>>ose: welcome to the broadcast. we begin this evening with "time" magazine's rson of the ar, as described by "time" magazi's managing editor rick stenl. >> this yea wasbout the econy and about the disasous outcome that might have happened so i was looking for somebody thugh whom we could tell that story and somebody who by virtue of his actionsade a differce in transformg what happened is year. me that person more than anybody else was ben beanke. rose: and wealk with the stars of "crazy hrt." jeff bridges. >> i was quite fearful about thisart even though it was such a great opptunity. almost not... even though it was a great opportity, but almost because itas a great opportunity was frightening. you know it's like... you know, it's like this is the open, you're a wideeceiver and yove got... they're throwing that long ball and you can sll that touchdown and you say "oh, god, let me catch ts ball! >> rose: (laughs continue our conversation about the film "crazy heart," joining jeff bridges and she maggie gyllenhl the actress and scott coer, the director. >> clearly having no prr experiences, have to say, arlie, that when youhave actors of thi caliber who are connected with chemistryt was just immediatend their work was just bone raw. i mean, it a dream. >> i think actually eryone on the set, including you, everyone was worried ias having all thesfeelings and wanted to respect me and wted to go quicand jeff said "let it go every tim and you can... wh knows what will happen." >> rose: rick stenl on "time" magazine'serson of the year. ben bnanke. and the director and stars "crazy hea" next. if you've had a ke in the last 20ears, ( screams ) you'vead a hand in giving llege scholarships... and support to thousds ofur nation's... most proming students. ♪ ( coca-cola 5-notenemonic ) captioning sponsoredy rose commucations from our studios in new rk city, thiss charlie rose. >> rose: ben bernanke has bn med 2009's pern of the year by "time"agazine. as chairman ofhe u.s. feral reserve,e has been a central player in guiding the u.s. economy duringhe financial crisis. this week's issue,time's" chael grunwald writes "his creative leadehip helped sure that 2009 was riod of weak recove rather tn catastroph depression. and he still wlds unrivaled power over o money,ur jobs, r savings, and our national future. this year's runner-up were genel stanley mcchrystal, the chinese worker speaker of the house nancy pesi, and runner usain lt. ining me nowick stengel, e managing editor of "time" magazine and he kno exactly why they go.. >> (laug) >> rose: s go through the process of why ts is the man for this year. >> crlie, to me this year was about the economy andbout the disastrousutcome that mig ha happened. so i was looking for somebody through whom we cod tell that story. and somebody who by virtue of his actions acally made a difference in transfoing what happed this year. and to me that person more th anybody else wasen bernanke. >> rose: why not, say, barack obama? >> well, youknow, back obama could be the person of the year every year in the sense that the prident of the united states ishe pme mover behind so many difrent things. he was, of coue, our person of the year last year. but, b the way, he's outsourced a lot of things t different people, including nancy pelos and, ithis case, to ben bernanke. >>ose: and to general mcchrystal, o. >> and general mcchrysta so they' all onur list. but in the most macr way... i mean, ere's a kind of poetic justice to what haened this ye with ben bernank here's this great scholar of the greatepression who is in a position t change history himself and realize"i am not ing to do tho things that caused the grea depression in the1930s." his slarship is all about how the d actuallmade the depressionorse in the 1930s by whatt did by. constricting the moneyupply, by trying to balance th budget, by telling amecans to pull up their socks. he said "i not doomed to repeat histo." >> rose: ande knew the history so therefore he knew whatnot to do. he wrote to history. >> rose: exactly. so tell me the kinds of tngs he did. >>asically, this story really started athe end of 2008 whe it looked like that whole financl system was going down. you know, one thing that... why i wanted to do this story is that ihink amerans sometimes don'understand all of these large forceshat are outhere. i know i didn't. i mean, u know, the financial system and the economyre two different things but if technological stem goes down, it takes theconomy with it. andhat's one of thehings that bernanke realized, that geithner realized, that paulson realized. anthat was the start of all that he did. and then durg the course of 2009... i mean he inject nearly three trillion dollars into our economy which not only lped the banks, it help udent loans, it helped car loans. he bought a trilli dollars of mortgage securitie alof these thing are aually injecting moneinto the economy in a good way. i mean, you know, richard nixon said famsly many years ago "we're all cesians now." he's a canesian. we were all canesians now becauswe realized what happeneduring the great deprsion is that we didn't put money into the stem. rnanke realized that we had to. ye there are people who tal abou inflation and the fed... rt of its responsibility is to contl inflation but he d to put out the fi and youcan't worry about gettin the furniture wet when y have to put out e fi. >> rose: i the combination first with hank paulson and then with geithner and summers, is he the dominant ice or ist sily because he at the fed and e fed has so much inflnce? >> it' a good queion. we had the longest and only on-the-record intervw with him at the fed, had a two-hour interview. and, again,emember, weelect the rson of the year, it's the person w is for better or worse st influced event he said many times, look, i didn't seehis coming, i missed it, i reacted too late, but when i realed what it was i went town on it. u know, i did whatever it took. so i mean, i that sense, i can't tell you... can tell you who e particints are. i can'tease out whid what. and i think they did i together and certainly o of the thing thought about was, your ow, is the pern of the year a committee to save the wld? geithner, summers, and rnanke. and certain they would have been vad because they all played really importa roles. rose: when htory comes to judge him, where will the controrsy be? >> some of it will as we've seen with plenty of books already abt the decision to let lehman others go der and what that did. that triggerealmost a financia armageddon. i think... >> rose: he dends that decision? >> no, he doesn't defendhat decion. i think he thinks that was a mistak and that... >> rose: then why did they make the dision? you know they didn't see it coming. theyidn't see what the rekar cushions were. rose: so they lk at it after e fact as a mistake? >> there was no yer. looking forward... for example, the fed s bought during the st year one illion dolrs wortof morage securiti. right? they are...e don't even know what in that huge trenc of thgs that theyought. but he felt at he had to b it to kpthe housing instry afloat, to support the economy. one of the controveies will be how did they unwind that? what does that mea over the next yea two years, five years in ter of the economy that's a big unkwn. and, by the way, it's a big unknn to him, too. he tks about it... and he's very circupect. i mean, you know whate's like. he's incrediblyild manred. he. you know, h keeps aware of everyingle phrase that he says bause it can move markets but that is certainly a concern. and that will a big issue in the years to come. >> re: "time" magazine's man of the year. you will see that tomorrow morning. ben rnanke, chairman of the federal reserv what'snteresting about this i that part of thedebate in the congss today is how different people in the coress see the role of the fe whether the fed should have the primary re over financial control or not a lot of debate continues about this initution that th man leads rick stengel, editor o "time" mazine. ank you. >> thank you, charli >> re: we'll be right back. stay with . >> rose: ff bridges is here, he has been called the most underrated aor in america. for si decades hasplayed everhing from a high sool football star to an alieno the president the united stes. a.o. stt of the "new york times" said "someof mr. bridge's pee may have burned more intensely in their prime but very few arican actors over the past 35 yea have flickered and slders with ch craft and resilienc" here's a look at just some of his work. >> whayou talki about? me a her was in love. >> oh, you s. she like med justs much as she ever liked you. >> that's a lie! >> i'll stay with her all one of thes nights too, she done promis. she done td me you couldn't do it that me at wichitaalls, whatbout that? i dot know >> i d't know if you're man ough to take on a car like this. are you? i don't know. i have a wooden leg. serious? >> y never can tell. hey! comeback here with my car! i mean you n harm,enny yden. >> i nev missed a beat. >> i never missed the beat! >> that's right. that's because you me it up as you go along. >> takit back. >> take it back? wh is this, the third sglad >>ake it ba! >> eat the kiwi, frank. hey! go to bed, frank, this is going to get ugly. >> emoyed? you d't go out looking for a job dressed like that, do yo, on a week d? is this a... what day is this? >> well, i do work, sir. so if you don't min.. >> well, i do mind! the dude minds! this will not stand, yoknow? in thiaggression wl not stand, man. >> you just look those bastards in the eye and tell them exactly that. these guys, they're goi to confirm yobut they want to embarrass you the process. they want to sd you into ts administration as virus. so you have only one choi. >> yes, sir. >> don't bembarrassed. here is the technogy. i've asked you to simply makeit smaller. >> okay, sir, that's what we're trying to do. but hestly, it's iossible. >> tony stk was ableo build is in a cave! with aunch of scraps! >> wel i'm sorry. i'mot ton stark. >> the lieutenan colonel used funds from the proct's black budget to procure prostitutes >> that's a lie! >> a to get drugs for himself and his men. >> that. well, the hooker thing is defitely a lie. >> rose: what do y think of all that? >> (laughs) i love seeing it. it's like aome knew movie brings it all ck. >>ose: any of those roles most memorable for you? >> oh, all of tho guys, all of roles re such fun and wonderful memories. >> rose: the b leb ski, though, ybe? >> every one of tm. the corr thing that actors say,hey're all liketheir children you know? that's so true. >> rose: in his latest film "crazy heart" bridges plays bad blake, a washingto d.c. up country sician in search of a meback. he's the trailer for the film. >> mr. blake? i'm jean craddockrom the "sun scene." tape recorder okay? >> go ahead. >> what's your realame is >> i'm bad blake. my tombstone wl have my real na on it. until then i'm just going to ay bad. ♪ you have mething to lose, you road wit nothing to lose... ♪ >> where'dll those songs come from? >> life, unfortunately. i'm 57 years old, i' broke. >> why don't you sit down and write some son, huh? ♪ you called all yr shots... >> i keep feeling obliged for needg topologize for being less thanou probay imagined me to be. can we go out and find some ouble to get into? yeah, big trouble. >> i knew at the risks were with yound i took them. >> that's one hell of song this is going to beour best year in the last seven. >> never too late, son. never too late. ♪ pick up your crazy heartnd ve it one morery... ♪ ♪ ain't no place or the weary kind. thanks for coming out. it's so good to be home. ♪ one more try... >> rose: and he's alook and listen at e music. ♪ i don't know, by, where we've been, where the future ♪hat we've planned so long ago ♪ i don't know ♪ i d't know if y're my friend, go long, lon look ♪ and come back again withme, babe. ♪aby, i don't know ♪ come on back! come on, sweethear♪ ♪ all rig... ♪ you thinky now i'd know better, i a't got aot to show ♪ i ain't got aar, i can write aletter, i don't know ♪ >> rose: i am pleased to have jeff bridges back at this table. weome. >>hank you, charlie. good to be here. >> rose: what is it about you? how do you inhabit all those chacters? >> (laughs) >> rose: and the way you do. >> you know, i approh it basically e same way, look at aspects of melf that kind of parallel the guy and in this o you know, it wasusic. i've bee playing music since i was a kidand singing and performing. >> rose: and they used to say, in fact, growing up in t bridges house hold that beau was out there playing spos and in your opinion your room with a guitar. >> thas right. that's exactly right. yeah. >>ose: so you loved music? >> lod music. and, you know, the other thing i do is ok for re modelsnd main role model on this one was a guynamed sten bruteen who i met along the-bone bnett who is the music man in chge ofhe whole vie 30 year ago when we were doing "heaven's gate" in n montana up there. and chris. kris kristofferson, a b role model for m in this picture, he assbled all of his mucian friends to play sll parts in that movie. and that was six mons of jamming... >> rose: when you were making heaven's gate. >> making heaven's gate with stev bruteen and bone, and steven, who wre a lot ofsongs in crazy heart, he was wi me every step of th way on this one and s life paralleled bad's righdown the line. you ow, from driving himself from gig to gig and loading his guitar and amp and you kn, he hatroubleith boo and drugs and all at stu. and so he was rht there. i could ask m, you know, what would this be le? what wouldou... what would you be sing here? anscott cooper,he director, was also very open about steven incling... you know, giving us any kind of tips that he might >> se: scott cooper is a first...his is the first time he's dected a film. first time he directed anytng! no high sool play oranything, man, this is the first timeut. >> rose: so you basically said "i'm trusting this guy, he c liver, i've se the script, i've read the script h wrote and he can diver"? >> he wrote areat script and i've had, really amazing exriences with rst-time directors, very successful ones. i have aong list o them. baker ys, fabulous baker boys, that was direed by steve clovis,he wrote that when he was 23. >> rose: what it is about t first time directors? they don't know what they can't do? >> that'st. that's a lot of it. but al you need the talt, of course, you know, t we haven't do much bett than mr. welles "citizen kane" was h first time out of t gate there rose: tell me about your character and then i want t kn about the music. who isad blake? >> well, 's a country singer, country writer. who's nd of downn his luck. one of the first bits of direction that scott gave me was... he told me if bad blake was a realharacter, he wou be the fifth highwayn. and, of course,ou know the highwaymen were willie nson, kr kristofferson, waylo jennings and johnny cash. so that help me a lot. >> ros that would set i for me right there. what ee do i needo know. >> yeah, that's a good thing. ye. >> rose: andou look a bit like kris, as peopl will tell you. i sure do. >> rose: but the music part, t-bone burnett is in it. there's story that yo called up t-bo or he called you before you accepted and said "let's do it"? >> the way it went, i think when i first t the scripi was making anoth movie. i'm usually... i have blinders on, you know? and i read thecript and i said oh, this is a well-wrien scriptnd it's aboutusic, that's a big ps. but there was music attached to it. itas a big missing piece a there was no musical superviso or abody in charge. the bar w set pretty high for me with movies about mus with "fabulous bake boys" because they had all those grt jazz and pop standards and the gat david bruceen waat the hel, yoknow? and this was aig missing piece fothis one, for "crazheart." so i tk a pass on it d then about a year later i ran io t-bone and he said to me "what do you think about this script "crazy heart"? and i said it's good, why, are you interested? he said, i'll do it if you do it. i said come on! les go. >> rose: let's go! >> yeah! >> rose: so her was a character you liked and a guy you knew could deliver the music. >> and even thgh we didn't haveny music, you have t look at the stuffhat comes out of t-bone, my god, he's woerful. rose: these are songs mad especially f bad to sing? >> exactly. the-bone, one of the things he sa to me, he sd "we're going to hand-pick the songs to suit you perftly, so they'll really be in yo wheel houses far as singin gs." and also that theyeally matchethe chacter. so some of the song we had some... me songshat were already wrten like we had great song that gregrown... are you a fan of greg brown? god, he's such a wonderful iter. he gave us a teific song called "brand new angel" that he had nevereleased. >> rose: so as you thought about creating this charact, you know chris youay have known but knew of waylon. and you've got t-bone there. what is it you want toknow in orr to create the thing you do well is to ve us inhabit this charaer. >>ell, the linesf the script, that's where cow start. what you say about yourself what othersay about you. and you just start to... like i was saying, y start with yourselfnd think about how you kindf link up. the similarities.. >> rose: so how d you think out yourself? mean, you hav't own...... >> i've certainly knn fear and i've known love and i've know intimacy a that's what most moviesand plays and all those things are about one w or the other. >> re: what was the great line we just hed when shesaid where does this music come from? and you say... >> life, unfortunately. and ju talking about ar, you know? i was qte, iwas quite fearful about this part, it was such a great opportunityven though it was a great opportunity t because it was a great opportunity was frightening. it's like beingn the open. you're a wide receiver an they're throwing thalong ball and you can smell at tchdown d you say , god, let me catch it! >> rose: as soon as yo start doing that youe less like to catch it because youlose your natural instinct. >> yes. and so bad, the character i'm playing, he those fears, too and the y he deals with it is boos numbs himlf and i think like a lot o artis he get caught up in this myth, you know that, my songs and my art com out my sufring and so suffering a good thing so i better kp suffering. >> rose: he al has a sense of who he is. heesists write knowing that that's easy ney for someone else. >> well, i don'think he resists because of that. i think he resistsecause he's not eased with wha heomes with. >> rose: o the quality of it? >> he fancies himself lik bob dylan,ho is another role model for me or leonard cohen. and he's not up to you have? and he mad at himself you know? and far as the intimacy and love thing, the guy haseen rried four times, you know? so he. he really wants to fall in love and be intimate and it's just too tough becse when those ladies t to know him he's pretty uovable. he's airresponsible drunk, sically. >> rose:uts that humanity about this guy. take the characternd how he sees the character played by colin farrell >>e's got a big chip onis shoulder, too, i think. >> rose: the first thing you have to see is a script and it says this characr is of inrest to you? >> well, youknow, i domy best not to work, to try not to let it suck in. because i know that i'm going to have to be apar from my dear wife susan. she to me the oer day we've been apart 11 of 14 month this is year. so that's not no good. and i've got a lotof other things i le that do besides act as well. ani knoif engage in this one there migh be something justround the corner that i can't see that i won't be able to do so i do my best to turn this stuf i read dn and us