Whoopi Goldberg: Dream Big Baby
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Hello, everybody. Welcome to Literally. So, my heart is all warm and fuzzy. I love Whoopi Goldberg so much. We've known each other since we were kids. And this is a

been through so much watching each other's chapters in our lives. She's done it all. She's seen it all. And she's an EGOT winner. There are only 17 people in the world who have won the Emmy, the Golden Globe, the Oscar, and the Tony. And I believe she's the first African-American woman to do it.

So deserved, so diverse with her work and just the best. So let's get some Whoopi going. Let's make Whoopi. I think I met you in, I want to say like 84 or something. Yeah, that's about right. That's about right. Yeah, we was babies.

We was babies and Whoopi and I campaigned together. Remember the bus, the bus trip? I do. I do. Lots of fun. We were cleaning up California's drinking water. That's right. Initiative 65. And it was me and Whoopi and Jane Fonda and Michael J. Fox and Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick and-

Judd Nelson. Yeah. We were doing it. And Jane was doing it. You know, we were all like watching her. It's like, yeah, no, we're going to get it done. You know, we did all kinds of stuff. Hands Across America. I mean, just, you know, we were very in touch with the country and what we wanted to see, the directions we hoped that the country would go in.

And, you know, it's hard sometimes not to feel a little bit left away from it, let down by the fact that we, you know, we got so far and then we slipped back down the mountain. So we just have to come on back up the mountain again. It was such a more innocent time. Yeah. You know, I mean, everybody felt comfortable out there. And gosh, I remember...

Driving that bus. I didn't drive the bus, obviously. But the bus driving through a McDonald's drive-thru. Yes. And the person was like, Jane Fonda was like, we'll have 35 Big Macs, 75 Coca-Colas. Remember when we got pulled over for speeding? Yes. By the highway patrol? Yes. And he looked a little freaked out when he saw us. You were the first person off the bus. I do remember. Oh, and Cher. Yes. Yes.

Can you imagine? You're a highway patrolman in like Stockton, California, in the middle of nowhere. You pull over a speeding Greyhound. I think Michael Fox and I were probably hanging out the top escape hatch. It's quite possible. More than possible. So you're admitting it now.

I mean, no, yeah. And this guy's like, all right, pulls over and the door opens and it's, out comes Whoopi, out comes Cher, out comes Jane Fonda, out comes Danny Glover. Yeah, sir, what's the problem? What's the matter? What are you all doing? You know?

Do you have the photo? I have the photo of all of us posing with this poor guy. No, you have to send it to me. Yeah, on the medium. It's like a class photo off the Interstate 5 with this just shell-shocked CHP officer. I mean, we're the last thing you're expecting to get off the bus. You just know he's going, what the hell? You know? But it...

It might have been the last thing he expected, but it's what we did. And then we, you know, it's what we did. And it's because we all thought it was our duty to participate, you know, and to remind people that just because we were actors didn't mean that we didn't have a stake in the country, you know, because people say, well, why are they, what, how dare they? And it's like, no, no, dude, I pay taxes. You pay taxes. You're allowed to say this. You're allowed to say I don't like it.

And I still believe that. And yet, on the other hand, because the climate has changed so much, which everybody knows, you kind of – I'm reminded of that great Michael Jordan quote about why Michael was never political. And he was like, Republicans buy Nikes too. And that was in an era where people – there was like a safe zone. We could agree to disagree and do it. But now people take it so personally. It's like –

If your goal is to make art or not art, I don't want to be highfalutin about it, but if your goal is to entertain people, just entertain as many people as possible, it's super hard to thread the needle of being political. Yes, but you can do both. You can? You can do both because if it's something that you're passionate about, I could never –

not talk about the need to make sure that there was always us heading towards a cure for HIV or making sure that abortion stayed safe because I'm old enough to remember why abortion came in

to our conversation because people were doing things to themselves that were not safe and clean. People were getting it done or doing it themselves. So the idea was never about religion. It was all about let's keep each other safe by giving you the right to go someplace clean to do whatever you need to do for your life because we all agreed, I remember, that

Being an American was one of those things that you were always proud of because we didn't have to worry about questioning authority. You could question authority as an American. It was one of the things that my grandfather and my dad would talk about when they went to war, fighting for your right to question things. And, you know, it's kind of interesting to see

the route we're on right now. However you want to describe it. You have a front row seat every morning. Yeah. And you see everybody. Everybody comes through. Politicians come through. Actors come through. I mean, everybody comes through. Are you still enjoying it? What's that like for you? I know when I come on the show, you and I have that long-standing bond. So we have our special thing on the show. But you guys are always at the center of it. And it seems like you still love it.

Well, I like the idea of reminding people that it's their right. You know, it's their right to question. It's their right to vote. If you don't like something, you have the rights. The beauty is

Go and vote. You know, we're not going to each agree on everything all the time, but it's the wonder of this nation where you can actually get in line and one person, one vote. It doesn't always seem that way, you know, but sometimes one side wins, sometimes the other wins. But now it's starting to feel slightly dangerous, right?

And I don't like that. That's really irritating the heck out of me. I don't like it to feel dangerous. Hey, listen, this is going to be either the greatest segue I've ever done or the most ham-fisted. But everything's dangerous today, including the Oscars. Got people fighting on the Oscars. Yeah, but that's not even political, though.

But I'm saying it's everywhere. Well, people are pissed for some reason. You just go down the street, somebody's ready to like pop you in the head. It's like, oh, hey, hello. Get your hand out of my hair. You know? No, it's on balloon. Yeah. You hosted the Oscars four times? I think. Is that possible? Yeah, it's quite possible. I'm old. Is there any amount of money? You don't need money. But if there's any amount of money, would you do it a fifth time at this point?

You know, I wouldn't have a problem, but I'm pretty sure that they would have to really think long and hard about me. You know, I'm... Why? They'd be lucky to have you. I'm kind of sometimes divisive. You are America's sweetheart. Oh, no. I'm America's, like...

Hey, it's nice to see you again. But you know, not that sweet. Yeah. Oh, you're that person in the family? I am that person in the family. It's like, that's who you are. Is she coming? Yeah. Do we have to let her in? Yes. You have to let her in. Yeah. That's me. I completely disagree. I think you are absolutely. I haven't come to dinner yet. See, that's why you, you, you still are excited that I might be coming down the road. Yes, I am. Yeah. No.

Once you know me. Are you insinuating that after 30 years, I don't know you well enough? I was just about to say, we do know each other. For a long time, we were kids. I mean, that's... Kids. You're one of the few people that I can actually say that about because you were a kid when we met. I was a kid when we met. I know. You know? And we're still here, man. Yeah.

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Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. I've always like marveled and thought good for you of all that because you your career has been so diverse. You've I mean, you've you're an EGOT winner, by the way. She's an EGOT winner, folks. I mean, there aren't many. There are only 17 of them in the world, I believe. And you're the first black woman EGOT winner. Yeah.

And you've also been the center square of Hollywood squares. You've been on Star Trek. You've done it all. I mean, you – and I'm that way. I like want to – I haven't won anything. I won a Joan Rivers TV Guide Golden Hanger Award. You won my heart. You've always won my heart. You know. That's better than – that's even better than being an EGOT winner. But I –

I love that you do what moves you. Yeah. And you just don't give a shit. You just go for it. That's awesome. And you know why this is? It's because of Robert Redford. No, really? Yes, it's because of Robert Redford. Oh, wait. This is going to be delicious. Delicious. I was little.

One of the first things that I saw was Twilight Zone because I love Twilight Zone. And Robert Redford appears in one of the Twilight Zones as Death.

And he comes to get this little old lady who is very afraid she won't open the door. She will never. And he finally comes and he's dressed as a police officer. And he says, ma'am, let me in because there's been some trouble out here. And he starts to talk to her and she starts to calm down. And he finally breaks it to her that that's who he is. And she says, no, no, I don't think I want to do this. And he takes her hand and he says, it's OK. And so they go off.

The next time I saw him, he was in a movie. He was in a movie about... With Jane Fonda, I think. Barefoot in the Park. Barefoot in the Park. And...

In between both those things, I'd hear people talking about how actors don't really do television. They don't really do television. And I thought, uh-uh. Look, Robert Redford did it. He was fine. And I thought, if I ever get into the movies, I'm also going to do television. And when I got the opportunity, they said, well, would you ever consider it? I was like, oh, hell yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm here because there's nothing wrong with it. It's not a step down. It is an equal. And so I love all of it. I love game shows because I love game shows.

I love comedies. I love sci-fi. I love all of this. And for me to be a well-rounded actor, producer, whatever, writer, you have to be in all of these places and have some semblance of understanding about them in order to do them well or at least halfway decently.

I couldn't agree more as a fellow game show producer and host. I love game shows. I did the $10,000 pyramid as a young contestant with Dick Clark in like the 70s. Yeah. I was like, this is so cool. It is the best. Wait a minute. You did The Stand. I did The Stand. Oh, my God. One of the great TV movies ever.

It was just beautiful. Gary Sinise, you, Molly Ringwald. I mean, just fantastic. James Earl Jones. I mean. Oh, James Earl. Yes. And of course. Ruby Dee. Oh, my God. Ruby Dee. Yes. Yes. Who played the part that you then played. Yes. 20 years. We wanted you. You were unavailable. And I couldn't do it. Yeah. I couldn't do it. Because the people I was making a movie at the time, and they said, oh, hell no.

I was like, you don't understand. It's the stand. They were like, we don't care if it's the fall. You're not going. So... And we did shoot the stand. I think the stand was eight two-hour movies on ABC. Eight two-hour movies. So good. We shot that thing for over a year. Yeah. You would not have been able to pop in and out. No. And it was so well done. And really, you know...

Even though I work for them, I can tell the fact that they did Roots. They did The Stand. They did amazing work, you know? And I miss – I don't know about you, but I miss TV movies. I miss that, you know? Oh, me too. Oh, they were so great. I mean, there was the Sunday night movie. I mean, it was a thing for a long, long, long time. Yeah.

I don't know why they don't do them, do more of them because I mean, Brian's song, you forget. Oh my God. It was a TV movie. Yes. Yes. Um, uh, I think Cliff Robertson won the Academy Award for Charlie. Yes. Yes. I think that was a TV movie. Um,

I mean, there's some really, really, really great ones. Yeah. I mean, I don't, and I guess now that everything's so complicated with, you know, you have Paramount, but then you have Paramount Plus, and then you have Paramount Plus' mother, and then you have, you know, it's a whole bunch of different tiers. But I miss the fact that

Not making TV movies. Do you suffer from this? I do. It's like things are so hard to find. There's so much great stuff. That's the good news. The bad news is you never know where the hell it is. So people are like, have you seen The Bear? And I'm like...

And I'm like, I know I'm supposed to see it. Yes. I know I'm supposed to like it. Yeah. Meanwhile, I'm never going to see it. Yeah. Just not going to see it. I'm just not going to happen. There's 9,000 places to look. Right? It's just too many. Look, this may have to do with the fact that, you know, we grew up a certain way, you know? Yeah.

If you said this is where it is, this is where it's supposed to be. It's not supposed to be, you know, on the plus part of it. It's just supposed to be there. It's like, well, I can do one more and you're not supposed to, I don't, I, it's like enough with the passwords and the code words and the entry point. I, by the way, I sound like the oldest boomer in the world right now, but enough. Listen, how many, how many passwords can you remember?

They tell you to write them down, but then you write them down and then you don't know, okay, what was just a password to? What was it? It's a lot. It's a lot. And it's not just age. It's just, it's function.

Why, why doesn't it function the way it's supposed to? Why can't I have one password for everything? Yeah. You're one person. Yeah. You shouldn't need more than one. No, but you can have you. How come your stuff is not more secure? That's what I want to know. How come I have to change my shit because you're not secure? Now, are you on TikTok by any chance? Yeah.

I am at TikTok. I am not on TikTok. Has it listened to you like it listens to me? It is... I'm sorry. I don't care what anybody says. It is actively... How about this? The other day I was saying, my TikTok is listening to me. And somebody on the set said, well, like, what do you mean? And I just pulled the most random thing I could think of. I said, let's say I was...

I was talking to somebody about sports controversies and I mentioned Tanya Harding incident. That will show up on my TikTok. Whoopie, that day. No. Tanya Harding content was on my TikTok. Tanya Harding? Who's interested in that? Well. It's not like out there very commercially, I don't think. But the question is, where was your phone when you were doing that?

See, I don't carry my phone. I don't like it. I don't, you know, I'm on all of these platforms, but I'm rarely putting content on it. And I don't check it because I'm not ready to engage, especially not in this climate.

It's just really interesting. People just, you can't just disagree and then say, hey, you know, but I'm glad you sent it to me. I'm glad you let me know how you feel. Because people, then they get mad at you. It's like, well, I'm being polite. You don't want me to go the other way.

You know, let's stay civil. But, you know, it's all of these things. They're wonderful to have. It's all great. But I just, for me, it's too much. I can't, I put my phone down at 530 and then I'm done. And if I don't get back to you, if you need me, call me on the phone.

I keep a landline. Yeah, baby. Landline. Oh, you. I got a landline. See? You're holding up your landline from 1987. From 1941. Did you get that on the swag bag, the ghost premiere? My God, no. This comes from, I got this from Edison himself. Please, honey. Whoopi's ghost swag bag. By the way, that movie, I just got it, I mean-

That movie is freaking spectacular. It is good. Oh, my God. You know, it was a group of really good people. It just, we lucked out. Because I'm not sure any of us knew what we were really doing or what we had until it was done and we saw it.

Because I think at one point Patrick looked over at me and said, do you remember making this movie? I was like, does that mean? I don't think so. But, you know, it's what happens when you're done and they assemble everything and they get a great editor in and then they lock the picture and you suddenly go, oh, my God, that's what we were doing. Everything worked. Yeah, everything. The urban legend is that the script –

What the guy who wrote it was like from Iowa, like not really in Hollywood or something. And I mean, this is the urban legend I heard about the script and it's spectacular. And that was sort of like, I don't think he really wrote much afterwards, but it was like, like you say, a moment in time where everything, everything came together. He did Jacob's Ladder.

Oh, well, that's more than something. But I think it was just one of those moments. We have them in our careers where it's just like, oh, this actually worked. Cool. Oh, it worked really nicely. And no movie ever did more for the pottery industry. Yes. I mean, more people decided to go into potting. Yes. The pottery wheel. Yes.

Yeah. Who would have thought you could make a pottery wheel sexy? It just goes to show you, people talk about the power of cinema. They want to talk about inspiring revolutions and this and that. I'm going to say, hey, like it made pottery sexy. Yeah. You know, because somebody's sitting behind you and your hands are all mushy and stuff. Oh, gooey and mushy and shit. See, I myself, I don't like gooey hands. No. I like clean hands.

I didn't do it for, it didn't do it for me. I got it. I got to say, I was like, um, but it did it for everybody. Yeah. Yeah. What's Swayze's great line.

You take it with you. Comes back as the ghost and Demi does the famous. The love you had, you take it with you. You take it with you. Come on. Get the fuck out of here. Come on. Well, you know, it might be true. It might be true. But who doesn't want to think it's true if their greatest love has passed?

I believe it. I'm just like, it's, Demi's got that single glycerin tear coming down the face. By the way, it probably wasn't glycerin. I know she's, she's, she's a great actor. And I think that's her, by far, her best. That's her, that's her, that's her tear. One single tear. It's like she cued it. It's like, and tear. Yeah. Yeah.

But, you know, she's good for giving those kind of performances. G.I. Jane is one of my favorites because you're kind of expecting it, but you're not. But she's so terrific in it. You just want to go, you are a bad bitch. My God, go ahead, Jane. You know, I mean...

It happens. That should have been the one sheet. That should have been the ad campaign. You're a bad bitch. Go ahead, Jane. Yeah. That would have been an extra $10 million on that box office. Yeah, but then they would have taken somebody away for profanity. You can't win. No, not all the time. Yeah.

All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T-Mobile, headphones. Wait, T-Mobile? You bet. Free in-flight Wi-Fi. 15% off all Hilton brands. I never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel. ♪

Qualifying plan required. Wi-Fi were available on select U.S. airlines. Deposit and Hilton Honors membership required for 15% discount terms and conditions apply.

Meet the next generation of podcast stars with Sirius XM's Listen Next program, presented by State Farm. As part of their mission to help voices be heard, State Farm teamed up with Sirius XM to uplift diverse and emerging creators. Tune in to Stars and Stars with Issa as host Issa Nakazawa dives into birth charts of her celeb guests. This is just the start of a new wave of podcasting. Visit statefarm.com to find out how we can help prepare for your future.

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. I got to circle back to Hollywood Squares for a minute because you were the center square and that's a big deal. That's the square occupied by one of my favorite people who –

I kind of would like to do like a Ryan Murphy-esque life story of Paul Lynde. I suspect that that may be coming. Don't you think I'd be a pretty good Paul Lynde? You would be a brilliant Paul Lynde. Right? Ryan Murphy, are you listening? Oh, it would be amazing. You would have, it would be so much fun to watch and to watch you do. Because, you know, he was a really interesting man.

Yes, he was. Yes, he was. He was ahead of his time and just the fashion that like – here's my pitch. It's a look at the culture and how the culture, particularly in Hollywood and television in particular –

changed from in the 60s into the mid-70s as seen through the eyes of Paul Lindh. Come on, people. You know you want this. Because you want to start it as he's trying to figure out why he would go and do Bye Bye Birdie. Why should I make this movie? Because the movie's no longer about the show.

It's more now about Anne Margaret and why should I go do this when I'm Pauline and, you know, and have him go and do it because I want to see you do kids. What's the matter? What's the matter with kids today? What's the matter with them? What is you? You have to do it. I want to do the Bewitched era. Yes. Uncle Arthur.

Uncle Arthur. Yes. And Paul, and, and, and I mean, listen, and then in the Oscar moment of the thing, the Paul Lind 1979 Halloween special. Come on. I mean, have you seen that recently? Not recently. Tell me you watched it recently.

I, well, um, I did. And, and you know why I did? Because my Tik TOK knows me so well that it shows me things like the Paul Lind, 1979. It's Halloween. It's on. I think he has like, I think he has like the village people on it and the star. I don't know what it's, but it's meant everybody had to do. I realized in the seventies and TV, you had to do battle of the network stars, which I'm surprised you never did. No, I did something. I did the circus circus of the stars. Yeah.

Oh, the circus. Oh my God. What was your act? What did you do? I remember those. I feel like I was on a trip. I feel like you were on a trapeze too. I was going to say. Somebody will find it and send it. But I think that's what it was that or an elephant. But I was, yeah.

My favorite is, in your memory, you can't figure out if it was an elephant or a trapeze. Like, they could not be more different. Well, I might have been doing something with an elephant, or I might have been flying through the air. This is my new world. It's like one or the other. I did something, but I'm not sure what. But I know I was there, you know? I mean...

It's amazing. You have had more fun, done more stuff than almost anybody I know. And I just love that. And I love all the chapters of your life. I mean, you even lived in my neck of the woods for a minute. Didn't you live in Montecito for two seconds? Yeah, yeah. I lived on the top of a mountain in the, oh my goodness, I'm trying, in the John Deere house. Oh, I know where that is. Yeah, yeah. That was my house for a long time. And then I realized I was too far away.

Like, I like living out in the middle of nowhere, but this was too, too nowhere-y for me. Mm-hmm. Because I would be coming home late and it was just like, this is too far. This is too far. Yeah. I, at this point in my life, can't get far away enough. I...

I work so much now and I'm surrounded by so many people and I love it. And you know how collaborative and what a team effort it is. But I'm around 150 people almost every single day and I just want to like chill, chill, chill, chill. Yeah. You deserve it. And you know you're always working.

It's just part of your DNA. It's what you do. You know, I'm the same way. I'm always working and always trying to talk to somebody. And my brain has started to do something interesting because, you know, ever since I lost my mom and my brother, there are finite, things have become finite in my head. And so when you say, what did you do? It's like, I'm not sure because the person who actually knows is no longer with me.

you know, my, everybody kept track so that I didn't have to, I didn't have to, you know, so, you know, my mother, you know, had all the books and, and put stuff away. And I just, did she keep scrapbooks? Did she, did your mom keep scrapbooks of everything you did? You're in my scrapbooks. There's pictures of us, you know, I want to find some pictures of us, little kids running around. Oh my God. Yeah.

Telling the farmers that their water is going to be unhealthy if they don't vote for Proposition 65. That was always my favorite. You just know the farmers were thrilled to take agricultural agrarian water advice from Whoopi Goldberg and Michael J. Fox. Those were the experts they were looking to have. They knew we were telling them the truth.

That is true. They knew, you know, and that's the, to me, that's the thing. Listen, does it matter who's telling you if they're telling you the truth? No, the truth is instantly recognizable. Yeah. Bozo the Clown could have come out and said, listen, these people, they're peeing, they're going to mess up your water, peeing in your water. You need to, we need better water.

They're like, you know what? You're right. Hey, Bozo. But you're right. Nice feet. The California clean water caravan. Yeah. God, it was fun. And has it shifted? Has the water, have they done different things now with the water? Are you guys in like a crazy drought now? We're in a crazy drought. Yeah. And there's a lot of water rationing in California and California.

But it goes in cycles. I've lived there long enough to know that – I mean clearly we're dealing with climate change but even within that, it's secular. We'll have – I mean listen. Unfortunately, 23 people were killed in my neighborhood with a flash flood two and a half years ago. So I mean you can talk about the drought all you want but still – you know what I'm saying? It's like – it is what it is. It's like just weather in and of itself is so –

So nuts. It's crazy. Let me ask you this. When do you go back? You're on The View right now. You're right in the middle of it. Have you ever had an outright brawl on The View? Wait a minute. Fisticuffs? No, like a brawl. Yeah, because I know it gets testy sometimes between the gals and sometimes between the guests. And that's part of the DNA of the show sometimes. No, you know, it's not supposed to be.

It's not supposed to be part of DNA. What's supposed to happen is you're supposed to be able to get riled up and not have to worry, do I need to watch? Is somebody coming up behind me? No. And it's like being around friends because not everybody agrees. I can be friends with people who I don't necessarily agree with 100%.

It's healthy. It is healthy. It's super healthy to have friendships with people who have a completely different worldview. For sure. Because you have to know why people think the way they think and why they do the things they do. Just like they need to know why I do the things I do. And I hear so many people say, I could never be friends with them. They think X, Y, or Z. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I hear that a lot also.

That's exactly who you should at least try. Well, no, but you can say to somebody, help me understand. Help me understand because I don't understand. And it's okay to do that. It's okay to ask people.

But, you know, again, we're in tricky times. Tricky, tricky times. Well, as long as you're in your little seat. By the way, you have the best location. Did you choose where you sit at the table? Did you come in? I'm only going to do this show if I can sit at this corner of the table. It's the worst place to sit. What do you mean? Why? If you're concerned at all about how you look, it is the one place that makes you look the biggest. Yeah.

It's on the end. Yeah. That's so interesting. It's crazy. Because sometimes I'm like, you know, if I've eaten way too much for way too long, I think, ooh, looking a little bit like a butterball turkey here. Maybe I'll just turn a little bit, you know.

But it doesn't enter my brain often, but when it does, that's what I'm thinking. Ooh, side shot. Not nice. See, this is the kind of technical knowledge that I need to know. I love that. Don't have that part of the table. Well, you will never have to worry about that. We will never see the jagunda again.

Rob Lowe. It's not going to be the Jagunda Rob Lowe. But there have been many facets of the Jagunda Whoopi Goldberg. The Jagunda is everything. Well, it's of a piece. Now you can pray for Jagunda separate body parts, but I didn't want to get that deep. I'm just saying. I understand. I understand. I understand. Rob Lowe.

You have to go see my movie, by the way. Oh, Till. Yes. You got to go see Till. Yes. I want to talk about Till. It is, the billboards are everywhere right now. You should know. You should be very happy. I'm really happy. No, no. They're everywhere. Good. In LA. Good. Good, good. And, you know, it's, it's, I love movies like Till because I love history and I like, I feel like I know the story, but I'm sure I really also don't.

Well, I think you'd be surprised. And it's told through the eyes of the mother, right? Yes, yes. You play Emmett Till's mom, right? No, I'm the grandma. When we first put this together, the idea was that I would try to do Emmett Till's mother. But I have to tell you, I could never have done what this young lady, Danielle Detweiler, has done. Her performance is spectacular. Spectacular. For me, on the scale of one...

to 10, she is, there are no numbers. She's magnificent. Yeah, she's magnificent. And the story is shot so beautifully. The Chikoya, who is our director, you know, we wanted people to see the movie so they could understand what the story, what happened to this boy and why we can never let this kind of systemic racism take over again.

So she did not want to make the movie frightening for people so they wouldn't go see it. Everything that she has put in there is so that you can participate in what's going on in the movie. The director has done an absolutely superb job, superb job. And if you have 11-year-olds and up, take them to see it.

Because we may not be able to hear what happened from our books anymore. As I understand, there are more book bannings going on. There's a history book changing. So this is not changeable. This is what happened. And there are many, many parts of this that people don't know.

As there always are, right? When did you complete this movie? I think we were still in COVID maybe two years ago. It took 11 years for us to finish it. It took 20 some odd years for Keith Beauchamp, who has been really instrumental in keeping Till's story alive.

in the forefront, you know, uh, he's the reason, you know, that, uh, the anti-lynching bill finally got done after 67 years. It's, it's extraordinary. It's an extraordinary, uh, story. I hope everybody goes and see. Yeah. I'm going to, I'm the minute I get a break to go to a theater, I'm going to do it. And that's, I also love it. It's in a theater. That's so great. Yeah. How great is that? Right. Theaters are wonderful.

Theaters are wonderful. I just saw Black Panther last night in the theater. It's really exciting to see movies again this way. I like them on television, but I also like them in the theater. And this last spate of movies for me represents five Black directors, two of them women.

Many of them helmed by women, you know, as leads. You know, you have several regenerations coming out. Also, you have woman. I mean, this is we've never seen this before, where the possibility of five directors of color in the race. It's it's really rather wonderful, you know, so things are inching along.

That's why you need to host the Oscars again this year, because you can be there and celebrate it in person. We shall see. We shall see. Two things need to happen from this podcast that need to come out of this into the ether. Whoopi hosting and me doing Paul Lind. You doing Paul Lind first. The Paul Lind biopic. That's the first thing that needs to come out. Ha ha ha!

As my mother always said, Rob, dream big. Yes. Dream big. Baby, why not? Why not? Whoopi, I love you. Thank you for coming on. Everybody needs to go see Till. It's in theaters now. And send in your ballots for Whoopi as host of Oscars. I adore you. I adore you. I'm coming to see you and the girls a bunch, I think, right after the first of the year. Okay.

We'll be some smooching and hugging in your future. Yes, I think so. Thank God. For sure. All right, baby. Love you. Love you. I do love that woman so much.

I do. That was great fun. And you know what? I do love you for listening, taking time out of your day. It's very cool and it's very appreciated. Don't forget to download the rest of the season and give us a review. That would really be great if you had a good time. Don't forget to see Whoopi's movie, Till. And for the rest of the show, what I'm going to do is I'm going to empty the lowdown line. There's nothing worse than an old school 80s answering machine with a light blinking saying 75 – you have 75 messages.

So we are going to take care of that right now. Hello, you've reached literally in our lowdown line where you can get the lowdown on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-4551. So have at it. Here's the beep.

Hey, Rob. This is Brett calling from the most beautiful place on the planet, Lake Rosso, Ontario. I wanted to ask you how the makeup artist created your startling face for the character Dr. Jack Starks in the film Behind the Candelabra. Love the podcast and look forward to hearing your response. Bye-bye. Oh, thanks for checking in from Lake Rosso. I have water skied the lake there myself many a time.

Dr. Jack starts in Behind the Candelabra. If you haven't seen it, please, I recommend you do. It is one of my favorite roles I've ever had, directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, myself. It's the story of Liberace. And I knew going into it that Matt and Michael would be taking really big swings as an actor. I mean, really over the top.

And, you know, when I do ensemble, uh, parts or supporting parts or cameo parts, um,

I only have one rule, and that is, can I score? Like, if I can't walk away with people talking about it, then there's really no point in doing it. And so to score when you know other guys are going to be really scoring, it's a thing. You got to figure it out. And one of the ways I thought of doing it in this part was the look and having the look be so outrageous.

Because the character warranted that. It was described in the script as his face is tight and shiny and plastic. So that was all...

That was all the direction that there really was. And I remember calling Soderbergh and saying, you know, I kind of have an idea of how I want to go, but it's pretty big. Are you down? And he was like, am I down? Let's go. So I worked with an amazing makeup and hair team and we came up with this look. And basically what we did was before facelifts were common in Hollywood, women would tape the

their skin and wrap it around their heads and then crank it super tight to pull the skin. And then you'd have to wear a wig over it to hide the tape marks. And of course, to hide the wires behind your head. So that was how, you know, the, you know, the leading ladies of a certain age did it for years in Hollywood. So we did that with me.

And so my face is super pulled and really freaky. And then I looked in the mirror and realized that if I closed my eyes halfway with my eyebrows raised up like that, it was really unhinged. So it was the most fun, the most trial and error that I had. And it's one of my favorite moments that I've been able to do as an actor. So thank you for the shout out.

Hey, Rob. It's Jarrett from Biloxi, Mississippi. Man, I love your podcast. You are killing it. I love the conversations you have. And to ask the question of the guys on every magazine that I checked out of at the grocery store, got to give you props. But my question to you would be,

I know you've played somewhat of an antagonist in Bad Influence, but I think he'd be an awesome bad guy. I think he's got the charisma, the charm. What's your dream antagonist role? Like a Bond villain type character. Good to talk to you, man. Keep it up. Hey, thanks, brother. That's so sweet. I really appreciate that.

Yeah, I'm actively looking for a great bad guy part, actually. Bad Influence, if you folks haven't seen it, the movie you're talking about, it's one of my favorites that I did way ahead of its time. There are two types of bad guys I would like to play. And you put your finger right on it, like a Bond villain, particularly the way they are now, like Javier Bardem as the Bond villain was like,

Super intellectual. I feel like the Bond villains are slightly better than the Marvel villains as an actor. I mean, not to say that I wouldn't play a Marvel villain, but Bond villains feel like they have more to do as an actor. They're a little weirder. So I would like to do that. There's a novelist named Patricia Highsmith who's done a lot of novels. And the talented Mr. Ripley, that movie is based on her work. And she always has these characters...

much like my character in Bad Influence, who are kind of like charismatic and kind of sexy and you like them and you're compelled by them, but you also know you shouldn't be and you don't really know how bad they are or they aren't until it's way too late. Something like that would be cool to find. And say hello to my peeps in Mississippi. Thanks for your call.

Hi, Rob. This is Emily from Alberta, Canada. I am a big fan of your podcast. You're such a good storyteller and also good with your guests. My question for you is what was it like to get the call for Jimmy Kimmel's Handsome Men's Club?

And do you have any fun behind the scenes stories? Keep up the good work. Bye. Of all of the clubs that I am. Thank you, by the way, for the, for the, for the call, um, of all of the clubs that I am a member of, and there aren't that many, the handsome men's club is my proudest for sure. Let's face it. Um,

And I remember Jimmy's people calling and saying, we have this idea for a bit. It's going to be after the Oscars. So it's really going to be a big deal. Everybody's going to see it. It's the Handsome Men's Club. And I was like, when I know something's funny, I'm immediately in. I don't need to know anything else. Like, well, who's in it? I'm not doing it. And then, of course, I did find out who was in it. And it was super sick.

And my behind the scenes of it really was just that because there are so many amazing people in it and everybody has such busy schedules, it was shot over a very, very, very long time based on people's schedules. The day I was there, I think I was alone.

And then they put the people in it and there was all this talk of who's going to be in it, who else is going to be there. And like, are we going to get Brad Pitt? Is he doing it? Or I don't know. Like, so there was a lot of talk about who was going to be in it and who wasn't. And, um, and then of course I saw it and there were some really cool surprises. I think sting is in it, which made me laugh. Um, and, uh, obviously Matt Damon. Um, but it's a, it's a, it's a high honor that I take very seriously. So thank you.

All right, listen, if you didn't get your question answered, call back and start filling up this box for us and we will have more Loda and Lions to come. See you next week on Literally.

You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced by me, Rob Schulte, with help from associate producer Sarah Bagar. Our research is done by Alyssa Grahl. The podcast is executive produced by Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Joanna Solitaroff at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson at Stitcher. All of the music on this podcast was composed by Devin Bryant. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time on Literally with Rob Lowe. ♪

This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.

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