I love michael. I would have voted for obama a third time if i could. Its part of the minority experience. The experience of anyone who feels like the other or the outsider in the situation that i realize i hadnt really seen yet. I remember thinking if someone gets this wrong the whole movie falls apart. Charlie i dont want to trust my movie with someone else. I have to take the reins. Charlie did you say look, im going direct it . Pretty much. Charlie pretty much like that . I have to do it. So my happiness there was no debate. It was just, great. He loved it. Charlie theres this also in terms of people who make movies and have a great movie their first time out, it turns out they have been a student of movies and know exactly what directing about not having done it. Theres more to learn having done it and im sure you can fill volumes about that but some have studied and are you one of those . I am. Im a real student. And very encouraged by someone like Quentin Tarantino who has no formal training except as an actor. Charlie and working in a video store. Which i had 300, 400 vhss in high school. Charlie in high school . I was this big film geek. So i knew i had the same pedigree as taryne tarantino who was quoted as saying as i know what i like to watch. And make the best movie i can see. Make the movie someone can make for me was my guiding principle. Charlie was the decision to make a movie what split up you and michael key. We each had things we wanted to do. For me i knew i had this thing brewing. I knew and i also felt like key and peele where it was a fun, dream project. We dont know if wed be taking a step up with the next season. We were feeling like were saying what we want to say and we suspected the next season would be as good as the current season and that was time to step down. Charlie and whats next . I read somewhere you have four social thrillers in mind. When i started writing this movie i started with different ideas. The idea was as soon as something gets boring or you get Writers Block you have to have fun. I have some other projects that i havent written the script for but ive been working on the plot. Charlie and might you make films that you will not only direct but act in . No. Im not into acting any more. I had so much fun writing and directing this movie and acting is less fun for me. What is it about this that made it fun other than something you always wanted to do and clearly have you skill that is translatable to film. I dont know. For me its an adventure. To be able to feel the trust of the people around you for me i always picture it like you get to be the pirate captain for a couple months. You get to wield the talent of this amazing crew relying on you for vision and direction and its a terrifying adventure. Charlie what part is most exciting to you, the idea or the execution of the idea or the editing . Each phase is fantastic in its own way. Charlie and each builds to what you have in mind. Youre presented different options. You see ways you hadnt thought about. In the editing room you see things you havent seen when you were making the film. And writing is an exercise in ultimate control. You have youre planning this web and you can be as intricate as you want. When youre directing its grabbing hold of the reins. Its a bucking bronco and when youre editing its an exercise in meticulousness and all of a sudden you have these images that almost feel like theyve magically come together. Like six months ago this was just on a page and now i see it. It looks a little bit different charlie you can say this doesnt belong there it belongs there. How much better does it play here and its like painting on a canvas. Its so fun. You realize you can do just about anything in the edit bay. You can make a movie anything. Charlie and you can also add music. Whats the significance of music in social thrillers or horror film . Its so important. Its the pace and the tone and the beauty. I always say about music and score when you go experience a movie the sound is 50 of the experience. You experience a movie with your eyes and ears. So all the attention that goes into the visual has to go into the sound as well. So i have this amazing composer who created a very original sound for the movie. His name is Michael Abels and its a new sound. I told him i somethinwanted som that was a sinister or demonic negro spiritual. Or one where theyre giving a warning to our lead character. Whatever combination of that he comes up with will fit. The movies supposed to be a new thing. Charlie and they have begins and ends and rising action and falling action. Yeah. Charlie you get taken up almost to heaven and then thats right. But i think what i wanted to take away from we see a lot of black music has hope in it. What i wanted to say is whats it sound like and what is a decidedly black sound sound like when you take the hope away and its a horror movie. Charlie what did you find out . The track when the credits play charlie its taking hope and almost like pulling a rug out from under you. And its a sound that feels unnatural to us and unsettling and scary but its beautiful. It has very african sounding harmonies. Scores is just about everything. Charlie is the film everything you wanted it to be . Yeah, it really is. Its such a dream process. I have to say the thing that makes it come together is getting this group of people who trust you. The talent i was able to get together on the movie so much of movie is the acting. You dont get that in thrillers and horror movies. You dont always get great performers. Charlie you think the acting delivers for you . And the amazing casting department terry taylor and them, we put together a cast im so proud i was able to work with any one of these people. Feel like every role was just knocked out of the park. Im very humbled. Charlie you should be proud too. I am. Thank you. Charlie thank you for coming. Thank you. Charlie thank you for joining us. See you next time. Announcer this is nightly Business Report with Tyler Mathisen house hunting. Prices are high. Inventory is low. So why arent builders benefiting from the meager supply of homes for sale . You have to have compassion for folks receiving the federal funds but also you have to have compassion for the folks that are paying it. Budget priorities. The white house calls for steep cuts in safety net programs and says it can balance the budget if the economy grows a lot more than it is now. Intensive care. Why kentuckys Small Business owners are in the crosshairs in the battle to overhaul health care. Those stories tonight on nightly Business Report for tuesday, may good evening, everybody. Im sue herera. And im bill