Original Air Date:
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Guests:
- Will Smith and Rosario Dawson for the film Seven Pounds
- Tina Fey for 30 Rock
Tina Fey on 30 Rock and Sarah Palin:
Tina Fey was first to join the show via satellite from the set of 30 Rock in New York. Visiting on the same day that Oprah's guest appearance airs on NBC, a clip was shown of Tina and Amy Poehler's visit to the Oprah Show in May of 2008 where Tina mentioned that her dream guest on 30 Rock would be Oprah - playing her best friend and hanging out.
Oprah began by talking to Tina about Tuesday's election - Tina shared that she was working on 30 Rock Tuesday and the cast and crew took a dinner break to go vote before returning to work.
Moving on to talk about Tina's portrayal of Sarah Palin on SNL, Tina expressed that she tried to argue her way out of looking like Palin, but there was really no way around it. Tina mentioned that people seemed to forget that she didn't work at SNL anymore and that she was not strong with impressions, but she went ahead with it and is happy now that she did; getting to be a part of a historic election.
The election skits caused SNL to have their highest ratings since 1994, thanks to Tina and other cast members. All the candidates were good sports and appeared on the NBC show as well.
Moving on to 30 Rock and Oprah's guest appearance, Tina and Oprah both shared how kind the crew was to shoot on a Saturday afternoon - the same day that Tina did her first SNL Sarah Palin impression.
Tina told viewers that Oprah took direction very well, was professional and knew her lines; and that she was welcome back any time. A clip of Oprah's scene was shown where Tina's character and Oprah are together in an airplane and Tina's character asks Oprah about her favorite things.
Will Smith on the Election:
Will Smith joined Oprah on stage and began by talking about the election as well. Will and his family decided to make a video of their entire day - including going to vote - and ended the day with a party at their home with 70 guests. Emotional about the event, Will shared that he was raised to believe that this level of success for minorities was absolutely possible. Because of that belief, he always carried himself as if he too was deserving of that position. Watching Barack Obama's speech, Will stated that it left no room for minorities to have excuses anymore, that anything truly is possible for all Americans.
Will Smith on 'Seven Pounds':
Will Smith's purpose for visiting the show was to talk about his new movie titled Seven Pounds. Both Oprah and Will shared that the film is such a mystery, that there really isn't a way to describe it without giving away surprises. In short, the film follows Will Smith's character through a tragic loss filled with guilt and a secret. For a type of penance, his character helps 7 strangers, but ends up falling in love with one of them; played by Rosario Dawson. The audience agreed that the film is worth seeing because it makes viewers think and feel a variety of emotions.
Will Smith in Depth:
Will Smith revealed his deeper side when talking about the film he shared that he recently made the decision to not do anything without purpose. He stated that the only true happiness is to live in service of humanity. Turning 40 this past September, Will declared that he has never been happier and feels now that his relationship with his wife and family really has meaning and purpose. Oprah commented that people shouldn't waste their own time in this life or allow others to waste their time. Will responded that if you're not making someone else's life better than you are wasting your time and gift of life.
The film Seven Pounds, shared Will, at its core is about the concept of loss and how people respond or react to it. Many people view things in a straight line: birth--life--death. But Will went on to state that that idea is not how life actually works. Birth--life--death--rebirth is a circular view, especially when dealing with loss in life. When horrible things happen like a divorce or the death of a loved one or the loss of a home it's natures purpose to get us to deal with the pain of the death while still staying focused for the rebirth that is being offered to you.
Will Smith on Raising Children:
Jada Pinkett Smith and daughter Willow appeared on the cover of Cookie magazine and in the article inside, Jada discussed how she and Will have golden rules of parenting. Will expanded by sharing a few of the ways they parent their 3 children:
- Kids are not property, but little people that deserve respect
- Kids rooms are rooms that parents are letting them borrow, so they need to take care of someone else's space that they are using
- Family is looked at as a group that you are either helping or hurting - what do YOU do to make this family better?
- A children's council helps kids make decisions for themselves
Will Smith & Rosario Dawson:
Rosario Dawson joined Oprah and Will for her first visit to the show and began by talking about the election and then moved on to the film.
Rosario shared that it was a profound experience when she received the script and she was crying after the first 50 pages. She followed through the script on an airplane and realized how there is so much that the viewer doesn't know and that when she read the end she was weeping she loved it so much.
Rosario and Will also have a love scene in the film which was Will's first as an actor. He was terrified by the experience and didn't want Rosario to feel disrespected but also was unsure of what to do. Rosario talked to Will's wife Jada who told Rosario to bring it because she didn't want to be embarrassed that Will didn't have skills in the bedroom.
Will ended the show by sharing that after being on the road working or preparing to work for nearly 18 months, that he and Jada decided that they needed 5 months to focus on family.
