America was here. You could be anything, you could do anything. As long as you are an american. After there broken loss of hollister, who had slipped into financial ruin. Why does this hero of the city die in disgrace . I can tell something is wrong. In 25 years i have never requested a test like this. What are you looking for . I am the wrong person to have discovered this. If you do not speak for them, who will . . Repetitive head trauma shocks the brain. It turns you into someone else. Whatever it takes to keep them in the game. Get me a meeting with the commissioner. They do not want to talk to you. They are terrified of you. War with theto corporation with a day of the week. Will smith if you continue to deny my work, your men will die. I have to keep going. These men are not machines. We must honor our warriors. Do you understand the impact of what you are doing . Will smith tell the truth. Tell the truth. Think youre going to be an american hero. Joining me now is the writer, director, and a couple of the stars. What brought this together for you . There was an epidemic of Football Players who were withdrawing, committing suicide, and falling into financial ruin. There was see gq article that ridley scott had bought. That is how the film came to be. He was involved from the very beginning. He is part of the fabric of our family as filmmakers. Im an old journalist. And i immerse myself completely in the story. What is great about will smith is his joy and preciousness and professionalism matches bennetts. Charlie rose why did you choose this . Will smith this one was very different from my normal process of choosing. How it happens, you get a screenplay on friday night. So you can read over the weekend. So they can know by monday. I get a phone call and my daughter says daddy a man is on the phone named ridley scott. Thats not just some man. That is sir ridley scott. He said i have a gift for you. He sent me this screenplay. I was thinking to myself. This aint no gift. I am a football dad. My son played football for four years. Grew up in philadelphia with the eagles. I was deeply conflicted about being the person to bring this film to life. It is a very inconvenient truth. A part of me was like, would i be hypocritical . When he was growing up in nigeria, heaven was here, and america was here. It was the place god sent all his favorite people. I was so moved by his life and his story. Became deeply impelled as a parent because i had information. Charlie his messages that human beings should not play football. Will that is not the part of the message that i connected to. For the evolution of human kind, we cant discard scientific truth. The idea that repetitive head trauma can potentially cause longterm brain damage should not be something we had a hard time accepting. Yet we did. Charlie why were you insisting on gugu being a part of the film . [laughter] right now,to do this right here. A large part of bennetts journey is his journey as a man. He was incomplete as a man that he knew that he could not fulfill his mission unless he had the right partner. Gugus character completed him. The moment i laid eyes on gugu, i knew it. Charlie tell us what the film is about. Peter in a strange way it is about joy and discovery. His only desire as a pathologist, his job is to usher these people across the divide to the divine, to heaven. Doing this by solving the riddle of their deaths. Our cycle is not complete until we answer the question had a how did we get here . One day he got the body of one of the most mythological Football Players who ever played, mike webster. He didnt even know who the steelers where even though he lived in pittsburgh. How did this man become homeless and then die so mysteriously . Everybody else want to do this man buried. How could you voluntarily not know something . He spiritually stole the brain and figured out that webster had died of a disease that no one had ever seen before. Repetitive blows, not necessarily concussions from all those blows that a Football Player takes to the head 79,000 of them. 90,000 hits. It unlocks a killer protein that moves through the brain like sludge. It is very different from what you would get from boxing. Boxers, once they get hit, they dont get back in the ring for weeks or months. In football, it is not the knockout blow. It is the thousands of little blows. On one play you can take six blows to the head. You add those up and you were talking about blows in the tens of thousands. Boxers, their diseases more like als or parkinsons. A very different biological mechanism. Charlie why dont helmets protect you . Peter what were talking about is on the inside. Helmets protect you from the outside. The brain is in a cavity surrounded by fluid. There is tremendous movement. Even if we were to move our heads backandforth, literally like a pingpong ball in a jar of fluid. It bounces back and fourth thousands of times. Thats what were talking about, not blows to the head from the outside. Will something that bennett said that was very interesting is that the helmet is part of the problem. He says that in american football because the equipment is so good the helmet is so seemingly protective, that the players feel comfortable using the head as a weapon. In reality, it is not stopping your brain from slamming into the skull. Charlie any contradictions for you, any pushback . Peter we knew what we were walking into. We know that football is not a sport. It is part of the social and cultural fabric of the country. On thanksgiving day we think of the cowboys in the lines. We knew we were walking into a cultural phenomenon. We all stayed true to our mission, which was character. The man that will plays was truly one of the most unusual and joyful people. Whistleblowers are complex people driven by complex motivations. He was so pure spirit. You stay focused on character. The consequences to the sport, that is what is happening around us. Charlie he did it because it was the right thing to do . Will what is really interesting about bennett, how i try to understand the character. What i found with bennett was that he wanted to be accepted as an american. Everything in his life, he has eight degrees. The way that he dressed. Where he lived, where his friends were. Everything was about living up to this this spiritual ideal of what it means to be an american. When he was presented, very ironically, with the knowledge of cte. This guy who loves america and is chasing the American Dream just happens to be the guy who discovers the disease that the player of americas greatest game get. For me, when i connected to that idea, i could see how this was a Spiritual Mission for him. He had to keep going. He could not stop. Theecame how he earned spiritual right to have all of the gifts that he has in his life. It was really complex, but deeply faith based for him. Charlie what role does his wife play . Gugu i wasnt really interested in doing a football movie per se. That is not part of my personal cultural heritage. The film felt so much bigger than that. In terms of this relationship between his wife and the doctor. Both characters coming as immigrants to america. Prima really started as needing the support of bennett. Their relationship sort of involves in a sort of delicate eccentric way. She breathes humanity into his very scientific world. He is so consumed by his science that she brings a warmth and a human quality to him. She becomes the emotional and moral compass of this journey that he goes on. Inadvertently taking on the nfl. Charlie it sets up this clip where you dont feel adequate to complete the mission. Will what i was a boy growing up in nigeria, heaven was here and america was here. I have never wanted anything as much as i wanted to be except as an american. Mike webster goes mad, and nobody asks why. They make fun of him. They insult him on tv. They want to pretend that his disease does not exist. They want to bury me. I am the wrong person to discover this. Peter her character is almost more than that. He builds her a dream house. She was an intrinsic part of the dream. He needed her to unlock the rest of the dream, family, americanness. They build a house in a beautiful leafy suburb outside of pittsburgh. A dream house that they have to abandon because he was exiled and destroyed. Charlie did you tone it down at all . Peter not at all. There was a strange moment when we were accused of something we had no idea was on the air. I had no communication with the nfl. Didnt want it. They had nothing to offer us. We were making a story about this man not about the nfl. Charlie you believe they want to do something about concussions . That they are aware of the danger and are prepared to take action . Peter i believe the nfl wants to protect its bottom line. They will do whatever they have to do to do that. Including saying the right things. Doing as much as they possibly can. I do believe they are doing as much as it is possible to do to protect the players. The bigger question is the sport in general. Whether you can really do something about this or is it just baked into the sport. Knowing what we know and information, as long as a Football Player knows that this can happen is incumbent upon them to make that decision. It is the same with putting your children into peewee or pop warner football. Is this something you want to engage in . That is upon you to decide. Charlie this is a clip from our brain series. This is a noble laureate talking about traumatic brain injuries. The brain is a gelatinous organ that is protected by being encased in a rigid, bony skull. When we move about and there is Minimal Movement in the brain. Its the result of two kinds of forces, impact and inertial forces. There can be serious jarring of the brain as it moves rapidly back and forth within this enclosed space. It is only separated from this bony inflexible skull by a small layer of fluid. Having had a prior concussion is particularly important for two reasons. One, it means it takes longer to recover. Also, one of the sad and interesting things about her concussions is it you have had one, you are much likely to have a second. If you have had two, you are much likely to have a third or fourth. It is not that in its self, but what it does really for the future of the athlete. Charlie everything he said is exactly with the reality what do you hope comes out of the film, will . Know as a parent, i didnt when my son played football. My son was on the field than i was concerned about him breaking his leg. He played from 14 to 18. We were on the field and i was concerned about him breaking his leg. The big thing was spinal injury. I had no idea. So i know that other people also have no idea. It is strictly about the knowledge and the information so that people can make informed decisions. Charlie if you had to make a decision now, if he was 134 agan and you know what you know now. Into itrtunately he was that would be very difficult. I would want him to have the information. I would want them to understand. We would have to make the decision together. Reallyam going to say is weak, but i would support him and then make his mother say no. [laughter] if were going to be really honest. Was just me and you, but your mom man. [laughter] charlie tell me more about the story of the doctor. This is at the spine of this story. Its about concussion, but it is about him. One man against system. Will you have a man who was born during an air raid in the jungles of africa. This is a man who came from as humble a beginning as possible. He looked to america as a boy what we stand for, what we have been in the world. And he comes to america and he gets 8 degrees, he discovers this disease and almost loses everything. Charlie take a look at this. This is ray lewis on this program talking about how additional rules protecting players diluts the game. Ray they are taking the game and diluting it because they want to protect their claims. If you leave the game alone, the game will take care of itself. This is disgusting to me in college football. They are now created a term called targeting. Saying, if a player launches his head, thats the first thing on your body, what you lead with you launch your head into someone, thats targeting. They are kicking babies out of games. But the referee makes a mistake and they are never punished. What is the lesson we are being taught . You will make these rules. Thats what we have helmets, thats why we have shoulder pads. If i turn my neck to the side, im putting myself in jeopardy of being hurt. You have people sitting at the top of these food chains the herds of athletes are so great, they dont care. Its on to the next one. Charlie what did you think about that . Peter i would be curious to see him revisit that 20 years from now. He may suffer and someone who plays as intimately and aggressively as he plays. That is the rhetoric of someone who hasnt been inside the unbelievable shakespearean of a man of a family who is the breadwinner and goes through this disease and becomes unrecognizable to themselves and to their children. It is a shocking clip to me. Will i think we should be careful with that. There is a context to what he was talking about that we are not aware of. I know ray. Charlie if you know him, you must know how he feels about this. Will we havent discussed this. Not the movie or the science. Charlie he is a very engaging guy. Will as the science is evolving, he can make the decision. He absolutely can make that decision for himself and for his family and for his kids. I dont want us to appear to be in opposition to that. I want him to have more information so he can make whatever decision that he wants to make for himself and his family. Charlie in a sense, is that part of your mission in milking this film in making this film to be a stimulus for information, let everybody understand how concussions happen and what the impact is . Is what the impact charlie and how we should ask the right questions about that. Will when i had the science explained to me, it was a revelation. As much as it seems simple and logical when you say, if you bang your head 30 times a day for multiple decades of your life, there could be an issue. When you say it that way, yes, that makes sense. But when i had the actual science broken down of the way when a brain experiences trauma it releases protein and it experiences a concussion it starts to release more protein. It gets locked into that loop of releasing protein. It reaches for a spinal protein which is too big to go through the pipes of your brain. When i had it broken down and had it explained, it became very obvious and very clear to me that a human being should never launches head at another human being for any reason. Charlie in an interesting way, you would assume that is the kind of thing that the nfl should that is the kind of thing that the nfl should do. Peter i think they do now, and i think this film will help that effort. The nfl look to have these protocols. They are pulling people out of games. And we have commercials for our film on their games. Charlie do you feel the nfl is listening . Peter i feel the nfl is embracing it. Charlie are you finding this a more enriching career than journalism . Peter i was a painter before i was a writer. To me, everything was a journey. Everything was a rehearsal for filmmaking, which takes the words and the visual and i love working with actors. When i was an investigative journalist and i was across the table from a source who didnt want to give me what they knew, or didnt even know what they have that engagement with actors we can help to bring out something more. Charlie what do you want from directors . Will what i want from directors . I have had it all. Charlie when you became an actor when you and i first met, it was fresh prince. I came out to california will that was like 25 years ago. Charlie 25 years. You could never have imagined the experience you have had, the career that you have had. Will never. I have been so far beyond my dreams for so many years, i have had to hurry up and catch up and dream some new stuff. [laughter] charlie is there a passion for you now . With all of that, with all of the box office success, to create your own films and to be not just an actor, but a filmmaker. Will i have partnered with most directors ive ever worked with. It is a partnership. Charlie financial and otherwise . Will both financial and otherwise. What im experiencing now is an actor, you get to put on a human being. You get to wear another human being. In that process you learn about yourself and you learn about them. You learn about human beings, you learn about the world. So, in this process, i am having new aspirations, new ways to be able to be of service. And contribution in the world. When i played bennett or muhammad ali or Chris Gardner and even in the process of playing muhammad ali, i met and spent time with nelson mandela, i am deeply inspired by this second half of my life to elevate the quality of my contribution. I feel like i have so much more to give in lending my voice to the social conversation in very different ways. I am very inspired. I heard marvin gaye say i have a song inside of me and i know it is great. I just cant get it out. Charlie so, you feel a bit of that . Will i feel a bit of that. There is a much greater contribution inside me that i am trying to get in touch with. To be able to get it out. Charlie did he surprise you . Gugu absolutely. We know will smith the movie star, the lightness and warmth and the charisma, but, i think, you know, especially in this performance, there is such a transformation as bennett and i think your Emotional Intelligence and intuitive Emotional Depth that will goes to in this film i think will surprise a lot of people. In terms of inhabiting this character so entirely. And really, as i say, a searing, truthful intensity that i think i have not seen in any of your other performances. Will thank you. Gugu it was a surprise. Charlie great to see you. Your visits here are all too rare. I hope you will always come back. Will absolutely. Charlie tom hooper is here, awardwinning director of the kings speech and Les Miserables. His next movie is the danish girl, starring Eddie Redmayne. It tells the emotionally complex story. The telegraph called the film beautiful and moving. The first time we met, she propositioned me. She seemed so sure. Seemed so shy and mysterious. Is there something youd like to tell me . Im your wife. I know everything. Could you help me with something . You will not tell anyone about this. Hello there. Were going to call you lily. I want to sketch you. We should go out tonight. Give them something different. Lily, you are exquisite. You are different than most girls. I feel i need to ask your permission before i kiss you. Exactly what happened last night . I wasnt me. There was a moment when i was just lily. But lily doesnt exist. We were playing a game. He has lost his way. He needs a friend. Let me help. I think she was always there. I need my husband. I need to hold my husband. Are you all right . The fact i