>> charlie: welcome to the broadcast. tonight we talk about the hit movie "up in the air" with ivan reitman the famous director produce and his son the director of this movie jason reitman. >> it's a very complicated book to make a film out of, i mean. but i could tell that jason had something had his mind. he had a real point of view. just some instinct told me well you know, if he really is feeling that strongly about it, we ought to get it. it happened to be available at this point. and jason knew about it, so we were able to make a deal for it. >> i had written "thank you for smoking" and i couldn't get anyone to make it. no one would finance that film. it was one of those situations where people say it's a terrific writing sample. what else have you got. i went looking for something else to write and i found this book "up in the air." i went into the bookstore off the shelf and it spoke to me and i began to write it. >> charlie: we continue with the movies. this time carey mulligan is the star. >> helen is sort of a girlfriend who has a wonderful life but who has no education, incredibly ignorant and the head miss stress doesn't take any joy what she teaches for sake of teaching to better themselves but not for themselves. she doesn't see she could take her own unique part she just sees these molds and she is terrified of falling into any of them. >> charlie: an evening of movies coming up. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> charlie: ivan reitman and his son son are here. they have each made their mark in hollywood as film director. they've done it in a different way. ivan is known for his high concept movie with cinematic comedy like ghost busters and kindergarten cop. jason has thank you for smoking and juno. re's a look at the film. >> last year i spent 228 days on the road and flew 330,000 miles. everything you hate about traveling are reminders that i am home. >> welcome back mr. bingeham. >> they don't have the courage to become their own employees for good reason. people do crazy stuff when they get fired. i'm going to need your key card. we received a dynamite young woman from cornell. i want you to show her the ropes. i'm not a tour guide. this is the boat, this is you. you want to be in the boat? >> yes, alone. >> show the magic. >> follow me. never get behind old people their body are littered with metal. god love them. my mother, i stereotype. >> you what is that about. >> i use as many many miles as i can. >> is it this big. >> i don't want to brag. >> it's pretty sexy. do you get a little turned on. shame we didn't make it to the closet. >> you got to do what you got to the. >> what kind of relationship do you have. >> do you know that moment when you look into somebody's eyes and you can feel them staring into your soul and the whole world goes quiet. >> yes. >> well, i don't. >> you're awe -- awfully isolated. >> i'm on a wake up call. this is a rebirth. >> you make it impossible to have any kind of human connection. >> you're grounded. everybody's grounded. >> it's off the road. we're going home. ♪ >> your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. your husband, your wife, your home. weigh yourself down you can't even move. make no mistake. this is living. >> i'm not really sure how long it's supposed to last. i don't even think of him that way. he's old. >> charlie: the film has already been made best picture by the national boord of review. he's been nominated for six golden globes, the most for any film this year. i'm pleased to have ivan and jason reitman at this table. welcome. this is the best movie you, besn play, best actor drama and two of the best supporting actresses. not bad. >> yeah, it's pretty exciting >> charlie: you too are coproducing this. >> yes. >> charlie: how did it happen. >> i had written "thank you for smoking" and no one else would finance it. they said what else have you got. i went into the bookstore, picked it up off the shelf and it spoke to me. i began to write it. and i went a little further in. actually before i even started writing, i brought it to my father. >> charlie: you should buy this book. >> i read it. it was a very complicated book to make a film out of. i mean, but i could tell that jason had something in his mind. he had a real point of view. just some instinct told me well you know, if he really is feeling that strongly about it we ought to get it. it happened to be available at this point. and jason knew about it, so we were able to make a deal for it. >> charlie: let's put this in context. the book was written, walter kern wrote the book when. >> it came out in 2001. >> charlie: before the economic crises. before people were laid off. >> i began writing at the beginning of 2003. i took two stops along the way. one to make thank you for smoking when an internet millionaire, david sacks actually came here with one, cut a check made my first film. i went back to writing "up in the air" when i got a phone call saying there's a script called juno. i knew if i didn't direct, that would be it so i took another two years off. then i came back in 2008. >> charlie: the first studio kind of didn't have that much what? i mean, have you always had no trouble financing this film. >> this one? well, i was coming off of juno which certainly helps. juno is a film we made for nothing. >> charlie: that's what -- >> exactly. i wasn't going to brag but you brought it up. >> charlie: you had pretty much free hand. >> yes, also, also two words. george clooney. that makes a movie happen very quickly. >> charlie: tell the story about getting him to do the movie. >> well i was writing the screen play with him in mind although i was never presumptuous enough to think that he would say yes. gorge is a guy that gets 20 scripts a day and says no to almost all of them. he knew i was writing a forum and at one point i said i'm either a week away from done or a month away from dub. i'm going to italy with my wife to italy in the middle and i'll give it to you before i come back or after i leave. i said you'll have to see george. i said i don't know anymore that well. it seems pretty strange. no no, he would love to have you. send him the cept. i get to italy i call his agent. has he read it. yes. here's the address go to his house. i get to his house and the first thing he asks me is so what are you working on these days. the script is up in the air. oh, i've got to read that. he hadn't read it. so now my wife and i are staying with him and i, know, i'm just waiting for the moment he reads the script, hates it and kicks me out of his home. two or three days in when they walk in a room and says i just read it, it's great. and then. >> charlie: now you thought you wrote it with him in mind, you thought he was the perfect person. >> yes. >> charlie: he represented your own visualization what this character looked like, sounded like, his tone. >> yes. there was a combination of things. i mean one have you a main character who fires people for a living. if that's gng to be the main character movie he better be a pretty damn charming actor or he will be a dislikeable character. there is no one more charming than george. there was an opportunity for him to play a character who wants to live untethered. he doesn't want to live close to anyone. frankly he wants to live at the moment at the mercy of his daily itinerary. i thought there was an interesting opportunity for george to play that character. >> charlie: there was an evolution not only in the context of the global economic crises but also your personal life. you went from being a single person now to living a different nd of life where you understand more of the economic consequences of jobs and family, mortgages and shelters. >> well i mean when i first started writing this, i was single and living in an apartment. by the time i was finished i met my wife and i was a father and i had a mortgage. and yes. that formed how i wrote this role in my approach how i directed george. i suppose i started with a movie, it was about a guy who fired people for a living and by the time i was done i was making a movie about a guy who was trying to figure out who and what he wanted in his life. >> charlie: you took liberties with the book obviously. you created characters. >> i feel like the book and movie are two different things. i always try to get as close to the author as possible early on and you know, make that understanding just so that i feel free to use what i need from the book and then create what makes a movie. >> charlie: let me back up a bit. was it inevitable this young man was going to become a filmmaker? >> that you should ask him, because neither my wife nor i had any idea that he was going to be a filmmaker as he was growing up. he was very interestedn films, he was always on film sets. most importantly, he loved hanging out in the editing room. and you know, i would notice that every once in a while he was paying attention but i didn't really know how focused he was. and really wasn't until he was a premed student at skid more and here at college and he seemed very unhappy. i went to visit him and i asked him -- it was clear he had a creative soul that was not going to be saved as fine a profession as being a doctor is, it wasn't the correct one for jason. and we had a good talk. he felt comfortable then to -- i think he was concerned about the nepotism problems at might come up. and he didn't know if he wanted a really make his whole life in the same vein as his dad. and i'm so glad that, you know, he found a way to be absolutely original and build on something that's quite unique. >> charlie: hadn't your father told you have to have passion in what you do. >> yes, he certainly said that to me. he said a wonderful story i hope we open a sandwich shop together and he said there's not enough magic in it for you. >> charlie: you need magic in your life. >> for him that was the creative impulse he felt in me and i've always felt it in jason in all the little things he did growing up. i mean, he was a very creative person and he had to find his own way to tell stories. >> charlie: and how are you different, do you think jason, between the way you tell stories and the way your dad tells stories? >> it's funny, i'm not sure if i can tell you how we're different i only know how we're similar. >> charlie: how are you similar. >> i think we both perhaps search for honesty in our work. he says on a daily basis when you're directing don't worry about something's funny or dramatic just worry it's authentic. your barometer at the end of the day for humor is no where as good as your barometer for truth. i suppose that's what i'm searching for as a director and even though tonally our films are different. i can't really explain why. i mean you know, i suppose my father is the son of holocaust survivors who came to canada as refugees. and i grew up in beverly hills and certainly our experiences were different. and perhaps that's why my father wants to make people laugh and wants people to walk out of the theatre happier and better people than when they walked in. and it's ease easy for me to be cynical and satire es. i think we want to have truth on screen and sue more lives. >> i want to thank you for having me here because sitting here listening him to talk is great. >> charlie: i'm sure you get this all the time. in fact, i asked you to told it until this moment. as you go around the country promoting this movie, people ask a lot of the same questions. >> that's true. >> charlie: what were the five questions they most ask. >> would you be okay if i check my notes? >> charlie: yes. >> i keep an iphone application that allows me to keep track of what questions. i actually have a pie chart. the question i'm asked what is it like to work with george clooney. >> charlie: what do you answer. >> he's actually a very good director and he's constantly aware what i'm trying to achieve on a daily basis. outside of what he's doing as a character he's trying to help me get my day done. >> charlie: he's an actor thinking like a director. how does a director think, tell me. >> well, a director is managerial so yes you are trying to create art and you are trying to inspire great performances and you are trying to choose the right shots and make all the decisions but you're also trying to get your day done, make sure your actors get along your crew gets along before the sun goes down. a certain amount of shots so when you go to the editing room have you everything you need. there's a managerial poion of directorring that most often the actors aren't aware because they're in character, they're worrying about what they have to worry about that's fine. but have to a movie star like george who is already lovely and makes the set a very nice place to be but who is also trying to be performance out of the other a as well as he's playing against him because he knows what i'm trying to get. who is aware when there's a sound happening nearby and he should pause for a second until 9 sound goes away so he can continue with his dialogue. who is aware when the sun goes into a cloud for a moment you should pause until the sun comes out of the cloud. that is extraordinary. >> charlie: that's pretty good. what's the next question. >> okay. >> charlie: we'll answer all these so as we go around there isn't any more. >> some form of how does your film speak to the current economy and how does it change when you went from being an economic boom to being this recession we're in >> charlie: i want you to answer that too but first talk about the use of real people authentic people talking about it and whereby it came from and what you think adds to the film. >> i will also be answering question number three by doing that. >> charlie: the test of the question is not whether it's been asked before it's how good your answer is. am i right about that ivan. >> yes, you are. >> he won't disagree at this point. >> i'm good. >> charlie: go ahead. >> no, what happened was that when i started writing this film, we were in an economic boom and i was writing "thank you for smoking." the scenes were humerus. so scouting st. louis in detroit where we shot the film i was very aware how rough these two cities had it. we were constantly locations that were you know buildings that were available shooting primarily because entire departments had been laid off. we'd walk into empty floors with telephones sitting on the ground 15 feet apart, rooms where they would just take all of the abandoned chairs and stuff them into a room. and it just hit me that there are people in these cities that have far more experience than i do with these layoffs. if we could get them to come in and come on camera, we could speak to the gravity of losing your job in this kind of economy. >> charlie: and that it is in fact one it is lost of income and two it's a psychological blow to your esteem and everything else. >> it's interesting. if you asked me before i did this film what is the hardest part losing your job particularly in this economy and i would say the loss of income. when we interviewed, we interviewed 60 people. we had a staggering amount of responses to this. no one said that. no one talked aut money. what everyone talked about was losing a sense of purpose. that they don't want to get out of bed in the morning. >> charlie: so while he's making this film, what's your role? >> you know, my role is the producer. and you know, even as a parent, you're watching over. but there is a, it's a different role to be the producer of a film. and really, i had the good fortune of having an extraordinarily talented director who is in charge of the movie. who had by virtue of his other movies really earned the right to have an enormous amount of control and sort of create a freedom to make the film. and it was my job really to fight for those freedoms on his behalf as much as necessary. it's not like the studio was all over him, you know. as soon as they read the credit, they wanted to make it. and i think i was a sounding board, i was hopefully a person he could trust, and who he could discuss anything he might want to. i certainly had my opinions about stuff that he often disagreed with it. it was perfectly fine. >> charlie: so who won those disagreements. >> absolutely jason. >> charlie: give me an example of a disagreement. >> whoever was right. [laughter] >> charlie: did you have serious fights about this. i think this and you think that. >> it's funny, there was kind of a dividing line when we would have to go from right now we're being father and son and now we're being producer and director and then we're going to go back to being father and son. if you let the two blend too much, it would be too frustrating because i can't talk to my father as i would talk to a producer. i adre my father too much and i treat him with too much respect. once i'm talking to my producer, hey, now look. and then you have to kind of switch back into the other role. >> charlie: when i walked in here you two were having a conversation about which i do not know, about what i do not know but what caught my ear is it was two interesting people talking. i would not have known necessarily that was father and son. it was two people seemed to be engaged by an idea curious about what the other had to say. >> that's absolutely true. really one of the great joys for me we've always been very close. but now since he's become a film director, i mean there was an enormous amount of shop talk but it's really so intimate and so easy and it's so much fun that it's actually very inspirational for me. >> charlie: ion separational. >> yes. >> charlie: meaning. >> just in terms i just see how good he is and it makes me sort of want to go out and, you know i haven't directed much in the last three or four years, it actually makes me want to do that again where i've been mostly producing in the last decade. >> charlie: you learned from him. >> absolutely. >> charlie: talk to me about choosing factors. why her. what did you one from her? >> well vera plays a career woman in her late 30's who has decided similar to george's character, ryan, to live on the road. and she begins this kind of cross country affair with george's character. i needed an actress who would not judge her character for that. that's not an easy thing to do. just to play the character straight as a woman who believes in this idea, doesn't believe in being tethered and she's not cruel this is just what she wants. and vera's an actress who is somehow in complete control of her sexuality and is just as coortable being masculine as she is feminine. and i really don't know another actress of that generation who could play the role. >> charlie: could be tough in the board room and sexy in the bedroom. >> yeah. but not play it a schtick and that's the tough part. if you're going to play since type it has to be schticky or silly and somehow character instead of a real person and that's what she does. >> charlie: set the scene up. this is where they meet in a bar and talk about their frequent flier cards. >> this is a couple the first time they flirt. it's like the jaws scene where they compare scars. instead of comparing scars, they're comparing -- >> charlie: roll tape. here it is. >> oh. how dare you bring that into this palace. >> offers equal value and better food system maybe we'll get cookies. i'm a sucker for somebody who as hospitality. >> that's an industry term for that. it's a mixture of home and nome. >> oh my god. i wasn't sure this actually existed. this is the american airlines. >> consierge. >> that's domestic. >> it's not bad. >> don't patronize me. what is it. >> that's a person question. >> show hubris. >> charlie: you have one of these. >> yes. >> charlie: all right. >> maybe it's more passionate about it. they know i'm the one who cares about it. >> charlie: tell me what we saw there in terms of just the authenticity of his sense of joy in that. >> yes. i'm glad that you bring that up because he's a guy who is s charming that we forget how good he was. we think that he just kind of goes on camera and because of his good looks he's just a good actor when it's so far from the truth. this is a very tricky scene. they are flirting over miles ad cards that nobody ever talks about and we have to make it real and kind of buy their immediate bond over this kind of corporate stuff. and that's what makes him so good. and he brings the most out of vera as well. >> charlie: hannah kendrick right out of college is signed on to do what he does and has a belief it can be done on-line as a person which is his reason for being, to do it in person. >> i needed a young actress who could a go toe to toe with george. and almost sounded like an actress from the 1940's, like a veronica lake and sullivan travels, somebody who can hammer away at the dialogue and be witty and sharp. i remember this film called rocket scientist, a tiny film that nobody saw. and i was startled how good she is and i immediately started writing the role for her. i remember her coming in to addition and i didn't tell her i wrote the role for her. we saw every young actress out there for this. and she was toward the end of the way, actress after actress is coming in and no one was coming close to what this role needed to be. she walked in the door and i said hannah, this i the person who could sing the song. >> it was so amazing, i said did you sign her already. there was no question. >> charlie: here it is. roll tape. >> our business expense allows $40 each for dinner. i'm grabbing as many miles as i can. >> okay. you've got to fill me in on the miles thing. what is that about? you're talking about frequent flier miles. >> you really want to know? >> i'm dying to know. >> i don't spend a nickel unless i can help it or it profits my mileage account. >> are you saving up for hawaii. >> it's not like that. the miles are the goal. >> that's it? you're saving jus to save? >> let's just say i have a number in mind and i haven't hit it yet. >> that's a little abstract. what's the target. >> i would rather not. >> is it a secret target. >> it's 10 million miles. >> isn't 10 million just a number. >> five's just a number. >> no, i don't mean to belittle your collection, i said it. it sounds cool. >> i'm the seventh person to do it. more people have walked on the moon. >> a parade. >> lifetime executive status. you get to meet the chief pilot and they put your name on the side of the plane. >> you guys don't grow up. it's like you have to pee on everything. >> charlie: you can say about righting for actors. >> that's the beauty of writing for an actor. i wrote for the actors who ended up make the roles. once you identify their voice you can get the rhythm of their language. i know how jason baitman talks and anna kendra talks. >> charlie: you know how they talk and a regular speech pattern they have. >> yes. you can start tailoring for their language and their humor and their voice. you can start creating sentences that you know they are the only ones achievable of doing. >> charlie: he's a character that likes being alone. was that part of your own mentality that you liked being alone. you were a loner being in a plane with nobody bothering you and he people bringing food to you no phone calls and you could be happy. >> i love being on planes, i love traveling. i love it because it is the one escape i get. it's the one place i get to raid. it's the one place where, i don't know, you can have a conversation with a stranger on a plane that you would never have with someone you knew well. there's something about the time limit of your relationship. you're never going to know this person five hours from now. you can thank you about things, say things in a way you otherwise don't talk. you find about jobs you otherwise wouldn't know of and i suppose no matter how rooted my life is and as i said, i'm married, i'm a father, i get to do what i love for a living. thrice something exhilarating about walking through an airport and the destination board and looking at all the cities and thinking you could wake up some place where you didn't know anybody. >> charlie: here's the question. we've got this movie in which this guy goes around firing people. it turns out these are difficult times and it's dramatic and psychological and a monetary decision for them. and he also has these two characters that are invested in his life. what's the question this flip is focusing us on? >> well the question really is whether to be connected or not. that's the question that george's character faces from start to finish and the movie really ends. >> charlie: in the beginning he's not questioning it, later he -- that's the part of the movie that we get involved in the narrative. >> yes,ou know, as traditional per film you have a character who thinks they know everything and then along comes a few people that tells them know. otherwise you may want to rethink that and he gets challenged by his family, he gets challenged by anna's character and vera's character and it's really left to question what ds he want. >> charlie: and we won't spoil it by saying what that is. >> no. >> charlie: roll tape. this is one last scene which that point is made. >> where's alice. >> she had to leave to get to a meeting. >> where does she live. >> chicago. >> are you going to see her. >> try it over there, that's it. >> what kind of relationship do you have? >> you know, casual. >> someone pretty special. >> works for us. >> do you think there's a future there. >> never really thought bit. what's going on there. >> never really thought about it? >> no. >> how can you not think about that? how does it not even cross your mind that you might want a future with someone? >> it's simple. you know that moment when you look into somebody's eyes and you can feel them staring into your soul and the whole world goes quiet just for a second. >> yes. >> well, i don't. >> charlie: you're how old. >> i'm 32. >> charlie: when you look ahead what kind of career do you want. >> i would like to make movies that i'm proud of. i would like to make personal films and as many films as possible and you know i would hope that 10, 20, 30 years from now, i am still making films that matter to me. >> charlie: is this on your list of questions? can you see the role reverse with you producing and his directing. >> in which i produce my father's films. >> that would be really interesting. >> that would be really strange, yes. >> it could work. i could see that actually. >> yeah? would you listen to me? >> yeah. i listen to you. i could learn, you know what i mean. >> charlie: thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> charlie: it's a pleasure to have you here. >> charlie: we have a great guest this evening. >> >> carey mulligan. >> charlie: here's the trailer. >> they don't want to see for them says. >> of course they don't. >> hello, i'm a music lover and worried about your cello. jump in. what's this. >> thank you. >> glad i ran into you. what are you to go on friday. >> nothing. >> i won't allow. helen, you can't tell me that. what if i have her back by 11:30. this is my friend helen and danny. >> that's all right. it's lovely isn't it. >> in paris, not here. >> i would love to. >> there's so much i wanted to see. ♪ when we kiss. >> how's your evening. >> like my life. >> my god. >> he's not my new boyfriend. he has no idea how boring everything was before i met you. it doesn't matter because if you do you'll break my heart. >> do something hard and boring for the rest of my life or go to paris and have fun. >> i would be careful if i were were. >> i don't need looking after, thank you very much. >> come on. >> it's a funny world you people live in. >> i'm not clever like you so we have to be clever in other ways because if we weren't there would be no fun. all through my life i've been scared and i didn't want you to be scared. >> it's a ruined woman. >> you're not so woman. >> action is anything, we wouldn't be here. >> you sound very old and wise. >> i feel o but not very wise. >> so you really are carey mulligan. >> i really am. >> charlie: it's great to have you. >> it's lovely to be here. >> charlie: in that impromptu opening. tell me the story. >> it's based on a memoir by lynn barber about a mother who is kind of a famous journalist in england who the guardian and writes kind of nasty. not nasty, scary interviews of people. and she wrote this memoir about what happened to her when she was 16 and she was growing up in the suburbs in london in the 60's. she was academic and headed to oxford and wanted to be to oxford and wanted to escape her family where she was an only child and her parents didn't understand her. and then one day she just meets this man who kind of gives her the whole life that she wants, the passionate life where they go to art galleries and auctions and jazz concerts. >> charlie: so she has to make a choice about this life or going to oxford. >> it's not a decision straight away. i think she can live for a while but it becomes clear it's one or the other. she makes it one or the other for herself. >> charlie: what's the title in education from. >> well when i first wrote the skip it was called the time of her life. and i thought no, that's dreadful. so an education. i think that just became what everybody thought about the film and nick hornbe came up with it. the women in the film i the part she needs to take. the mother who ended up as a housewife. helen who is a girlfriend and has a wonderful life b ha no education, incredibly ig 2340er7b9. and her head mistress doesn't seem to take any joy in what she teaches just for the sake of teaching. she doesn't see she could take her own sort of unique part, you can just see these molds and she is terrified. >> charlie: what's interesting too is she gets stronger and stronger in the relationship because she also sees their own frailties. >> it doesn't take long, david when she first meets him and idolizes him. he wonderful. and then it doesn't take long to figure out the way that they make their living is not particularly wholesome. she agrees to it anyway. >> charlie: what does that say, she agrees to it. >> she compromises her values because it's more fun, it's more fun than what she was living before. so the decision is you could go back to the life and listen to the home service and doing your homework or you can kind of ignore certain things going on. >> charlie: look the other way. >> when she wrote about herself she said she's going through this exist tenialist phase and allowing things to happen and not studying her experiences and she was dry and cynical and kept powering through. >> charlie: here's a scene before that where the head mistress talks about the purpose of an education. >> there isn't anything left to agree. a woman, anyway. so what i do isn't worth doing or any of us here. because none of us would be here without a degree you do realize that don't you. and yes of course studying's hard and boring. >> boring. >> i'm sorry. >> studying is hard and boring. teaching is hard and boring. what you're telling me is to be bored and bored again for the rest of my life. this whole stupid country is bored. there's no life in it or color or fun. just as well they drop a nuclear bomb on us any day now so my choice is to do something hard and boring or to marry and go to paris and rome and listen to jazz and read and eat good food in nice restaurants and have fun. it's not enough to educate us anymore, you've got to tell us why you're doing it. >> it doesn't have to be teaching, you know. it's a simple service. >> i don't wish to be arguing but it is an argument that you're asking and you never know, somee else might want to know the point of it all one day. >> charlie: so you're watching that. what are you thinking? >> i'm thinking i do that whole monologue so one tone and i do a whole passage with the same tone. >> charlie: if you could do it over, you would do it differently with more inflection. >> yes, yes. >> charlie: more emphasis. >> yes, you study the mistakes. the first time it's very hard and it gets slightly easier but you still think gee later i'll do this or that. >> charlie: people like emma thomson and peter and all the rest of them. >> yes. >> charlie: do you learn something from that? >> yes, i mean you kind of raise your game. you don't want to be the weak link. the first job was pride and prejudice and i never done anything profeional, that was my first day. it kindtomatically makes you, you know, you think you have to be a pro and you've got to be on the game. it's more watching. i mean i played aot for the first four years so i spefnt my time in the background watching people and without any judgment because the characters i played weren' important enough to criticize. i never got reviewed or anything unless i did theatre so i just watched a lot. and watched and i always ended up with things british with all of these huge british actors so i was lucky. >> charlie: you started when you were age 6. >> yes. >> charlie: this is when you were watching your brother or your brother was performing. >> we lived in germany, we lived in hanover and my brother was in a school production of the king and i. playing one of the -- and my brother now he's the furthest thing of a performing. i was one of the kids and i couldn't be in it and i was so upset. they just put me in it because i was just crying. >> charlie: get you to stop crying. >> get on stage. yes, they made me, and i was a kid they died my hair black and i was one of the kids. >> charlie: and you if el in love with it. >> yeah, yeah. >> charlie: what did you fall in love with? >> i don't know. i was kind of a little, i was kind of a bit awkward as a kid. when i got to be 14 or 15 i realized i couldn't sing enough to be a professional and i wanted to act. i don't ow. i just thought that's all i did from age 6. he wanted to be a scientist when i was 5 and an actor when i was 6. i'm not good at public speaking or that kind of thing. people always think when you're an actor you stand up and read this speech and you go whoa, if there's anything at all this is me being me. so i don't know, really. none of my family are into it. >> charlie: he was in the hotel business wasn't he your dad moving around in germany. that's probably good training. >> we just jumped around a lot so you make friends quickly and then you lose them again and we just keep moving. the only kind of thing is the school play thing, that's the first thing i went into. >> charlie: when did the sea gull come along. >> the seagull was the first production in 2007 in london, and it was my third play. i've done a play at the royal court before and i knew the director, artistic director and he seen the may i did and he seen the tv series i did and he additioned me for it and i got the job. i never went torama schooand i have a huge huge chip on my shoulder about not having any training especially when it comes to classical. >> charlie: have you lost it now. >> no, it's still there. shakespeare, i want to do shakespeare but i'm terrified, you know. >> charlie: you do czechoffer first. >> i wanted to bring my mom here. >> charlie: it's a mistake, they'll find out i have no talent. >> it's so scary. but by the time we got to broadway we had done it so much and we knew each other so well. a few of the cast changed especially peter. >> charlie: you were how old by then? >> 23, yes. >> charlie: this is where you tell david what he means to you. here it is. >> you have no idea how boring everything was before i met you. interesting character. i think it means if we never did anything, we wouldn't be anybody. and i never did anything before i met you. and sometimes i think i never did anything in this whole stupid country apart from you. >> hey. >> charlie: so here's what i don't understand. so he lies, he doesn't tell you the truth, but he genuinely cares for you. >> he always says what david really wants is to be a 16 year old again and that's where this is comg from. he wants his childhood for whatever reason and he finds her fascinating, loves her passion for life and for culture. >> charlie: she knows more about culture and art than he does. >> yes, a lot more. you can see him faking it. i love that. he's two seconds away from everybody else. every joke he doesn't quite get. but yeah, he just wanted to be around here. >> you wanted to look at that place on friday, then. oh no, i can't. there's a party on friday. >> a really one. >> i just have a feeling -- >> i love it. >> do you? >> yes, of course. >> absolutely. why don't we all go to the auction together. >> auction. >> it's friday morning. >> friday, oh. >> you're busy. >> yes. >> are you sure you're busy? >> no. i'm sure i could rearrange. that would be lovely. >> charlie: tell me about the other women in the film. >> there's helen who is the trophy girlfriend down at the newspaper, and it takes about one thing to figure out she's not got a lot going on. >> charlie: you were saying that while we were watching this. >> she's so so beautiful in it. and she's decided to be the girlfriend of this wealthy guy and that's pretty much all she is and every time they go, she's on the outside, she waits. >> charlie: that's what they do for a living. >> yes. and then there's emma thomson, bad mistress, who represents everything sort of dull and boring and -- >> charlie: and knows it. >> and knows it, yeah. and williams who is kind of the ideal life for jenny, she just doesn' know it. and olivia plays the favorite teacher. >> charlie: here's what one of the critics talking about you, her jenny ses to transform before us from girly to woman self confident from intellectual posturing to possessing a home sense of personal taste. what's the acting challenge to do that? >> the age thing was never a concern because i always play younger parts than myself. that's what i do, always play a couple years younger. in terms of that i really did not have a plan before i got on the set. it's the first time i played the lead role and we had a few days of rehearsing. it was more about trying not to be cruel. she's ridiculous a lot of time and she giggles and kind of gets really excited about things when everybody is cool and she talks louder than other people and she's pretentious and speaks in french and smokes like she's seen it in a movie and she thinks she can make it look cool. i never looked cool smoking i got really long fingers so that was helpful to me. i played it scene by scene. our director kind of took that away so every scene we just played it scene by scene. we did all the stuff where she's with danny and helen and the fun and the dog racing and all that in the first two weeks and then we went into the school life. >> charlie: i love this quote from you. i'm not really the school that you should torture yourself for work, i don't think you should mm-mm yourself to play a part. i much prefer building a complete character in my imagination and then accessing the character like putting on my hat and taking it off again, it's more truthful. >> yes. everyone works so differently, but i used to kind of really psych myself up and think horrible things. >> charlie: read everything, figure out who the character was. >> if i was thinking about a scene where i had to cry, i just pictured, you know, awful things happening to my family and funerals. it was ridiculous. i did that for a couple years. in seagull i was playing a girl who runs off to moscow with a writer has this child loses the child is left heart broken and essentially goes insane. it's never going to work if i draw at any rate from my life. i had a comfortable life. i worked with ian risks on that and i started worked on the that in a different way and started building up a different person and you punish yourself. you can take it off easier. the choices you make aren't based oner i don't life oner your instincts, they're based on the instincts you create for someonelse. that works much better for me especially on stage because it's just you recreating it night after night after night is impossible if you're just thinking about yourself. >> charlie: where do you think the success a your performance changes. how is it know different for you? >> i mean it kind of, it's kind of, it's work really. it's just that i had never any acting before. when i was offered a part on the phone, that to me from not being able to get into a many rule six months prior to meet anyone like that. >> charlie: he offered you the part without any addition or anything, just seeing you. what part do you play. >> i play michael douglas' daughter. gordon's daughter. >> charlie: they pick it up when gordon gecko is coming out of prison. >> exactly 4 years -- 24 years later he's coming out. >> charlie: it's a significant role. >> yes, it's good. they are strange. it's not the relationship you want to be in, it's kind of tough. and she's gone the complete opposite route from him and nothing despises everything on wall street. so thats crazy gecko behavior. >> charlie: it's great to have you here. >> thank you. >> charlie: carey mull gun, an education. 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