hollywood's greats that tell me what movies mean to them. >> i wanted to have shirley temple curls. >> and this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. i'm harvey weinstein filling in for piers morgan. i've got to tell you, when piers asked me to do this, i thought he was kidding. he wasn't. so i went to one of the smartest people i know to ask for advice. oprah winfrey. we'll hear from her coming up p. but here's what she told me. she said if you're nervous, tell people you're nervous. well, i am a little nervous. but i'm also very excited. i'm a friend and supporter of bill clinton so it's an honor to introduce my very special guest, the 42nd president of the united states, william jefferson clinton. >> hi, harvey. >> i don't know what you got yourself into. >> the things i do for you. >> the things you do for me is correct. you're so comfortable, mr. president, with people. every time i see you you're relaxed, you talk straight ahead at people. and i'm a little nervous. so how do you do that? >> you look them in the eye and forget about what else is going on. >> an area that i am comfortable with is talking about movies and i know you're a great movie fan. because over the years we've watched a bunch of movies together. >> a lot. >> a lot of movies together. what is your favorite movie, mr. president? >> well, the first movie i ever saw more than once was "high noon." >> right. >> and i was still living in hope, arkansas, when it came out. i was 6 years old. you could go to the movies for a dime. and i would get 20 cents and i could buy -- i think you could get a coke and a candy bar or something for a nickel. i bet i seen it 20 or 30 times. the only other movie that i can watch over and over and over again and not get tired of is "casablanca". >> you know, "high noon" was a movie directed by fred zineman and produced by a very political producer and activist, stanley cramer. they have an award, stanley cramer award even today because of movies he made of that nature. >> fabulous movie. >> did you know at the time -- i guess -- >> no clue. >> later on did you realize that was an anti-mccarthy movie? >> yes, i did later on. when i read some books about the movie. i figured if i was going to see something 20 or 25 times, i ought to know more about it but i liked it because it wasn't your standard macho western. gary cooper was scared to death. all alone. he did the right thing anyway. >> did you ever feel when you were the president that you also were the sheriff abandoned as gary cooper is and all the townspeople run and hide and there you are to face the enemy on by your lonesome? >> sometimes, but it's really important when you're president. the equivalent of that is an opinion poll. today i help mexico, 81% are against it. the majority of people are against bosnia or kosovo and a lot of other things i did. you have to ask yourself, where is it going to come out in the end? when gary cooper rode out of town in the end they were happy. they were glad to be rid of frank miller and his gang. it's the same thing. >> exactly. now, if i were to make a movie about your life, who would you want -- don't worry. you can name any actor. we won't tell anybody. who would you want to play you, mr. president? >> gosh, i don't know. i don't know. i want trust your judgment more that be mine on that. >> brad pitt, george clooney? >> too good looking. george clooney is at least more my size. >> not that good looking either. >> too good looking. you could put bulbous things on his nose, put make-up on him. his movie last year was great. his hawaii movie. what was to the name of the movie? >> "descendants." >> i thought he did a great job in that movie. >> i thought it was great, too. who would you have play hillary in this movie? >> meryl streep. >> you know, it's so funny you say meryl streep because i was with you guys at the kennedy center honors and norah efron made a speech and said careful, mrs. clinton, meryl streep is being sweet to you, nice to you. great to your kids, great to chelsea, great to your husband. just you wait and see. she's getting ready to do you just as she did "the iron lady" for us this year. i was also amazed, mr. president when you spoke at the kennedy center honors. everybody had notes when they gave somebody an award. you were the only one who didn't and you gave the award to sonny rollens, the great jazz musician. you spoke off the cuff. you knew the dates of the albums. every time you've done that over the years and i've seen that i just think it's one of the most remarkable things the way you know music and you know these performers. >> well, you know, i spent a lot of time as a child on music. i spent a lot of time in the movies. i had a formative experience on me. i was thinking about it driving in here, because i knew i was going to see you, about all the things that just immediately come to mind. the kem tri between peter o tool and katherine hepburn. why i love tom jones. how i'll always be grateful for that movie. you know, just the whole dynamic of it. >> you know, you were the first president that i felt was really cool. and i guess the -- for me, i knew you were cool. but for the american people i think it was that magic moment when you were on the arsenio hall show. all of a sudden a presidential candidate puts on his shades and takes out a saxophone and plays really good. arsenio hall told piers morgan it was his idea. is that true? >> he invited me to play. i hadn't played in a couple of years. i started playing and i got to play with kenny g. at an event. he did an event for me. i just was, you know, pretty comfortable doing it. they wanted to play "god bless the child." i think we did that. then we did either "summertime" or "my funny valentine." they weren't hard, and it was fun. >> today george w. bush got his portrait unveiled at the white house. we're going to take a look at that. i just want to remind you that you invited me all those years ago and you got your portrait unveiled at the white house, it was right in the middle of the whole calamity of the whole "fahrenheit 9/11." i came and i had to go through the receiving line with president bush. i'll never forget what he said to me, he said harvey, i used to love your movies. what the hell happened to you. >> he's got a good sense of humor. >> let's take a look at this footage from george w. bush at the white house. >> i'm also pleased, mr. president, that when you are wandering these halls as you wrestle with tough decisions, you'll now be able to gaze at this portrait and ask, what would george do? >> you know, speaking of uncool, donald trump has a benefit for mitt romney. i know donald trump to be a sane, smart businessman. but he has this benefit. romney comes. and he talks about that birth certificate again. how do you put that out of the minds of the american public once and for all? doesn't he realize how uncool he is? >> i don't know. you know, donald trump has been uncommonly nice to hillary and me. we're all new yorkers. >> me, too. >> and i like him. and i love playing golf with him. but the evidence is pretty clear that president obama was born in hawaii and this whole election should not be about any of these side issues. it really ought to be about the decisions that each of them will make on where we are and where we need to go. that's -- and it's a serious time. so i would like to see the election turn back to that. >> there's a new ad where you praise president obama for pulling the trigger on osama bin laden. mitt romney made a number of statements, he said he wouldn't cross into pakistan to kill an enemy of america. he said he wouldn't spend billions of dollars hunting just one person. do you think mitt romney would have pulled the trigger if he was the president? >> i don't know that. i don't think anybody can know. the main thing i wanted to say is, president obama was told that this is probably osama bin laden. we're not 100% sure. you could take that house out with a -- an armed drone and not risk the soldiers. but if it's not bin laden, you're going to wind up killing whoever's there, plus his wife or wives, plus any kids that might be there, plus any other people. and they decided to go in there. he did. and go after bin laden. be sure he could be identified and minimize the casualties even at greater risk to the navy s.e.a.l.s that went in. i thought it was a very brave decision and a correct one. >> i thought so, too. we're all for gay marriage. but the president, did he take a risk? was it a mistake politically? you know, to come out in support of it? >> well, i think, yes, it was somewhat risky. because a lot of his african-american support in the churches are not for it. and because if you look at what's happening in america as people change their positions, just as i have on it, what happens is personal experience changes your position. the more gay friends you have, the more you see them adopting children and taking good care of them and being good parents, the more you think who am i to say to them what they should call their relationship? if the law permits it or if a given church permits it, who are we to stand in the way? for people who don't know a large number of gay people, who haven't had experiences with stable gay families, it's a different thing. so he took a risk. i think it's the right position. i think it's where we're going. i think that he deserves credit for doing it. >> the race between obama and romney, how close do you think that race will be? >> can't tell you. i still think the president will win by five or six points? i have always thought so. >> you are the best predictor of that. >> it's closer than that today. >> it is. why? >> because of the condition of the economy. because even though we're outperforming europe and japan compared to where we were the day after the crash, and we have created more private sector jobs in this economy in 3 1/2 years since president obama took office than in the seven years and eight months before the crash in the previous administration, but still people feel uncertain. you know, when you got a lot of people getting up in the morning looking in the mirror starting the day thinking they've failed, that's a problem. and i think those of us who support the president have to get out there and explain what he did in rescuing the automobile industry, what he did in raising the mileage standard and the way he they created 150,000 jobs and have everybody agree, management, the government, the environmental groups, what he did in saving both the financial institutions but signing that dodd/frank bill so there'd be higher capital requirements and this kind of meltdown would not occur again in the future. those things need to be explained and the american people -- also, that is, the budget he's offered, if passed, would reduce the deficit and the national debt five, ten years from now, much more than anything his opponent and his opponent's party has offered, if we get that out, i think he'll be just fine. i think he'll be re-elected. >> governor romney keeps talking about his experience at bain capital as the producer of jobs and that he had 25 years in the private sector. it seems to play with a certain group. but do you think that really will affect people in thinking that he can produce jobs, that the president can't? >> i think it will affect some people who relate well to businessmen. and i think he had a good business career. there's a lot of controversy about that, but if you go in and you try to save a failing company. and you and i have friends here who invest in companies. you can invest in a company, run up the debt, loot it, sell off the assets and force all the people to lose their retirement and fire them. or you can go into a company, have cutbacks, try to make it more productive with the purpose of saving it. and when you try, like anything else you try, you don't always succeed. not every movie you made was a smash hit. >> that's for sure. >> so i don't think we ought to get into the position where we say this is bad work. this is good work. i think, however, the real issue ought to be what has governor romney advocated in the campaign that he will do as president? what has president obama done and what does he propose to do? how do these things stack up against each other? that's the most relevant thing. there's no question in terms of getting up and going to the office and basically performing the essential functions of the office, a man who's been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold. but they have dramatically different proposals. and it's my opinion, anyway, that the obama proposals and the obama record would be far better for the american economy and most americans than those that governor romney's laid out. that's what the election ought to be about. >> mr. president, we'll be right back, and we're going to talk about a proposed ban on sugary drinks in new york by major bloomberg and the clinton global initiative when we come back. thank you, mr. president. the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through. the key is to have a good strategy. the same goes for my retirement. with the plan my financial advisor and i put together, a quick check and i know my retirement is on course. [ male announcer ] with wells fargo advisor's envision plan, you always know where you stand. in fact, 93 percent of envision plan holders say they will retire on their own terms. get started on the plan you need today -- wells fargo advisors. together we'll go far. it's got a million more pixels than hdtv. and with six times more coverage, this ipad with verizon 4g lte can really take you places--- yea... ♪ mac and cheese, mac mac and cheese, ♪ ♪ can i have some please ♪ is that my cat... ? noo... yea... the new ipad with verizon 4g lte. more amazing in more places. i'm back now with america's number one movie fan. my special guest, former president bill clinton. on june 7th and 8th in chicago, the clinton global initiative begins. tell us what you're planning to do this year, mr. president. >> we're going to bring in people from all over the country to talk about the american economy. the meeting we have in chicago every year, we started last year just to talk about what those of us who are not voting in congress or making decisions in the white house can do to accelerate employment, start new businesses, to prepare people to take the jobs that are open. we're going to focus a lot on advanced manufacturing, clean energy, infrastructure and training people to do the jobs that are open. a lot of americans don't know this, there are more than 3.5 million jobs posted for hire today that aren't being filled very fast. and it's because in the areas where the jobs are open, people aren't being trained for them. so we either got to let the employers do the trains and give them the incentives and money to do so or we've got to do a better job training people. mostly it's in math and engineering, technology areas, science areas, but they don't all require a four-year college degree. they do all require some training. >> are you optimistic? do you think we can fix the economy? >> oh, yeah. i do. all of america's problems, and we've got some serious ones. dropped from 1st to 15th in college graduates. we're 15th in insfra truckture. 15th in computer download speeds. we can fix all that. >> how do we fix it? >> well, we have got to continue to accelerate the resolution of the home mortgage crisis. we've got to get some of the corporate cash that's overseas invested back here. preferably in an infrastructure bank with a good return on investment. and we have to accelerate the areas where we know we can grow in. information technology and clean energy, where we're ranked first or second in the world in the potential to generate jobs out of the sun and the wind. nevermind all the other stuff. but -- and we need to do a better job of helping employers who want to hire people today get people hired in a hurry. >> i noticed that infrastructure is one of the topics on the clinton global initiative in fixing the american infrastructure. how do we go about doing that? >> the best way to do it is for america to join most other countries in using not just tax dollars to build roads and bridges and new water systems and infrastructure is also a new electrical grid. one of our big problems in maximizing solar and wind is that the wind blows hardest and the sunshines brightest where the people are not. you got to put the grid to give it back. those are the best ways to do it. but this infrastructure bank idea would put a little public money in, open it up to private money, guarantee people a certain rate of return. it was a bipartisan idea when it started. senator hutchison of texas, a republican. senator kerry of massachusetts, a democrat. sponsored this legislation. i still hope after this election they'll pass it. >> also education and health are also part of your initiatives. >> yeah. >> what are we planning to do about fixing education in this country? >> i think there are two things tough do. first of all you have to get more kids, while they're in elementary, middle school and high school, to start getting into the science and technology and engineering and math courses. there has to be -- people should be going into these schools and saying, look, when you get out, here's where the jobs are. and we need to get a high percentage of you doing these things for which there is a demand. and then there ought to be incentives for people to go in and teach these courses in our schools. and there ought to be incentives for people to go into these fields, including an alleviation of some of their student debt if they work in those fields for four or five years afterward. for example, suppose you graduated from college from a low income family. and you had a $50,000 or $60,000 debt. and a degree in science and technology. you could probably make more money coming to new york and working in finance investing in those areas than you could working in the companies that do that work. if you work in the company that does that work, i think you ought to get some alleviation on your student loan. >> mr. president, i saw you at the late teddy forthman's conference in aspen. you talked about how the economy went wrong. you talked about the regulations, the bills that the republican congress had, you know, nullified, you know, gotten rid of. and the oversight was gone. can you tell the american people why you think the economy went bad in the united states? >> i think two things happened, first is we decided to go back to the economic policies to reverse all my economic policies. to go back to what was done in the 12 years before i took office. when we quadrupled the debt. so we doubled the debt again. and we also stopped looking for that opportunity to invest in new job growth. if you live in a big global economy, and you want to keep 20% of the world's income with 45% of the world's population, which is what we want to to, you've got to have a source of new jobs ere five to eight years. and we didn't have one in the first decade of this century. so we overdid the home building, consumer spending and the finance sectors of the economy with the consequence that too many loans were put out with too little cash to support them. with too little oversight. so sooner or later, we were going to have a real problem.