Redmayne. What i loved about the script it was almost like a scrutiny or analysis of love in all its guises. Its this young, vibrant passionate love but it was also family love or love of subject matter, and ultimately the boundaries of love. And the physics of love element of it is interesting, because steven is in search of this theory of everything this one equation that explains everything but it always seems to me the notion of love is the one thing we cant quite articulate or reason. Rose al hunt and Eddie Redmayne when we continue. Rose funding for charlie rose has been provided by rose additional funding provided by and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and Information Services worldwide. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Rose we begin this evening with the 114th congress. They were sworn in today. House republicans began the session with their largest majority in more than 80 years. John boehner was reelected to his third term as house speaker, despite this opposition from some conservative republicans. In his opening remarks boehner laid out an agenda for the coming year. But this shared ritual is no passing formality. Its a frontier where words end and where deeds begin. Now the pessimists dont see us crossing this channel. They say nothings going to be accomplished here, that the vision is wider than ever, and so gridlock will be even greater. Frankly fair enough. The skepticism of our government is healthy, and in our time quite understandable. One problem with saying it cant be done, is that it already has been done or at least started. In the last congress, this house passed a number of jobs bills with broad support from the majority and the minority. And well begin our work on this Common Ground taking up measures to develop north american energy, and help Small Businesses hire more of our veterans. applause applause then well invite the president to support and sign these bipartisan initiatives into law. It will be a good start and more. It will be a sign that the logjam is breaking, and it will be a foundation on which to address the bigger challenges in the pursuit of freedom and security. Now this wont be done in a tidy way. The battle of ideas never ends and, frankly, never should. As speaker all i ask and frankly expect is that we disagree without being disagreeable. Rose despite calls for cooperation difficult battle battles lie ahead in the senate. Incoming Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell says authorization of the Keystone Pipeline will be a top priority. President obama said he will veto the bill if passed. Joining me is al hunt. I begin with this happy new year. Happy new year to you, too charles. Rose put us on the story here. How do we look at this new congress, what they might accomplish what is the mindset, and what are the land mines . The minded set for john boehner and Mitch Mcconnell, and to some extent barack obama too is to have some compromises have some battles and have some confrontations but to have some compromises to get some things done. The early posturing or keystone and health care stuff is just to lay markers down. The problem however, is whether boehner can control his caucus. There were 24 republicans who voted against him for speaker. And whether when you get to the specifics of Corporate Tax reform infrastructure, of trade, even of immigration, whether you can put together that kind of compromise, and whether barack obama is willing to compromise, more than his base would like him to. Rose okay, but lets take apart this idea of the opposition to john boehner. I mean, is it serious . Does it have clout . Because our impression was that coming into this congress that all the weakness that he had shown in his inability to negotiate things with the president because of his caucus might have changed. Well he certainly has more of a cushion now. He has 246 members. He had, what, 234 last time. That matters to him. But i think the conventional wisdom has been the tea party the move the right has peaked. Theyre really on the decline. They dont matter. I think that may be a mistake. Those 24 members were sending a warning shot out today. They werent going to beat john boehner. They were sending a message to Mitch Mcconnell as much as they were to john boehner. Dont compromise. And nothing gets done charlie without compromise. Boehner would clearly like to forge some kind of middleoftheroad consensus on a few issues. It is not going to be easy and i dont think his party will make it easy for him. Rose those issues are tax reform infrastructure, what else . Raid. Trade. Maybe little bits and pieces of health care. Theyre not going to repeal obamacare the republicans are not. But they can do some things obama might accept conceivably a few other issues on jobs. Not big stuff but they could put together a record that is reasonably impressive. Look, this is not new to have a congress controlled by the opposition. Both houses. The last four president s have faced this, and some things have gotten done but its not going to be easy. Rose before i leave the house, what about the house whip, Steve Scalise . I think the scars are not going away. He is an embarrassment to some in the party because of the speech he gave 12 years ago, i guess it was, to the white supremacist group. He has, in essence, apologized for ttried to move on. He was a rising star in the house, number three reasoning republican, but this has really hurt. Hes going to have a great deal of difficulty raising money. When he goes to los angeles or chicago or wall street, there are not a lot of people who are going to be as receptive as they might have otherwise been. So hes got a way to go before he recovers charlie. Rose we all remember Mitch Mcconnell said when he was in the minority leader in the senate was their goal to see that president obama was not reelected. He said that in 2009, i guess. And now we have him saying something similar but not quite the same, that their goal is to do something, to create something, but at the same time to make sure that a republican is elected president in 2016. Thats a really good question. What he says now is that he wants to prove that the Republican Party is a responsible right of center governing party. I think that is a laudable goal. That would certainly help any republican candidate in 2016. When you get to the details its its its considerably harder. There are members of his caucus, too who dont want to be right of center. They want too take out the of center. And there are democrats who say hey, im not going to help you a lot on that. Thats not to be a total pessimist. There are possibilities here, and i think Mitch Mcconnell is a consummate deal maker. He is very skillful as is boehner. There are possibles but its going to be tough and keystone and those things of the past couple of days pale over what will happen in the next few months. In february, the funding for Homeland Security expires, and thats something the right care about. Rose qkeystone what will happen there . I think the senate i think the congress will pass it. Theyll send it to obama, and hell veto it, and they wont be able to override the veto. Rose so so Keystone Pipeline. No Keystone Pipeline, and i think if you look at most studies, most studies would indicate that both sides exaggerate. Its not going to be the job creator. Its not going to be the environmental destroyer that either side claims but its become a symbolic issue now. I think probably it resonates less than it would have a year ago because its pretty hard to make a case now that we need a lot more energy. We seem to be doing okay with energy right now. Rose how do we read the mindset of the president at this moment . Well, hes a lot higher than he thought he would be two months ago after that disastrous election. He had a pretty going month. His executive actions put the republicans on the defensive. But a critical question i think about barack obama and i wish i was confident of the answer is how does he view getting something done . If its finding Common Ground if thats his only really guide here there just arent very many opportunities. Trade may be one of the very, very few. If hes willing to give the republicans something that he hates to give them in order to get Something Back in return which bill clinton did masterfully, and Ronald Reagan did, too, then hes got some possibilities but im not quite sure of his mindset. Rose with respect to the economy which has been improving and hes looking better and better on that. How effective will that be in an argument for him and in increasing his Approval Rating . Well, it should. It hasnt we havent seen that in the polls yet. But the economy is doing, i think, remarkably well particularly compared torg places. Part of the problem, i think, charlie is obama himself. He really hasnt made the case. The economy is doing better than the case obama has made. And hes on the road this week talking about the economy. It certainly strengthens his hand. I mean, if you take the reverse. Suppose the economy was doing poorly. He would really be weak. And i think it makes it a little easier to get a few things done on jobs and the like, some of which boehner talked about in that clip you showed. Rose but theres also, with respect to the president , hes gone on the road to make the case, i guess, that he will present in the state of the union, all of this is leading up to the state of the union, correct . Yes, it is. And the state of the union is predictable on the one hand but on the other hand it set a marker that sometimes well tell you where were going to go. And the tone that he strikes, some of the specifics, the priorities that he emphasizes, will be terribly important and hes going to give that state of the union in less than what, two weeks from today, i guess. Rose and is there any early notion of what he wants to do in that state of the union . The whole mindset about the state of the union and how he uses it . Well i think he wants to draw some lines. Im certain that hes going to say that we need to get things done and im willing to compromise. Im willing to accommodate. All president s say that. But, again, how much he goes and how much red meat he throws to his base, how much he avoids things that really offend republicans will be will be very instructive. And we dont know the answers. I think, as a matter of fact, the white house is still working on that right now. And i think its not so much the specifics. Rose exactly. Its not the laundry list. Its what the tone is. Rose and then we have the 100day test which you recently wrote about. We looked at the 100day marker and say, okay, what has the president done in the first 100 days of his second term . Not of his second term, of the map to the midterm elections . Really the oans, i guess to some extent, is what has the new Republican Congress done. Rose exactly. In those first 100 days. By april 15, which curiously is tax day thats always a magical day for republicans i think we will have a better sense. We will go through the hoafng fight in february and how thats resolved will be important. It could be that we even have something on the Iranian Nuclear deal by then. Some of the Economic Issues you were talking about a moment ago were start to evolve. And i think by april 15 we should have a pretty good idea of at least a direction and the you be, the ambiance, if you will the political ambiance this year. Rose i mean, two of the people that people say we should take a look at in the senate, one is senator bob corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign relations committee, a man who seems to me by temperament moderate, yes . He is. He absolutely is. And he works well with a number of democrats, too. Rose and then on the other hand is senator ted cruz from texas who say president asperant. What do we expect from him . Oh, i think ted cruz is going to try to create mischief. Hes going to try to toe the line. Hes going to try to make Mitch Mcconnell toe the line. Look, again, i keep talking about this Homeland Security fight in february. But the backdrop of all that is the president s executive order on immigration. And what the ted cruz wing of the party wants to do is make that a huge issue to try to repeal it they cant but to make sure really fellow republicans walk the plank on that one. So i think thats full of peril for Mitch Mcconnell and for john boehner and ted cruz is one smart, tough customer. Hes not going to give in easily. Rose al hunt, thank you so much. Thank you charlie. And again happy new year. Rose you, too. Back in a moment, stay with us. Rose Stephen Hawking is the worlds most famous living physicist. He was diagnosed with motor neuron disease in 1963 and was told he had two years to live. He married had kids, and continues his work unraveling the mysteries of the universe. His book a brief history of time has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. I spoke with Stephen Hawking in cakein 2008. You have said that your illness has been a blessing because it allows you to focus more resolutely on what you can do with your life. What did you mean . beeping i dont have much positive to say about motor neuron disease but it taught me not to pity myself because others are worse off, and to get on with what i still could do. I am happier now than before i developed the condition. Rose in order to appreciate Stephen Hawkings place in science, i spoke with astrophysicist lord martin reese former president of the proil society. When did you meet Stephen Hawking . I met him when i started as a graduate student in cambridge and hed been here already in that role for two years and ive known him there for more than 40 years. And at that time, it was not expected he would finish his ph. D. , because his disease had started and the prognosis was bad. As an astronomer im used to very large numbers but fewer than the odds i would have given against him 40 years later, him not only still being arrived but the physicist he is. I never expected it. Rose Stephen Hawking is the subject of a new film. It stars the Tony Awardwinning actor Eddie Redmayne. It is called theory of everything. Here is the trailer. Come on, get up stephen are you aware that you voluntarily bumped a ph. D. In physics. Hello. Hello. Science. Arts. Cosmologist. Whats that . I study the marriage of space and time. The perfect couple. One never knows from where the next great leap forward is going to come or from whom. What if i reverse time to see what happened at the beginning of time itself . Wind back the clock. Wind back the clock. Keep going. I dont know how. Yet. Its called motor neuron disease. Life expectancy is two years. I want us to be together for as long as weve got. It will affect everything. You cant realize what lies ahead. This is going to be a very heavy defeat. But i love him. And he loves me. Were going to fight this illness together. Good luck. Im okay. So tis black hole at the beginning of time. Brilliant. Brilliant, stephen. Well done doctor. He has pneumonia. The only way he will survive will be to give him a tracheotomy. He will never speak again. Yes he will. My name is Stephen Hawking. Its american. Is that a problem . It has been a great joy to watch this man defy every expectation. Both scientific and personal. There should be no boundaries that human endeavor. However bad life may seem while there is life, there is hope. Thank you. Sorry, did you Say Something . I said thank you. Rose joining me now is Eddie Redmayne who plays Stephen Hawking. I am pleased to have him back at this table. Welcome. Thank you for having me. Rose and by the way, happy birthday. Thank you, thank you, yes its a big day. Rose and by the way yesterday was my birthday, january 5,. The anniversary of some famous scientist, galileo. I told stephen that when i met him the first time. It was a very embarrassing scenario. I met stephen for the first months and spent months researching him and i finally got to meet him and as you can see from your bit of tape before when you interviewed him. Now hes just using this muscle. Rose he was using this. Was he using his lip . When i met him it was just the muscle under his eye. When he moves that muscle is stops on one specific letter. When you speak with him live theres a very, very sort of unique rhythm long, long pauses. And i was so nervous when i met him they just started basically spewing forth information about him to him for about 45 minutes, one of which was the fact that i was born on january 6, and he was born on january 8 and that we were both cap ricornz. And filling hot air. And he then took a while, and then reminded me that he was an astronomer and not an astrologist. Rose you felt about this high. Genuinely. I still have sleepless nights about it. I wake up with hot swets. Rose tell me about your feeling when i met him. Having done all the preparation that you had done to understand as i did. I was petrified because first of all, i was a little late. And secondly, you know, i was a little late in getting the questions in to him, which you have to do because he can take time to transtran scribe them, because he selects them a letter at a time. When i met stephen hes obviously an incredibly busy man, and also he was promoting his documentary at the time. And so we could only meet him a few days before we started filming. I had spent four months preparing. Because you werent shooting the film chronologically, its difficult to shoot a film chronologically now. I had to chart out a sense of what the characters progression would be. But you