All language subtitles for The Alec Baldwin Show s01e01 Robert De Niro & Taraji P. Henson.eng

♪♪

This is
an ABC Color Presentation.

♪♪

Hello. I'm Alec Baldwin.

First up tonight,

a conversation with
a true icon of American cinema,

Robert De Niro.

The Oscar‐winning star

of some of the most famous films
in Hollywood history

continues to be an advocate

for artistic expression
and filmmaking

as the co‐founder
of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Next year, De Niro re‐teams
with director Martin Scorsese

and fellow acting legend
Al Pacino

in the much‐anticipated new film
"The Irishman."

Also tonight,

Oscar‐nominated actress
Taraji P. Henson is here.

She continues her role as Cookie
on the popular drama "Empire"

and is featured in the upcoming
Disney‐animated film

"Ralph Breaks the Internet."

We're glad you've joined us.

Robert De Niro
and Taraji P. Henson,

coming up right now.

[ Sultry jazz plays ]

♪♪

♪♪

To a degree,
I don't want to overstate this,

but, you know, you and I
may have something in common

because I saw the documentary
about your dad.

De Niro: Yeah.

Very moving.

Your love for your dad
is very moving.

Keeping the studio
frozen there in time

and the way
you've maintained that

is exactly the kind of thing
I would do... Yeah.

...if I had some parallel
in my life,

'cause I had ‐‐

You know,
my dad was a good guy.

My dad ‐‐ and although
the numbers are different ‐‐

you were older
and he was older ‐‐

My dad died when I was 25.

When he was 55,
he had cancer. Oh, wow.

And your dad
wasn't that old either.

He was only 70, 71?
71.

But he was not
an old guy. No.

Now, even though you had
succeeded in this business,

and he saw you succeed,

and you, uh, uh, uh,

had won two Oscars
before he passed away ‐‐

which is unbelievable.

What I sometimes think,

I think of all the things
I wanted to do for my dad. Yeah.

I would have sent him anywhere
around the world.

Yeah.
Enjoy his retirement.

Did you feel the same way
about your dad? Oh, yeah, yeah.

No, I did that
with, uh, my grandmother

and my ‐‐ my ‐‐
my grandfather.

When I did "The Gang That
Couldn't Shoot Straight,"

the money I made from that,

I sent them
to Italy and Ireland.

And I literally pushed
my grandfather on the plane ‐‐

he was in a wheelchair ‐‐

but I wanted them
to go to these places

before it was too late.

And that's ‐‐ was
my present to them,

to see the ‐‐

you know, see the "old country,"
if you will.

Um, uh,
did you enjoy directing?

Yeah.
I made a movie with you once.

Yes, yes.

Yeah, I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed it.

And...I enjoyed it.

I wish I could ‐‐

I was gonna do a sequel
to "The Good Shepherd."

But I still might do it.

I just have to get the money.

It's an uphill battle.

It's a killer.

Complicated.
Yeah.

I always remember
you came to my house

to pitch me
to do the movie. Yes.

And I said to you ‐‐
this is really ‐‐

When you talk about
using your persona

to, uh, uh,
rear your children

or manipulate
your children,

uh, uh,
that worked on me.

I was in ‐‐
I was with you ‐‐

I always
tell people this ‐‐

and you came to my house.

And I said, "So, how did you
manipulate your weight?"

Yeah.
'Cause you said to me,

"Lose the weight,"
'cause I'm gonna have ‐‐

"and then put the weight
back on."

And I said to you, uh,
"How would you do it?"

And you sat at my house

and you looked at me
and you went...

"I just did it, Alec.

I just did it.

I didn't think about it.
You just do it.

You gotta do it, Alec.

You gotta do it.
You gotta do it."

I remember thinking to myself,
"Oh, God,"

you know,
"the moment has arrived.

I can't disappoint
Robert De Niro." Yeah.

That was the best
dietary program I had ‐‐

my fear
of disappointing you.

If it works, that's it.

[ Laughs ]

But ‐‐ But ‐‐
But when you do, uh ‐‐

"Raging Bull" is obviously
a vivid example.

There's a lot of
physical manipulation you do,

and you have to maintain that
throughout the film,

no doubt, correct?

Yeah.
Until you transition?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so, are you ‐‐

are they wrapping you
at 6:00

and you're going to a gym
every night,

or what was...?

Well, when I was doing
the lighter stuff,

I would, uh ‐‐ I would
work out every day in the gym

based on, you know,
for what ‐‐

When I did the older,
overweight stuff,

I just let myself go.
Right.

Um, and, uh, it's hard,
because getting back ‐‐

you know, the ‐‐
I gained 60 pounds.

If I lo‐‐
the first 40 are easy.

You go back
to your old eating habits.

The last 20
are always the hardest. Yeah.

And, uh, so, that's where
the real discipline comes in.

Do you find that
that's something

that's changed
in moviemaking, uh,

even to a modest degree,

where there was time

and there was a deliberation
about what you did

in some of
these earlier films.

And as years have gone by,
there's less time,

'cause time ‐‐
people are in a bit of a hurry.

They're always in a hurry.

You ‐‐ You ‐‐ You ‐‐
You just have to ‐‐

if you're in a position
to make them wait

and ‐‐ and ‐‐
and set it up properly ‐‐

Like with "Raging Bull,"
Marty and I,

uh, the whole thing,
the whole agreement

was that we would
shoot the first part

then take the break
for the gaining of the weight.

There was one in between thing

where I had to be 15, 20 pounds,
sort of out of shape

but still in and out of ‐‐
of ‐‐ of ‐‐ of fighting.

So, we did that.

Uh, and then just, uh,
set a certain amount of time ‐‐

three and a half months,
three months, whatever ‐‐

whatever I could gain
until that point.

We set that up that way.

And you can do that today
if somebody wants to.

It's just
that you have to ‐‐

Build it in.
If you commit to doing it,

it'll ‐‐ it'll be, uh ‐‐

uh, it'll happen.

You're the one that
told me you could get down to 155 pounds.

Where'd I get it?
What, did I pull it out of the [bleep] air?

Jake: I don't know if I'm gonna
make it down to 155.

I'm not gonna make it
to 160.

And on top of that,

you signed me
for a fight at 155.

And if I don't make the 155,
I lose $15,000.

Joey: That's right.
Oh!

You supposed to be a manager!

You're supposed to know
what you're doin'!

I just want to go off
for a minute.

You do the best impression
of me and Joe Pesci.

You're great, man.

I gotta tell you.
Well, that's a real ‐‐ Wow.

I get a big kick
out of that anytime ‐‐ Glad we got that on camera.

Wow!
I get a big kick out of you.

And when you did the thing

that made fun of us
in "The Godfather" thing

with me and Al
and Jimmy Caan. Oh, yeah.

No, it was great.
I couldn't believe it. I was watching.

No, you were, like,
hysterical.

I'm ‐‐ I'm susceptible
to everything.

Everybody else is susceptible
about you.

And that is like ‐‐

I'm ‐‐ I'm ‐‐
I'm perfectly capable

of projecting
a lot of things on you

that may or may not
be true.

Right, right.

And one of them is
that you have, you know,

this tremendous
artistic nature,

and your father was an artist
and your mother,

and you grew up in ‐‐
I don't want to say "Bohemian,"

but you were in
an artistic environment... Yeah.

...in the old downtown

before they turned it
into Madison Avenue

down there in Soho.

And, uh, you could live
anywhere in the world.

And I'm sure you have
a few homes around the world.

Uh, you've done
fairly well.

And, uh, the, uh ‐‐
I've done okay.

You've done okay.

But you remain
a New Yorker

and New York
is your home state. Yeah.

Why is that?

New York is, uh...

it's just my home,

uh, uh, and it's...

I don't like to go to L‐‐

I don't mind going to L. A.

I like L. A. to visit,
to work, and so on,

but I‐I don't like
driving around.

I don't like ‐‐
It's all spread out.

It has no real definition.

Yeah.
To me, it's like a suburb.

Yeah, and it's ‐‐
A chic suburb.

Yeah, so,
I‐I don't have ‐‐

I just don't ‐‐

so, I'm happy always
to get back to New York.

I love other big cities
like Paris or London or Rome.

You know, um...

And you've traveled
enough for your work,

I would imagine,
from time to time. Yes. Yeah, yes.

So having a home base,
this was what works for you.

Yeah,
New York's the best.

Uh, I don't know
if the city has changed

or the people who come here
to live have changed,

but I feel like
something's changed here

over the last few years.

Do you feel that way?

Yeah, I mean,
it always changes.

The world changes.

New York changes.

You just gotta ‐‐

you know, we'll look back
30 years from now at this time

and say...

"The good old days."
...great things.

Yeah,
"I wish we had that then." Right.

So, you just gotta ‐‐
you gotta roll with it

and make things
as good as they can be.

If things need to be fixed,
society‐wise,

blah, blah,
and you know.

And you have
how many kids?

Six.
And have al‐‐ Do any of them ‐‐

have any of them shown,
or any of them emerging,

uh, uh, with any talent
in the business,

any curiosity
about the business?

One of them.
One of my twins.

Um, he's going to be 23 in ‐‐
in ‐‐ this October ‐‐

now, this month.

Um, yeah,
h‐he was interested,

but now he's segueing
into something with computers.

Uh‐huh.
[ Laughs ]

He's a genius.

I like that. Smart guy.

Yeah, he is.

When did your kids ‐‐

at what age did they begin
to realize who you were?

I‐I don't know.
Maybe ‐‐

I have a 6‐year‐old ‐‐

my 6‐year‐old daughter
is gonna be 7

in the next two months.

She's starting to realize,
I guess.

I mean, for me ‐‐
What about you with your kids?

When I s‐‐
My kids this morning

were watching the movie
"Boss Baby"

that I do the voice in.
Yeah.

And when
the "Boss Baby" character

does something
really funny and silly,

my son today points
to the camera and goes,

"Daddy, you're funny."

[ Laughs ]

How old ‐‐
how old is he?

Uh, he's 3.
3.

I got a 5‐year‐old,
a 3‐year‐old,

a 2‐year‐old,
and a 4‐month‐old.

My wife had four ‐‐

We had four kids
in four and a half years.

Wow. Oh, boy.
I‐I'm in a hurry.

I gotta get going.
Yeah, no ‐‐ I ‐‐ yeah.

Well, you ‐‐
you got a lot ‐‐

But to me, I mean,
some of the movies I did,

regardless of the violent
or intense content they had,

I might not show 'em ‐‐
show them to my kids.

Yeah, of course.
Well, I might not show 'em to 'em

'cause they weren't
very good movies,

quite frankly.
Yeah.

In your case,
that's not true.

When do you decide your kids
are ready to fully embrace

the Robert De Niro
filmography?

Well, I always
threatened them.

"I'm gonna show you 'Cape Fear'
if don't behave yourself."

Listen.
They hear you in the other room going,

[ Imitates De Niro's voice ]
"Counselor..."

Max: Counselor!

Come out, come out
wherever you are...

[ Sultry jazz plays ]

♪♪

You know that game you
and Joe Jaros played, Tegwar?

How'd you play it?

Tegwar?
Mm‐hmm.

You don't know
how to play Tegwar?

Spell it.

T‐E‐G‐W‐A‐R.

Stands for "The Exciting Game
Without Any Rules."

No rules?

No rules at all?

There's a sweetness
to you.

There's a tenderness
to you

in some of
the early films.

And then, all of a sudden,
you're a different person.

And I'll sit there,
and I'll say to myself ‐‐

in my mind,
I sketch somebody.

I say, "This is a person
that walks this way."

Mm‐hmm.
"They talk this way."

I think of
the externalization

of ‐‐ of ‐‐ of ‐‐
of a certain list of characteristics.

And then,
I do an impersonation

of a man
that doesn't even exist.

And people say to me,
"Well, which one is you?"

And I say
the same thing to you.

"Do all those people live in you
or none of them?"

Is it all creation to you?

Yeah, I always say that,
in every character,

you have to make it
your own.

And, uh...

And, so,
there's always part of you

or a ‐‐ a part of ‐‐
a part of you in that,

which you draw on.

Otherwise,
it's not gonna be specific

and it's not gonna have ‐‐
it's not gonna have impact.

There's a part of you
that's a gangster?

Yeah.
In some ways, yeah.

[ Both laugh ]

In which way?

I understand
the mentality,

let's put it that way.
You do?

We all do.
A lot of people do.

But, uh, I don't want
to get off on, uh, uh, uh ‐‐

on other things.

But we have a president

who thinks
he's a gangster, so...

We're gonna get into that,
by the way. Yeah.

We'll ‐‐
We'll touch on that.

Are there kinds of movies
that you don't want to do?

Uh...

For any price.
...I don't know.

When they come,
I'll know if I don't ‐‐

or they're not
well written,

the character's
not well written,

the story's not
well written,

it's not written from anybody

who has any understanding
of those ‐‐

that world, the experience,
the characters ‐‐

so, they're writing ‐‐
they don't know.

So, if they don't know,
how am I gonna know?

Unless I do the research,
which I do.

It's always nice

when you have strong,
solid writing

coming from somewhere
that people know.

They come ‐‐
It comes from an experience

that these people
have actually had.

And that's what's coming out
in the writing.

Now, um, there's a person
I think about,

one of the great
leading men

and matinee idols
of movie history

who, when he was young
and was starting,

uh, a cadre
of Hollywood men

came to him and said,

"You belong to us

and your career is ours
and you are ours

and that's how
invested in you we are.

And we can't have you
running around

doing Suntory whiskey
commercials

and chasing a dollar
doing projects

we don't want you ‐‐
your movie career.

So, you're gonna
give us your money,

and we're gonna invest
your money for you."

Wow.
And they made him a rich man.

Wow.

And you have been
very successful in business.

You know,
you don't come from

a successful line
of businessmen.

No, I mean ‐‐
How did Robert De Niro ‐‐

Did you just meet people
who ‐‐?

No, well, I ‐‐ I, uh ‐‐
I just ‐‐

You know, like, with Nobu,
it was, um ‐‐

I had ‐‐
I had, uh, dinner there.

I was brought ‐‐
brought there

by a director friend, uh,
one time many ‐‐

over 25 years ago
or something.

And, uh, I told Nobu,

"You ever want to open
a restaurant in New York,

just let me know."

And we had already opened
Tribeca Grill.

And, uh, so I had some ‐‐

you know, some credibility,
if you will,

as far as just being part
of that whole thing,

my partner,
Drew Nieporent, and I.

And, uh, so then,
eventually Nobu said,

"Okay," came around,
this and that.

And that's
how that started. Right.

So then I saw that
we were always being asked

to be in either
a certain building complex

or in a hotel.

And I'm saying ‐‐

And I realized it when I was
at the Hard Rock in San Diego.

We're going to the Hard Rock
to do an opening of a Nobu,

and then they're
asking me questions

about the Hard Rock.

And I'm saying,

"What am I answering questions
about the Hard Rock for?"

Yeah.
"I should be answering questions about Nobu.

And what are we here for?"

But we were there.
So, we were committed.

But, uh, th‐‐

Eventually, you wanted
to own the hotel

that Nobu was in.
Well, yeah.

If we're lucky enough

to have people
who were so interested,

and they want to put us
in their place

in order to give them
a cache or credibility,

why are we not doing that
ourselves?

At least trying?

So ‐‐ And the guys
who ran that hotel, they ‐‐

eventually, we got them
to be our hotel people,

and they're great.

So, um,
that's how it started.

And we just said,

"Just say ‐‐
Tell the partners

that we don't want
to just have a restaurant.

We want to have a hotel
with a restaurant in it."

You want to own it all.
That's all.

And we don't even own it.

We just run it.
I mean, it's, uh ‐‐ Right.

But it's better than
the other situation.

But all this myriad
of business things you're involved with

have gone quite well.
Yes.

Things have gone
quite well.

And did ‐‐ did ‐‐
did that in any way,

even just as a thought ‐‐

'Cause I know
a lot of people who ‐‐

the ‐‐ the ‐‐

the kind of nomadic nature
of moviemaking

and running around
and going around ‐‐

You could just stay home now
and not have to really work.

Well ‐‐

Did it influence
your career?

Did you sit there and go,

"I want to work less now"

'cause you don't need
to work? I like working,

especially if it's something
really special and great.

I, um ‐‐
I‐I don't mind that.

I‐I, um ‐‐

Uh...

But I am thinking
of the future.

You know, these things

will enable me
to live comfortably ‐‐

And take care
of your kids.

Yeah, and take care
of the family,

the kids and all ‐‐
mainly.

Um, so, I'm fortunate.

You seem like somebody

that a family is very,
very important to you.

Mm‐hmm. Yeah.
Was there a time when you were working,

were you less in the lives
of your older children

than you wanted to be?

My older ‐‐ yes.

Um ‐‐
Like everybody.

It was ‐‐
Yeah, like everybody.

I mean, these days,

I always find a way
to get back on weekends,

even from L. A.,
you know? Yeah.

From Europe,
it's a little harder.

You come
every couple of weeks.

But that's ‐‐
I don't have that many things

going on
that far away, though.

Right.
Uhh ‐‐

But you decided
to have kids later.

Well, I had my ‐‐
You did another round.

Yeah, another round ‐‐
another ‐‐ and another round.

Your youngest
is how old now? 6.

Gonna be 7. Yeah.

But she's, uh,
a wonderful miracle.

She's, uh, a miracle,
you know?

[ Sultry jazz plays ]

♪♪

What I care about is the
direction of this country.

And what I'm very,
very worried about

is that it might go
in the wrong direction.

You know, I have said things
politically

that I might have
said them differently

or ‐‐ or ‐‐ or ‐‐ or ‐‐
or left them unsaid entirely.

[ Chuckles ]
You know, I wanted to be the liberal

that could throw a punch.
Yes.

And, uh, you know,
it hasn't always gone

the way
I hoped it would go.

And I find people,
uh, who ‐‐

I respect people now
who have ‐‐

have gone all those years
and had great success,

whether they were actually
great actors,

and their acting is what
made the movie great or not.

Yeah.
It didn't really matter.

But a lot of those people,
they kept their mouth shut.

Yeah.
And they just said,

"You want to ‐‐ You want to know
me, you want to see me,

you stand in line,
you buy a ticket,"

now you download,
whatever.

They don't
give their opinions.

And lately, you have been
giving your opinion.

And you didn't seem that way
before.

What changed?

I, um...

I'm so offended
by this person, um,

and by the Republicans
in general

and how they've behaved,

and we see it
with the Kavanaugh thing

going on right now.

And when I see him,

I know what he is,

and he knows what he is

'cause everything
he says about other people ‐‐

"You're a loser.
You're a this. You're a that" ‐‐

is everything
he's saying about himself.

It's ‐‐
He's so transparent.

He's projecting.

He thinks he's
on "The Apprentice."

And that show made him...

It tricked people.
...tricked people into thinking

that he actually knows
what he's talking about. That he's a crack executive.

Yeah.
'Cause, you know,

Lorne Michaels called me
and said,

"Do you want to play Trump
on 'SNL'?"

And I said, "Of course I don't
want to play Trump on 'SNL'."

W‐What's more of a dead end?
Yeah.

"Oh, God, I mean,
I‐I got so many other things

I want to do with my life
right now."

And, of course,
as everyone can imagine,

he said,
"It's three shows.

It's three shows in
late September into October,

then the election's gonna come
and he's gonna be gone,"

and then the unthinkable
happened.

But I will say that,
as New Yorkers, we know ‐‐

People would always ask me,
"What is he like?"

And I'd say that,
"If you were a New Yorker

who was out and about

and involved
in the culture of the city

and the life of the city,

he was a very
drive‐by presence."

He'd come to the event,

quick, quick photo‐op
with the wife, leave.

He was never a tablemate
at a dinner.

You didn't really
get to know him.

No.
But I think it's interesting

when I saw you
start to get ‐‐

uh, boil over,
if you will... Yeah.

...I thought, "You hadn't
done that before."

No. I‐I never ‐‐

I never, uh ‐‐

[ Sighs ]

I've just never seen
anything like it. Right.

A‐And, uh, I've seen
a lot in this world

in the years
that I've been around,

but this is total, uh ‐‐
totally surreal.

And, uh, I felt that
I have to say something.

Whatever I can say,
whatever influence I can have,

I don't know.

But you know, just,
it's, uh ‐‐

it's infuriating,
this guy.

Um...

And I know now it's,
"We got to do something."

'Cause I get mad, I say ‐‐

I call him the names
that I've called him ‐‐

but now, we gotta ‐‐
we gotta do something.

Yeah.
That's over.

We gotta move forward.
Right.

And that's how I feel now.

That's how I felt.

To just get us
back to normal.

To normal.

Normal can be
Republicans, Democrats,

see‐sawing between lower taxes,
lower regulation,

higher taxes,
more social programs.

Whatever we think is
a traditional American key

that we're playing in.
Yeah.

But what we have now
is not normal.

I, uh ‐‐
I saw, uh, Jeff Flake, uh,

at the Global Citizens thing
the other day

at Central Park.

And I‐I said, uh,
"I don't know if" ‐‐

however I said it,
I said, "You're an American.

You're a hero.

What you've done is heroic."

And that's a guy
with feelings.

He's actually, uh,
conflicted.

And you could see it
with the ladies in the elevator.

That...
Painful.

And he ‐‐
I don't understand why

some of these Republicans
are not saying,

"I'm out of here.

Let me go
into private practice.

I'm a ‐‐ I'm a big shot
in my community.

I'll get a job.
I'll get paid well ‐‐

better than I do in government,
probably ‐‐

and yet, I stay and say,

'Well, I'm staying there
to keep an eye on the government

'cause we don't want it
to go crazy.'"

And I understand that logic.

But you ‐‐
there's a point that ‐‐

and many of these people
who are now with Trump

are gonna be tainted
for the rest of their lives.

They are not gonna be ‐‐

people are not gonna
want to be around ‐‐

If they really
stick with him. Yeah.

They think
they want to be with him,

and it's gonna make them
give them something,

but they are paying
such a price... They will.

...uh, making a deal
with the devil.

It's ‐‐ It's scary.

[ Sultry jazz plays ]

♪♪

[ Speaking Italian ]

Your career ‐‐
I get a little choked up.

Your career
is indelible to people.

The work you've done
and the artistry...

...the example it is
for people who are actors,

that dedication
and that work you did,

you know, it just ‐‐
it lives forever.

You can't stop
seeing those movies.

You can't stop seeing
"Taxi Driver,"

"King of Comedy,"
"Godfather," you name it.

The goal in life is to give
one performance

that's a great performance ‐‐
in a great movie.

A great performance
in a great movie.

And you've done many of them,
many of them.

And do you have real pride
about that?

Do you ever sit there
and go,

"Yeah, it's ‐‐

On an artistic level,
it's gone pretty well"?

Do you feel that way?

Uh, yeah,
well, I don't know.

I‐I thank you
for saying that.

You're gonna make me cry.

I'm serious.
Yeah.

But no, no,
but that's very nice of you.

Thank you.
Incredible.

You know,
and some of the movies I know ‐‐

the whole thing that I feel
about movies

like the movie
that Marty and I just did,

"The Irishman,"
or "I Heard You Paint Houses,"

is that
that is a special film

that we took many years
to finally make

and took a lot of work
to do.

And no matter
how it's received, whatever ‐‐

and I used to tell Marty that
about the earlier movies,

you know, like "Raging Bull"
or ‐‐

"No matter what,
it's gonna be remembered.

It's gonna be remembered
'cause it's special."

That I know.

What it does, who knows?

But that I know.

'Cause I think that ‐‐

like, for me,
I always tell people,

"If I do a movie" ‐‐

and I make a lot less movies
than I used to ‐‐

but when I would make movies,
you know, years ago,

I'd light one off the other.

I was always shooting movies
in the '90s,

one after the other,
and beyond.

And I'd shoot movies,

and you gotta stay
in that kind of idle gear,

you know what I mean?

My favorite line is Pacino,
who said to me ‐‐

he's in the car ‐‐

and he's in the c‐‐
[ Chuckles ]

Pacino's in the car.

He told me ‐‐
He's in the car with his driver.

And the guy ‐‐ Let's say that
the guy's name is Tommy.

And the guy said,
"How was your weekend, Al?"

And Al would say,
"Oh! I had a good weekend!

You know, I, uh ‐‐

I relaxed,
I stayed quiet.

I did this, I did this,
I did that."

He said,
"How 'bout you, Tommy?"

And the guy ‐‐ I couldn't
remember that story,

but it was basically,
the guy says,

"My mother died."

And Al said to me,
in his mind, he thought,

"Oh, I can't know that
right now."

[ Laughs ]

Like,
"I gotta go do the movie.

I can't have anything
blow th‐‐

I can't have any winds blow
my sail off the course..."

Yeah, yeah, yeah.
"...of where I gotta stay."

So, when I would do movies,
I'd be in my trailer ‐‐

Uh‐huh.
I wasn't reading a book,

'cause that kind of
made me sleepy.

I'd watch movies.

"Scarface," "Goodfellas,"

movies that kind of
get you revved up,

you know what I mean?

It inspires people.

You sit there and go,
"That's what I'm aiming for.

I want to make a movie ‐‐

I want to know
that I have a chance.

And even at best,

what we're gonna have
is mediocrity.

But I want to believe
at the onset

we have a chance
to make something great." Yeah.

Who know ‐‐
Who cares how well it does?

But we want to make
something great.

And, uh, I watch
these films of yours

to remind me what ‐‐
that's the goal.

That's the goal.
That's the goal.

Thank you.
Thank you.

Thank you, Alec.
That's very...

Thank you.
...sweet of you, buddy.

Thank you.

[ Sultry jazz plays ]

This is my favorite story.
Yeah.

Danny Aiello is doing a movie
with my ex‐wife.

And he's in the wings

and he's listening to opera
on a headset

and he's singing.
Yeah.

And Betty Bacall
shouts out,

"Would you shut up?!"

She yells at him

and embarrasses him
in front of everybody.

And he takes the headset,
and he goes,

"Are you talkin' to me?

How dare you talk to me
like that!

You no‐good [bleep] [bleep].

You [bleep] [bleep]."

He goes crazy.

My wife comes home
from the movie.

We're in some hotel
in Paris.

And my wife's
a little Daisy May,

if you know what I mean.

She goes,
"Well, it was so crazy,

and Danny was screaming

and Betty Bacall
was screaming.

It was a big mess,
and they sent us all home."

Ring, ring.
The phone rings.

"Danny, is that you?"

"That no‐good [bleep] [bleep],"
he's screaming.

"Well, calm down, Dan‐‐"

He hangs up the phone.

The next day, we're walking
along the Champs‐Elysées.

My wife goes,
"It's Danny and his wife.

Oh, my goodness."

And he walks up, I go,
"Are you all right?"

He goes, "Yeah, I'm all right.
I'm all right. I'm all right.

It was tough.
It was so hard ‐‐

because that no‐good
[bleep] [bleep] [bleep]."

And he goes from zero to 60.
He goes nuts.

Yeah.

Cut to
I'm with the prop guy.

And Jimmy says to me,
he goes,

"Let's go to Taormina
to have dinner."

And we go there
and we're having dessert.

All the men
are bent over their food,

shoving it
in their mouth.

And the women are leaning
on the back of the chair doing their nails.

They don't even touch
their food.

And the men are just
wolfing down

the ‐‐ the ‐‐ the ‐‐
the linguine.

And the guy walks up
to the table and goes,

"Uh, Jimmy,
Frank would like you

to come over to the table
with Alex ‐‐

Alex Baldwin ‐‐

to come over
and talk to him."

And he goes, "Yeah, we're just
gonna finish our coffee."

He goes,
"Frank would like you

to come over
to the table now, Jimmy,

and talk to him."

We go over to the table,
and I swear to God,

this guy goes,
"You Alex Baldwin?"

And I'm like...

"Yeah, I heard‐a
good things about you.

I heard your wife.
I heard she's good people.

That she stood up for Danny

when he was having
that argument with ‐‐"

"That no‐good
[bleep] [bleep] [bleep]!" [ Laughs ]

And I thought,
"Oh, my God,

these people
and their resentments."

I mean, they just ‐‐

they live forever,
you know what I mean?

[ Sultry jazz plays ]

Tell me why I shouldn't

throw this drink
in your bitch‐ass face?

You sure
this was a good idea?

Are you sure
you want this company?

'Cause you'd never get up
off the floor, bitch.

[ Grunts ]

Look, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.

She was talking trash.

What do you expect?

We made up a verb, uh,
based on your name.

To "Taraji" someone
or to get "Taraji‐ed"... [ Laughs ]

...means, uh, you ‐‐

people get
straightened out.

Really?
Yeah, your character really, uh ‐‐

and we're gonna
get to that later... [ Laughs ]

...'cause we've watched
a bit of "Empire"... Mm‐hmm.

...but I wanted to begin
by saying that, uh,

you grew up in...
Washington, D. C.

In D. C.
Mm‐hmm.

And what was acting,
movies,

theater, the arts
in your childhood?

What was it like
in your childhood?

Um...
What'd you watch, see, like?

I just remember

the first time my aunt
took me to a Broadway play.

And it was "The Wiz."

And I just ‐‐
I was so little,

my feet couldn't
touch the ground.

I was sitting in the chair
like this.

And I just remember

looking up at that stage
and those lights,

and I was just addicted.
Mm‐hmm.

I don't know.

I just knew
that's where I belonged.

How old were you?
I had to be, like, 5 or 6.

And you really felt it
then? I felt it.

I felt it.

I just ‐‐
Something about it.

I just wanted
to be up there.

I wanted to be Dorothy.

I just ‐‐
Something about the stage.

And then,
my dad picked up on it

when I was very young.

I was always just
this rambunctious kid.

I was just outgoing...

A lot of energy.
...big personality.

I wasn't afraid to sing
or do a poem or cheer.

And my family
would sit on the sofa

and just let me
entertain them.

I was like, "baby magic."

And, um, my dad saw it,

and he just spoke it
into me.

He'd say to me,

"You're gonna win an Oscar
one day."

He would always tell me
I was gonna win an Oscar

for portraying
Diana Ross.

I think he thought
I looked like Diana Ross

all my life,
when I was little.

And so, um,
he would tell me that.

"You're gonna get an Oscar.
You're gonna win an Oscar.

You're
the greatest actress alive.

You're incredible."

He would speak that
into me.

And before he passed,

I do believe he saw

all of what's happening
in my life,

because I remember
when "Hustle & Flow" came out,

I was like,
"Daddy, this movie is amazing."

And he'd look, and I said,

"And all the press

and they're talking Oscar
and this."

And this is when he found out
he had cancer

and he didn't have long
to live.

Something about people
that are in transition,

they're really connected.

You know, they're connected
to a higher source.

And he looked off
into the distance,

like he sees
what's happening now,

and he said, "Baby,
this is only the beginning."

Yeah.

Um...when was the first time
you get up there,

and not even professionally,
even as an amateur,

when you get out there
and you start to perform?

Oh, there were two times
I can remember.

Kindergarten.

Um, we were graduating,
and they were like, "Oh."

They picked some of us
to sing, um,

"The Sun Will Come Out
Tomorrow."

And I remember,
I got up on the stage,

and I did something
and the audience laughed.

And I was like,

[ Whispering ] "Oh, my God.
They love me."

"Gotta write that down.
What did I do?"

And I was like,
"Look at the power."

No, it just was the power.

Just like, I could do this,
and they laughed again.

And then, I sang loud,
and they stood up and clapped.

And I was like,
"I love this feeling."

And then, I remember, again,
it was the fifth grade ‐‐

I will never forget
that my teacher ‐‐

and I don't even know
if she's still alive,

Mrs. Lane ‐‐

she put me on the stage,

and I just came to life.

I did.

And then, again,
in the seventh grade.

These are the times
I remember,

until I got
really serious about it.

All the way
up until I auditioned

for the school of fine arts,

Duke Ellington
in Washington, D. C.

So, they have a school
that's a public school there...

Yes.
...for people who don't know,

in their
public school system... Yes.

...that's
a performing arts school,

like in New York?
Performing arts, mm‐hmm.

The old performing arts here

that was
the movie "Fame" ‐‐ "Fame."

Which made me
want to go!

Which made everybody
want to go. [ Laughs ] Right!

Believe me,
everybody wanted to be... Right.

...one of those people.
I didn't get accepted, though.

You applied to Performing Arts
in New York?

Uh, no.
This was high school.

Oh, Duke ‐‐ Duke ‐‐
Duke Ellington. High school.

I auditioned.
You didn't get in?

I did not get in.

And that devastated me.

I thought
I didn't have talent.

Bet they feel pretty bad now,
don't they?

Yeah, and I go back
and talk to the kids. Yeah.

It's actually a good story,
you know,

because no one wants to hear
how easy you had it.

You can't help anybody
that way.

So, you're in D. C.
till you're how old? Ooh, 26.

That's when ‐‐
Did you go to college when you were there?

I did.
I went to Howard University...

You went to Howard?
...graduated Theater Arts program.

What kind of a program
did they have at Howard?

Amazing. Amazing.

Actually, my sophomore year,
we did "Dreamgirls."

A producer from Shouson Theatre
in Hong Kong

just happened to be in D. C.,
came to see us.

Paid for our entire crew, cast,
production, wardrobe, set

to be flown
out to Hong Kong.

We performed there.

Sold out shows every night

to the point where there was

a professional production
next door of "42nd Street."

They closed early.

You had a baby when?

In my junior year.

Your junior year?
I was 24.

All right.

You were going to school
full‐time?

Yes.
And then...

I was going to school
full‐time... ...surprise.

...and I was working
two jobs.

An unplanned baby.
Yeah.

Surprise baby.

Surprise!

As life will surprise you
sometimes.

I had four unplanned babies
in a row.

It's okay.
It's okay.

Are you a good dad?
It's okay.

That's all that matters.

As long as you take care
of your responsibilities,

who cares, you know?

Am I a good dad?
[ Laughs ]

I think ‐‐
I think I'm a good dad. Yeah!

I think I'm a good dad.

My ki‐‐ I get along great
with my kids.

Everything's great.
Mm‐hmm.

I connect with my kids
on this beautiful level

until my wife
walks in the door. Right.

Then they drop me
like I'm nothing. Of course.

[ Laughs ]

But, uh, you had a child,

and what was it like
for you so ‐‐

I mean,
because a lot of women,

there are a lot of actresses,

and extraordinarily successful
actresses like you,

there's one or more children
in their life,

and that affects...

We were talking
to Kerry Washington. Mm‐hmm.

And we've talked to
a lot of different people

about that whole idea,

about how they worked that
into the show or don't.

Mm‐hmm.
And when you had a child,

did you sit there
and say to yourself,

"Oh," you know?

Or that it didn't
deter you.

The, "I'm still
gonna go for it."

I don't know.

I did ‐‐
It didn't deter me.

I wasn't afraid.

Of course,
there was this moment ‐‐

Let's just be honest.

I'm 24.
I'm still in college.

"Oh, my God,
what does this mean?"

When I searched
deep down inside,

I was born to be a mother.

You know, I just knew ‐‐

I don't know.
I wanted my baby.

And I felt like, deep down,

that my child was going
to, um, motivate me?

Mm‐hmm.

Not that I wasn't
already motivated, but ‐‐

and that's exactly
what he did.

Once I had him,

I got out of that relationship
with his dad

because it wasn't good.

Now that I have this kid

looking at me
with these hungry eyes,

like, "What's next, Mama?"

You have to have a plan.

You have to have something.

That's gave me the goal

to pack up
and go out to California

and pursue my dreams,
because I was like,

"If I sit around
and sit on my dreams,

what is that
teaching me child?"

How old were you
and how old was your son

when you went out
to California?

I was 26,
and he was 1 going on 2.

And California was something
you'd kind of set up

and there were friends
and there were people

that are like a net

to catch you
when you landed?

Or did you go out there
cold, cold, cold?

No, I had a cousin
who was there.

And I had my little cousin
who I inspired to be an actor,

and he booked a television show
out there.

So my dad and her
were in cahoots ‐‐

his mother.

And my dad was like,
"She's still here,

and I don't know why.

She can't catch fish
on dry land."

He sent me out there
with $700 in my pocket.

That's all I had.
Is Will Smith your cousin?

Is that the cousin that was
doing a TV show out there?

I'm kidding.
No! [ Laughs ]

No!
I'm just ‐‐ I'm joking.

No, um, it ‐‐

So, I had actually,
literally two months

to get on my feet.

And I know
how to work and earn.

Like I said,
I was in college,

and I worked two jobs.

So, I know
how to pay the rent. Mm‐hmm.

And, um,
I just needed to get stable.

You end up finding that's
an instinct people have.

Yeah, that's ‐‐
that's always my instinct.

It's an instinct people have
and other people don't have.

Yeah, I can survive, baby.

No matter what.

Do what you gotta do.
Always have a plan.

You find a hole
to get into. Yep.

♪ You know it's hard out here
for a pimp ♪

♪ When he trying to get
this money for the rent ♪

♪ For the Cadillacs
and gas money spent ♪

♪ Will have a whole lot
of bitches jumpin' ship ♪

Shelby: That's it right there.
That's the money take.

Empire was my destiny, Cookie!
It was my legacy!

You, you, you, you!
Everything is you!

Yes,
'cause this is about me!

Oh, okay,
so I didn't help ‐‐

Empire was mine!
I didn't help!

I didn't help?!

Yeah, what did you do?

I mean, where were you
most of the damn time?

You weren't there
when I built the damn thing.

By the time you got back,

Empire was
a multi‐billion‐dollar business.

You have
a very short memory,

"Mr. Dwight I Can't Do Music,
Please See My Colors!"

[ Laughs ]
So, when you do the show, uh,

how would you say
the character has changed ‐‐

again, what I love
about television

is the opportunity
for that change. Yes.

How has she changed

as you're getting
into season 5?

Oh, well,
she's totally evolved

into this corporate mind.

You know, she can't be Cookie
from jail, from the streets,

slapping bitches everywhere.

You know, she ‐‐
she has to impress board members.

She has to hold
corporate meetings.

So, she's
a very reserved Cookie.

But don't push her.

That other Cookie's still ‐‐
I won't, I promise.

[ Laughs ]
I'm gonna come on and do a guest spot.

Please do!
I just want to be slapped by you.

Oh, my God!
I just want to be slapped by you.

And that was me.

Like, that was never written,
the slap.

But I'm a mother,

and, you know,
moms do that.

She has three boys.
Come on.

That young one
needs to be pounced.

[ Laughs ]

Then, of course,
we saw the video,

uh, uh,
of your colleague,

especially one guy,

one of them
that plays your son,

is always sneaking up on you
with a camera

and filming you.

Jussie Smollett.

Yeah.
And then you have ‐‐

what I love was
it's the same routine.

You always say
the same phrase.

[ As Taraji P. Henson ]
"I hate you."

[ Normal voice ] Wham!
Yeah.

And then you clock him.
[ Laughing ] Yes,

because he catches me...

He keeps doing it
all the time.

...in my most vulnerable
moments.

Like, "This is a private moment,
Jussie."

It's actually kind of fun,
though.

He's like
a little brother.

It's a fun set?
It is a very fun set.

Now, when you're
on a show like that

which has a premier TV cast,
black or white,

but it's
a largely black cast,

is there a sufficient amount

of black and/or female
directors, as well?

Absolutely.
There are?

Yep. Very diverse.

Lee makes ‐‐
makes sure of that?

Very diverse set.

He still runs the show?
Yeah.

Well, you know, he's ‐‐
he's ‐‐

Doing a thousand things?

He's like
the wiz behind the curtain.

Right.
You know. [ Laughs ]

Yeah, no, I understand.
Yeah, yeah.

But it's still his show.
Mm‐hmm.

It's ‐‐ It's still ‐‐
And there's a diversity in the ‐‐

in the crew?
Absolutely.

And in the producing
and writing? Yep.

And so ‐‐
that satisfies you?

Yes, I love it.
Because I always ask people the same thing,

which is ‐‐ I mean ‐‐‐

and other people
who I've talked to,

you know, in podcasts,
on the radio, or TV shows,

they, very rightly, uh, uh,
reminded me

that, you know, they don't speak
for all black people...

Mm‐hmm.
...when you ask them about their experiences.

But which do you
find harder,

being a woman
or being an African‐American,

in terms of
your acting career?

Which is more difficult
for you?

Hmm...

It's just a double whammy.

Women have it hard.

That's the exact phrase
we used yesterday.

It's a double whammy!

We said,
"It's a double whammy."

[ Laughs ]
It's a double whammy!

You really feel that way?
Absolutely.

You don't feel one's harder
than the other?

It's a double whammy.

Um, because I have white friends
in the business,

and they complain about
not getting paid.

You know, they're getting
paid more than me. Right.

But, um, they still have
a beef, you know?

Yes, a black woman

is definitely at the bottom
of the totem pole,

but I'm ‐‐ I'm trying
not to take that on. Yeah.

Because if you take that on,

then that's what
it is gonna be.

I just ‐‐
It's just that

I don't give my energy
into what's hard.

I give my energy into
how do we fix it.

And how do we fix it
is you just keep working.

You keep working
until things change.

And I keep being vocal about it
or whatever.

But I'm not gonna
take that on

because Hollywood
has been very good to me.

I've worked.

I'm a millionaire.

And I come from Southeast D. C.
from the hood.

Um, I'm not making excuses.

I'm not saying,
"It was great,"

but I think the work
that I'm doing

is making changes.

Um, and that's what I focus on,
instead of how hard it is.

Because
if you keep putting ‐‐

if you keep saying
how hard it is,

"Oh, it's so hard,
it's so hard,"

it's going to be hard
because that's all you see.

You have to see the light
or be the light in the tunnel.

Are you glad
you did the show? I am.

You know why?

Because Cookie made me
an international star.

And who knew television
would do that?

Uh, now,
you're getting married?

Yes, I am!
You ‐‐ You ‐‐ You are.

Yes, and I wish my dad
was here to meet him

'cause he would love him.

Ugh.
Well ‐‐

Do you mind me
asking you about that?

No.
Where'd you meet him?

I met him ‐‐

actually, my makeup artist,
Ashunta,

did the love‐connection thing.

And I suck at those.

I'm like,
"Dude, please don't.

I will embarrass you."

Like, I'm not her.

And I don't know.

She just saw something
in those eyes,

the same thing I saw
when she showed me his picture,

and I was like...

And here we are,
about to get married...

[Laughs]
...in Chicago.

What does he do?

He's an, um,
ex‐NFL Super Bowl champ.

[ Laughs ]

He played for the Colts,

and, uh, I don't know
if you remember

number 26
walking it tight

where he caught the ball,
and they beat the Bears.

Uh‐huh.
He caught the interception and ran it back...

Uh‐huh.
...and there was this whole, um, dispute

whether he was out of bounds
or not. Uh‐huh.

Too late,
he has the ring! Uh‐huh.

[ Laughs ]

And ‐‐ and ‐‐ and ‐‐

But you had never ‐‐

This is your first marriage?

First marriage ever.

You've never been married
before?

Never married,
never engaged.

Ooh! I was engaged once.

But it ‐‐ I just knew.

But he ‐‐
But what is his name again?

Kelvin Hayden.

So, Kelvin Hayden ‐‐

I mean, obviously,
with a woman like you

who works
as hard as you do,

he's gotta get you.

Oh, he does.

He gets you.
He gets me.

You gotta go do
what you gotta go do. Yeah.

"And at the end of the day,
let's have dinner, Kelvin?"

Oh, God, yes.

He's so ‐‐
He knows you're busy.

He knows,
and he understands.

And he likes
to see me happy.

He knows acting
makes me happy.

And I think he likes ‐‐
enjoy my work.

Yeah.
I think he enjoys my work.

I wanted to say to you, um,

that I hope, um, you know,

for the sake
of your audience,

on behalf
of your audience

as well as all of the rest of us
in the business,

that you keep your edge.

But I realize
nothing in the world

could ever make you
lose your edge.

Never. [ Laughs ]

It's limitless.
It is.

Thank you.
This was beautiful.

Thank you.
Thank you.

Thank you.
I'm a big fan. [ Laughs ]

Thank you.
And I of you.

Wish I had gotten to play
with you on "30 Rock,"

you and Tina.

That was so ‐‐
Oh, I miss that job.

That was a fun job.
That was a good job.

And, you know, I just worked
with Tracey Morgan.

Could I tell you
something? I love him.

Can I tell you something
about...?

[ Sultry jazz plays ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Repair and Synchronization by
Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0