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  • We sort of like, yeah, it's understandable, look at...

  • We're so happy to talk about violence,

  • we're so quick to question love and someone's good intentions,

  • because we don't trust it.

  • That's a fair assessment. I think the answer to that is,

  • not that you asked that rhetorically, I think the answer to that is

  • because race trumps everything in this country.

  • -It does, and so does sexism. -Indeed.

  • -And then ageism. -Absolutely.

  • It's like we make a joke, but we women are on the back burners.

  • You were saying about a certain age, you hit an age,

  • why don't we work anymore? Well, I'd say...

  • You know, Will Smith is probably going to work a lot longer than I am.

  • He's a brilliant actor who happens to be a man of color

  • and very talented, but we women are still kind of

  • You know, it's sort of like India.

  • The flip side of this race conversation we're having now for me,

  • and you and I have just met for the first time,

  • but the thing that I have adored about you, and I mean that deliberately,

  • the thing I've most adored about you, aside from the fine work that you do,

  • is that I... and I want to ask you about this...

  • I just know how this business works. I know that behind the scenes

  • there had to be some fights to get Lopez in prime time.

  • I always tell people, aside from all the great work that Sandra Bullock does,

  • Sandra Bullock was the exec producer. She produced George Lopez.

  • Getting a Hispanic in prime time. I saw you on the show...

  • He's Hispanic?

  • So weird. I'm so uncomfortable right now, this is awkward.

  • This is very awkward.

  • He's got his late-night show now, and congratulations, George.

  • I saw you on there not long ago. Take me back and just,

  • since we're talking about race, tell me what you had to do.

  • How that happened, to get this show in prime time.

  • I know the word "race" is something that's here and it's powerful,

  • and unfortunately it's still very prevalent.

  • I was raised in a family of artists. My parents were brilliant musicians,

  • so the people that were in our house were the best musicians.

  • -Your mother an opera singer. -Opera singer; my dad, opera singer

  • and voice teacher. So everyone under our roof,

  • gay, straight, Black, White, Asian, Chinese, Hispanic,

  • was there because they were brilliant at what they did.

  • So I fortunately didn't come out of the womb

  • and the womb of the house with a gauge on who was better

  • and who was not. I knew who I loved, and there were all the colors

  • of the rainbow within that love.

  • So when I approached the "George Lopez Show",

  • we saw his comedy act and he...

  • the man's brilliant. Anyone who can make you genuinely laugh

  • and moved and cry and tell a story all by himself on that stage

  • deserves to have a forum to do so, and he just blew me away.

  • He was better than any idea that we came up with.

  • I said, "The ideas that we have are stupid.

  • This man's life is far more interesting and powerful,

  • because it's everyone's life."

  • Family dysfunction, love, heartache, loss of a caregiver, kids,

  • your sexiness, your stupidity. It has no color again.

  • So when someone told me, "No one wants to see a Mexican on TV"

  • I had the same, I was like, "He's Mexican?"

  • "Interesting. Is he legal?"

  • No. It's like, what do you want me to say?

  • You know what?

  • The R-word is here. It bums me out that it's still here, but it is.

  • But what I like is that people aren't afraid to talk, and talk about

  • once we stop talking and having great debates

  • amongst men and women, gay and straight,

  • Black and White, if we stop doing that we're going to go backwards.

  • I think it's kind of old school, guess what?

  • We're all different colors. No one is completely White or Black.

  • I'm every mix. You keep going back, it gets more colorful,

  • and I love it.

  • Life is good when you're around the George Lopezes.

  • Life is good when you have a moment like the Tuohys did,

  • where they did it out of love.

  • That family would fight for their son like

  • it's like a mother bear and her cub.

  • I was looking at Stephanie, our producer,

  • and I were talking a little while ago and we were looking at some numbers,

  • looking at some demographics, which I don't typically look at

  • but she wanted me to see these numbers because it tells a fascinating story

  • about the success of "The Blind Side,"

  • and I'm coming to "The Proposal" in just a second.

  • For all the "Proposal" fans, hold tight, I'm coming there.

  • Yes, please, please. I'm not just about "The Blind Side."

  • -Yeah. -Go ahead.

  • I'm coming to that thing in just a second.

  • But the numbers are fascinating on this.

  • So many of these blockbusters end up being driven by New York and L.A.,

  • as you know, they drive these. This movie, you know this,

  • this movie is being driven by the middle.

  • It's being driven by everyday people in Middle America,

  • not being driven by New York and L.A. What do you make of that, if anything?

  • You know what? As long as I've been in this business,

  • when they show you that little graph and the numbers and testing,

  • I pretend like I know what they're talking about.

  • I go, "Oh, yeah, I see there's a 69 in that thing there,

  • and that's great, isn't it? Right? That's good, right? Okay, awesome."

  • I don't know. You know what, I totally go instinctually...

  • I go instinctually towards what makes me proud

  • and makes me feel like it's a big middle finger

  • to everyone who said I couldn't do it,

  • because I hope there's a bunch of girls and ladies behind me

  • that are wanting to do the same thing and better

  • that I need to sort of blaze a path for.

  • And so many women did it for me, and it's our job.

  • So hopefully in a couple of years we can stop saying,

  • "A woman has opened a film." We just go,

  • "It's a good film. It's a good film."

  • But you got to admit that's pretty cool, though,

  • -what you pulled off last year. -Kind of cool, yeah. Kind of cool.

  • -That's pretty cool. -Kind of cool, yeah. If I may gloat.

  • -You can gloat, you've earned it. -Thank you. Okay, I'm going to gloat.

  • And the numbers prove it. Speaking of the numbers,

  • let's talk about that other movie, "The Proposal."

  • I don't even know what to ask about this movie

  • because there's been so much talk about "The Blind Side."

  • Were these things planned to come out in the same year?

  • -No. Everything... -It never happens

  • -plan that way. -It never happens.

  • Everyone's like, "You've done so much work this year."

  • I said, "No, it's been over two years.

  • They just all decided to come out at that time."

  • "The Proposal," someone allowed a girl to be the dude.

  • The guys have the fast lines, they can be an a-hole,

  • they can, but they still redeem themselves.

  • It doesn't have to be huge, just a little, tiny bit.

  • You've got to have the guy stuff, and it was such a relief for me

  • to play the guy, because you didn't have to be nice all the time,

  • you could be crabby for about three months and say,

  • "Oh, I'm acting, it's part of the character."

  • I got to play the dude, and it made me so happy.

  • I want to go back to the point you made about your family earlier,

  • coming from a family of artists,

  • most of them musical artists, though, yes?

  • -All musical artists, yeah. -All musical artists. How did you..

  • My sister's a pastry chef and a writer, so she's got the music in her soul.

  • -Yeah, yeah. -But she's putting it into

  • a loaf of bread.

  • How'd you end up not in the music field and in the..

  • Well, I was as a youth.

  • In Europe when my mother performed I was always in the operas

  • as some dirty Gypsy kid, because there's always

  • in every opera, you'll notice there's some dirty Gypsy child,

  • and that was me. So that's as close,

  • I played piano and danced all my life,

  • but I think when you have parents who are that skilled

  • at an art form that takes diligence and practice every single day,

  • they set a bar pretty high, and I was listening to Motown

  • and hip-hop and R&B while they were playing classical music,

  • and I'm at the piano playing classical music, going,

  • "This doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel right."

  • We have music all over our house all the time,

  • but my parents were so brilliant at what they did

  • that unless you aspired to that level, don't even try it.

We sort of like, yeah, it's understandable, look at...

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