Painted on the script so that you can be a part of them. And i wanted to take that tapestry and put it together. Because its also for me a love story. A love story through the eyes of this man and one of the reasons i said yes to lee after he was relentless in asking know do it is because i wanted the tapestry the depth, the broadness of that communication between a husband and a wife and particularly a middleclass black family to be seenbly the progressive world. Its something we dont see very often. Women have been the backbone regardless of race for a number of reasons and i wanted to show that level of character. Rose lee daniels the butler for the hour. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Rose eugene allen was born on a virginia plantation in 1919. He worked as a wait in a country club until 1952. He found a new job as a butler in the white house. He spent 34 years there. He served under eight president s from harry truman to ronald reagan. He saw some of the pivotal events in u. S. History. The cuban missle crisis, the freedom rides, the assassinations of j. F. K. And Martin Luther king, jr. , the vietnam war and watergate. His life, wrote president obama after allens death in 2010, represents an important part of the american story. A new movie has been made inspired by eugene allens story. Heres the trailer for lee daniels the butler. We have no tolerance for politics at the white house. Im cecil gaines. Im the new butler. You hear nothing, you see nothing. You only serve. You know he got that job, the white house called him, he didnt call the white house. I want to hear all the stories. I dont know how many stories youre going to hear because they done swore him to some kind of secret code. Im so proud of you. Did you go to an allcolored school, says still i didnt go to school, mr. President. I grew up on a cotton farm. Get back to work dont you lose your temp we are a that man. Its his world, youre just living in it. You looking for some help . He done stole our food and now youre asking far job . I know how to serve. They say this new white boy is smooth. Ill thrilled to be working with all of you. What did your daddy do. Hes a butter whether. The black domestics played an Important Role in our history. Something special is going on in there. Mr. President . I know your son is a freedom rider. I never understood what you all went through. Youve changed my heart. Theres this whole black Power Movement going on. I gave them the green light to gut those sons of bitches. You know what theyre going do to you . Theyre going to kill you you need to go. What . Get the hell out of my house im sorry, mr. Butler. Everything you are and everything you have is because of that butler. Joining me is lee daniels who directed the film, the and two stars, Forest Whitaker who plays the butler and oprah winfrey. Welcome one and all. Im pleased to have you here. You are at your creative best. Congratulations. Thank you. You, magnificent. Thank you, sir. But you, sir, are just brilliant. This is an extraordinary performance over a span of years to capture this person, these ideas all that you have done youve really done an extraordinary achievement. Thank you. Thank you. Rose how difficult was it for you . It was a challenge. It was very challenging. I think because of the being able to communicate without words. The process of going through all these years and the aging process. Trying to carry the experiences carried in the script by danny and lee to feel them and know them and understanding the history so i could take that tapestry and pull it together. But on the whole its really its a love story. So i guess trying to navigate the feeling that i have for my wife. Hello. laughter and trying to make my life not to make her upset because its challenging. It challenged us and challenged me and my son. But it was about that. Because its also for me a love story. A love story through the eyes of this man and one of the reasons i said yes to lee after he was relentless in asking me to do it is because i wanted the tapestry, the depth, the broadness of that communication between a husband and a wife and particularly a middleclass black family to be seen by the rest of the world. Its something we dont see very often and i think that women have been the backbone regardless of race during that period for a number of reasons and i wanted to be able to show that in that one character. Rose what did you hope to bring in this script . What story . Well, i wanted to tell the history of the Civil Rights Movement. It seems to me that that movement has not been properly told in hollywood. You have world war ii, the holocaust, theyre extremely famous, part of our National Consciousness and partly because theres movies and t. V. Shows made about them but there havent been movies made about the Civil Rights Movement and its a shame because its a dynamic and dramatic event of the 20th century. It deserves to have many movies made about it and for me i wanted to try and push that into the National Consciousness the way that these other events have been dramatized. Rose told in intimate personal stories. Exactly. Exactly. Thats the joy of doing the butler because the butler is in the white house. So you can see him in meetings where decisions affecting the entire nation are being made and through his family you see how those decisions are played out in the lives of everyday americans. So it seemed like if we could make that work it could be a powerful film. Rose who saw the possibilities of this as a movie . Lashz iskind, amy pascal from sewn fwhoi told lars iskind and produced pretty woman and she told lars to option it and shes since passed and danny was brought aboard and i was brought aboard and me and steven spellberg, can you believe that, chargely. So steven said im busy. Sglts i dont know what happened. Rose this is what they do in hollywood. If steven is busy laughter i wouldnt make taking second place to that. laughter very good. Stevens busy to go to lee. So they go to you. Whats the challenge . The challenge is trying to get the budget to meet this epic story. The studios will only give African American dramas a certain amount of money. And is so dannys script spans decades and thats a lot of money. The movie was green lit far budget and i couldnt cram it into the budget that the film deserved. So it was frustrating and oprah i said oprah, were doing this movie. I dont know. I dont know about this. And solarz i didnt believe that you would get anybody to green light this because of the whole money issue. Because i had done the great debaters and i knew how hard it was. What he was saying is really true. Its very difficult to get a black drama green lit in hollywood because the theory is that black dramas dont work. Lars passed away she had cancer. And on her deathbed she was raising money on her deathbed and she hadnt raised money before because she was a studio girl. So she said lee, how do you raise money . I said come with me. Rose been there done that. And i think after her death a lot of investors we went to felt guilty and rose to the occasion and if not guilt a sense of respect for her. I love her. We need oprah on her shoulder. laughter what charlie meant to say. laughter she left enough money in her will to keep her company open so this film could get made. Thats how important it was to her. Wow. Its so interesting, guys, we had a screening in new york last night or recently and what was interesting to me when you were talking about her i really do believe this so dont call me cuckoo i believe that all of us are energy and even when you pass on youre energy. Something that we were talking about last night i thought laura is all up in this and shes going to usher the film in a way we cant imagine. So the spirit is throughout the this film and well feel the spirit of her once this is released. So you got the money. You got the script. You have to get actors. Yes. So Forest Whitaker came to you instantly. With forest, you know with forest this is so beautiful and its a testament to who he is as a person and how he his sense of humor. And an oscar winner. He came in to audition and i was humiliated asking him to audition. I said dude, i you are who you are but i have to see how the. Rose youre idi amin. Yes, he is idi amin and oprah how is that going to work . Is there any chemistry . The two of them came in and it was magic and i grabbed oprah and i said this is it. And then we grabbed he must have thought what the hell is going on . We were in a little suite at the chateaux and after we had done a few lines together and i think we did we rehearse it had birthday scene, you want to talk about the chemistry and lee pulled me into the kitchen and said i think hes the one. I go i so want to work with him i had wanted to work with forest wfr. Did you know this, charlie, that when he was nominated for i think you had already been nominated when i called you. Yeah. Rose yeah, for last king of scotland. I just called him up in that way that gee, i would love to meet that person. Id seen last king of scotland and i said i admire you so and i would love to meet you and your family and would you like me to have a party and would you come to my house and bring your friends so that we could celebrate you whether you win the oscar or not . I also met lee that way. I saw precious and i called lee laughter i called lee i got lees cell phone number and i called lee and i said hi, lee, this is oprah winfrey. And he goes im at the since dance film festival, we just won the award. And i said why is your damn cell phone on . Anyway, i love calling up people rose i want to meet you. I want to celebrate you. Rose charlie, the reason why i answered is because it said unknown. We talked about this. The first time you interviewed me, unknown meant thats money. Hello as im walking up the stage to get my award. Crazy. Rose if it had said oprah you would have answered it, too. I dont know rose did you have any sense of the power of the script and the power of the story or did you have clearly understood that if we get this right weve got something here that transcends movies and transcends i think i felt that way when i read the script. That the most of the movie, the historical moments that were so reflected in our emotion because were so connected to whats going on. I thought if we can accomplish that, if we could accomplish that then we could do something special. So i started just, like, bearing down on it as an artist to try to understand how to convey that. Rose did you even though this is a script, did you go in search of eugene allen . I did. I talked to charles allen, i talked to people who worked with him. I had some confidential conversations with some butlers. I talked to a number of individuals all the way through and started working with butler coaches to understand the mentality and philosophy behind it. I spoke to some civil rights leaders and stuff that i wanted to just pick their mind a little bit about what they were thinking and then started thinking about my own past and parents and Greater Boston grandfather because i knew my Greater Boston grandfather and my grandfather. They lived to very old ages. Their 90s both of them. So im remembering some of the incidents i lived in my life and starting to combine these things together to make something true. Rose how about gloria for you . Well, i was nervous about this because i hadnt picked up that instrument in 15 years. I really rose an acting instrument. The acting instrument and i put hit in the corner and said well, those days are gone. And wasnt that nice . Rose really. Yes. Rose its amazing to think of. Yes, i had incomprehensible. Well, i had because i had that day job that took over my life and it was always difficult to get someone to say yes, i can do the movie but can you do it between july 12 and august 14 because i have to be back for the september start of the new season. So i had just let this go. And also my disappointment over beloved and when i started talking to lee about this he said, you know, you need to come back and you need to act. He sent me several scripts. laughter which i shall not mention. Rose why not . I sent her a script about a serial killer where she was a serial killer rose not only am i not going to i said im going to burn this script and do not send me anything like this again and if you do that your karmas going to change. Rose like hey, dude, what are you doing . What are you doing . He said i want people to lose the oprah thing. I said i dont have to go to being a serial killer to lose the oprah thing. Hello theres some character in between. Can you believe it . So i was a little nervous. I called he suggested that i call susan batson, the acting coach. She came and had a session with me because i was saying rose this is before you decided . This is before i decided and she came and i had a session with her and she in 20 minutes i was exposing all of my stuff and she said you still have it. You have the vulnerability, you have the spaces where you can go inside and you can reach and you can find gloria. You have to do the work to do it. Because i started out saying to her well, its just a small role. Its just a small role. And theres no such thing as a small role and she to me represents shes a composite of that era. You know night we screened we had a screening and nun of us said charles allen, the son of eugene allen had not seen the film before. Rose oh and he stands up at the screening at the end because gale is hosting this screening and she says mr. Tom allen is here, tell us what you thought. He stands up and the first thing he says is well, you threw my mother under the bus. And then we all go, oh, lord, whats he going to say . He actually liked the film. And i said well, i certainly took some liberties with your mother. His mother smoked a couple packs of pal malls everyday and, you know, i dont think she was she wasnt a drinker and not to that extent and certainly wasnt tiptoing out with the next door neighbor because the next door neighbor wasnt terence howard. So we took some liberties because what she loved to do is watch the price is right and watch the soap operas so rose you got that. We got that. Rose so you finally said yes because something because rose because this was a busy time in your life. You did own. I was trying to get the Network Going and i said to lee no, no, no, then finally said yes. My entire life ive been a student of the history. When i was a young girl i knew all of Langston Hughs poems. I knew all of and thats a lot of poems. All the major poems i knew and i knew the entire gods trombones and sojourner truths speeches and Fanny Lou Hamer speeches so i knew history and i was an orator so the idea of knowing who you are for me has been the reason i can sit in board rooms and be the only woman and be the only black because it reminds me of that line from a maya angelou poem where she says i come as one but i stand as 10,000. I stand as 10,000 because i know where i come from. I know the path that was paved for me. I know the crown that i now wear holds the jewels that all of those people before me prepared for me. And i know that theres an entire generation that doesnt understand that. They dont have the context for who they are and how they got to be who they are. As, you know, African Americans, young African Americans. I also i just wanted to offer that story to people in a way that they could see the greater pictures. Rose you saw something you had to do in the end . After all this, ive got to do this. Yes, and my whole work is about opening the heart space for people and i said wow, i think heres an opportunity that you can show people something in a way that they can see the best of themselves. Rose what was the hardest part. Youve got your cast now, youve got everything in place then rose really making sure that everything is from the shoes to the makeup to the their accent to their head movements. Everything is honest, that everything is really, really honest and keeping it honest and its the hardest part. Hes a truthseeker. May i say this about him . He is the kind of director i mean. Thats why every actor that ever works with him loves him because he will not let you get away with a split second of anything less than the truth. He literally rose it has to be truth . Not only truth. He will call you over to the monitor this happened to me. Call you over to the monitor and say look at that, see where shes leaning in right there . Thats good. But see where she took a breath. I say yeah. He goes drop the breath. Too much. Too much drama. Rose this is also about family. A lot about family. Tell me a little bit about that. I think its tipifyed in the father son relationship. Our relationship is more about the absence in my not being there for us that causes a lot of problems and for her and the family. But with my son im trying so desperately to keep my family together and let my family have all the things they need and desire and its my quest for my son to live a better life than what i did. And he makes a decision to do a pursuit of trying to pursue a great life, too, but in his mind doing that he has to confront what he considers the demons of the country or the demons of social injustice and so i my motivations are all about caring i care so much for my son i dont want him to go the fiske, i want them to stay out of the south, i know whats happened in the south. I want him to stay at washington, d. C. At Howard University so i can protect him. I say in the movie i cant protect him there. He goes there to this place and then he starts this movement of what i taught him because of the way my character was a trailblazer. He left a sharecropper town in and went to washington, d. C. My dad, i used to think about that, too. He left texas and went to los angeles. In my family that was unheard of. In my family you stayed right there on the farm. You could put a trailer on the land but you dont go. In that case my grandfather is not coming there to visit you. You have to make a big step. So i made this step and now im here and ive set up a life for him and he goes and starts to confront these things and im thinking, hey, stop, you can be okay. You can have education and family, you can have a wife and a home. Hes like no, dad, everybody deserves a life, everybody deserves a home. I cant be happy inside myself unless i know the rights are there. So then we explore the Civil Rights Movement in the personal way. Thats whats brilliant about what you did, lee. Im alw