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CNN Live Today

Scott Peterson Trial; Campaign Hiatus; Movie Maverick at 15; "Rule of Four"; Remembering Ronald Reagan

Aired June 10, 2004 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.
Let's check the headlines 'At This Hour.'

Thousands are standing in line this morning to pay their respects to President Reagan. A live picture from the Capitol Rotunda, they are filing through the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol where the former president is lying in state. Tomorrow, Reagan's state funeral will be held at the National Cathedral also in Washington.

There was fighting overnight in the Iraqi city of Najaf between Iraqi police forces and the Mehdi army militia. The militia fighters attacked a police station. Iraqi police forces asked for coalition troop support but U.S. commanders held back.

U.S. and Saudi Arabian authorities are investigating the claims of two men who say they were part of a plot by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to assassinate the ruler of Saudi Arabia. The Libyan and Saudi leaders have long been enemies. If the claims are true, officials say it could have a major negative impact on the currently improving relations between Libya and the U.S.

We go to California. The jury hears more testimony when court resumes next hour in the Scott Peterson murder trial. So far, jurors have heard from relatives and a neighbor of Laci Peterson.

Our Rusty Dornin is covering the trial. She is in Redwood City, California.

Rusty, good morning.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well good morning, Daryn.

There's been a parade of prosecution witnesses, all family and friends of Laci and Scott Peterson, who have mostly been describing what they claim was strange behavior by Scott Peterson in the light of his wife's disappearance the night she disappeared and of course in the weeks and months to follow.

Three of those witnesses testified that Scott Peterson told them that he went golfing the day he disappeared. Now, if you remember, his alibi to police later that evening was that he went fishing at the Berkeley Marina.

One of those witnesses, Harvey Kemple, who is a relative of the Rocha family, sparred repeatedly with the defense team. He said he was very suspicious of Peterson after he discovered that Peterson told the police that he had gone fishing when he told him that he had gone golfing.

He even followed him one time to a shopping mall when Peterson had told him he was going to go hang fliers and watched him for 45 minutes as he sat in his car. The defense, of course, said don't you think that's a little strange that you watched him for 45 minutes? He had admitted that, which erupted in laughter in the courtroom.

He also said that he saw Peterson not behave as a man whose wife had disappeared and that he was very unemotional about it. He described repeatedly an incident on the 4th of July where Scott Peterson supposedly threw a tantrum over some chicken.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARVEY KEMPLE, RELATIVE OF LACI PETERSON: The man was more upset about his burnt chicken than even thinking about finding his wife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it's going to become very important, of course, on the morning that Laci -- that Scott Peterson went fishing, and that's going to be coming up later.

We are not sure who's going to be on the stand today. Of course everyone is still awaiting to see when Amber Frey, Scott Peterson's former girlfriend, will appear. And we have no word on that as yet -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Rusty Dornin in Redwood City, thank you.

Lawyers for Martha Stewart say they'll ask a judge today to throw out her conviction. They say it's tainted by the perjury charge against a prosecution witness. Stewart was convicted in March of obstructing justice and lying to investigators about a well-timed stock sale. Yesterday, a Secret Service ink expert who testified during the trial was charged with two counts of perjury.

The Bush and Kerry presidential campaigns have been on hold this week as the nation honors Ronald Reagan. A new poll, however, sheds some new light on how viewers view -- voters view the two candidates at this point.

Our Judy Woodruff is with me now from Washington with more on the poll. And of course she has our other political headlines of the day.

Judy, good morning.

WOODRUFF: Hi there, Daryn, thank you.

Well that new opinion poll is giving Senator John Kerry a seven- point lead over President Bush. In the nationwide "Los Angeles Times" survey of registered voters, Kerry getting 51 percent and Bush 44 percent. Kerry leads by six points now when Ralph Nader is included. A Bush campaign aide is calling the poll -- quote -- "a mess" and questions whether the poll's sample included too many Democrats. It is also worth noting that earlier this week a nationwide Gallup Poll showed Kerry leading Bush by six points.

The presidential campaign, as Daryn said, remains on hiatus because of the death of Ronald Reagan. John Kerry is in Washington today for private meetings. He has no public events scheduled. Yesterday in Los Angeles, Kerry had breakfast with movie mogul Steven Spielberg and he watched his daughter graduate from film school.

President Bush still in Georgia for the G8 Summit. CNN will be bringing you live coverage of his end of the summit news conference this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. After returning to Washington this evening, the president and the first lady will go to the Capitol Rotunda to pay their respects to Ronald Reagan.

The first President Bush turns 80 this weekend, and he plans to mark the occasion on a high-flying way by making another parachute jump, this one over his presidential library on Sunday. He and his wife, Barbara, talked about all that last night with CNN's Larry King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know.

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: You still think he's a little nuts to do this, right?

BARBARA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY: No, no. I think this is what he wants to do. I know he's safer than safe, so I'm not going to worry.

KING: Was there any thought to canceling?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Sunday's jump will follow a party on Saturday in Houston for, we are told, 5,000 guests.

When President Reagan was wounded in an assassination attempt in 1981, Press Secretary Jim Brady was nearby, and he was among those who were struck. I will talk with Jim Brady and his wife, Sarah, this afternoon.

Plus, I'll interview Michael Deaver, the late president's deputy chief of staff and a close friend.

All that and much more in a special edition of "INSIDE POLITICS" starting at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific.

For now, right back to Daryn in Atlanta.

KAGAN: And, Judy, before we let you go, I'm going to do a little impromptu pressing you into service here. We have live pictures coming in from Sea Island, Georgia, President Bush at the G8 Summit. He is greeting leaders of African nations. As the summit wraps up, they are looking at issues facing countries and the continent as a whole of Africa.

Judy, if you could just contribute here and talk about how this president has taken Africa on as a cause, much to the surprise of even some of his supporters.

WOODRUFF: I think, in particular, the president's commitment to put money to AIDS research, this is something that has been so important on the continent of Africa because of the 54 nations of that continent, so many of them have been hit hard by AIDS. It is something that is devastating their populations.

And when President Bush announced just, what, a year and a half, two years ago, with very much the involvement of the U2's lead singer, Bono, that he was going to make AIDS more of a priority, I think it endeared him, on many levels, to these leaders of the African nations. We're seeing a number of them with President Bush today in Georgia.

KAGAN: Judy, thank you for that.

And as we watch those live pictures from Sea Island, Georgia, and note that President Bush will be leaving Georgia and heading back up to Washington, D.C. for the state funeral of Ronald Reagan.

Much more ahead. Right now, a quick break here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His mom has to remind him that monks don't need toy trains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: He's been called a maverick documentary filmmaker in the mold of Michael Moore and Nick Broomfield. He is only 15. Chaille Stovall has been making movies for a long time, since he was 9 years old. His latest documentary is called "Little Monk" and it will premiere on HBO Family this Sunday. But in advance of that, we have Chaille with us here from New York City.

Chaille, a pleasure, thanks for being on with us.

CHAILLE STOVALL, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: Hey, it's great to be here.

KAGAN: Let's take -- have you take us through the mountains of northern India where you went to shoot this documentary called "Little Monk." What was the idea? What were you going to see? And what do we see?

STOVALL: Well, the idea behind "Little Monk" was to try and follow the journey of a 6-year-old boy leaving his home and his family to go become a Tibetan Buddhist monk. And he also gave up all of his toys and all of his worldly possessions, which is...

KAGAN: And he has to say good-bye to his family as well.

STOVALL: And that's a hard thing for someone to do. You can imagine my Western ideas of right and wrong kind of coming into this whole thing. So first it seemed kind of odd when I thought I might be filming something like some kid getting dragged away from his parents, you know, screaming and crying or having something, but what I got was something totally different. I kind of got something I didn't really expect.

KAGAN: So you went to this to see how this kid changes, but actually, in effect, you're really the one who changed through this experience as well?

STOVALL: That's just about how I feel. I think that my views have changed. It's a journey.

KAGAN: Now, this would be a fascinating story to watch anyway, from a Western standpoint. But you're 15, so you're a young adult, but basically, you're a kid. How do you think it's different that by being a child or a young documentary filmmaker that we're going to see a different point of view?

STOVALL: It's not that much different. I'm still a child.

KAGAN: You don't think so. Right. No, but I mean...

STOVALL: So...

KAGAN: ... to have a kid looking at this rather than an adult filmmaker looking at it.

STOVALL: Because an adult might look at it a different way. They might try and look at the legality of it or they might try and look at it as something to -- they might try and spin the story, I guess is what I'm staying.

I guess the difference between an adult filmmaker and a child filmmaker is that I can look at it with a certain eye of innocence. I can probably go into it and say, well, how would I feel? I'm a child. He's a child. How would I feel if I had to give up everything?

A grown-up would probably be able to do that because they've had much more experience in life. But me, as a Western-raised child, would probably have some hardships giving up some of the stuff, in a way -- in a sense of because of how I was raised.

KAGAN: What do you hope other kids will see and learn from watching this documentary? Western kids?

STOVALL: I hope they can learn a little bit more tolerance to other religions and learn that -- learn something from it. I hope they learn that there's something more than what's in their own house. There's something more than the toys that your parents give you. It's your parents' love I guess is what I can say.

KAGAN: I think -- I think that is said very well. And I can tell you it looked like there's something very special that's going to be on HBO Family this Sunday, it's when your documentary "Little Monk" will debut. We look forward to getting to see the whole thing. Chaille, thank you for your time and for your documentary.

STOVALL: No problem. Thank you very much.

KAGAN: That's Chaille Stovall, the documentary maker. Thank you so much.

STOVALL: All right. Thanks.

KAGAN: All right.

Well, say you have already broken the code, and now you're going to learn the rule. Up next, you're going to meet the two authors who already have -- OK, yet you're a fan of "The Da Vinci Code." This is the next step. We'll go into "The Rule of Four." You're about to run to the bookstore coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Just when you need a good summer read, along comes a book described by "Publisher's Weekly" as the intellectual companion of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code." It's called "The Rule of Four."

The best way I think to describe it is it's romantic intrigue. It's based on a renaissance text said to be filled with its own set of secret codes. "Rule of Four" is a debut novel of authors Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. They are lifelong friends and co-authors, and they are our guests this morning.

Good morning -- gentlemen.

DUSTIN THOMASON, CO-AUTHOR, "RULE OF FOUR": Good morning.

IAN CALDWELL, CO-AUTHOR, "RULE OF FOUR": Morning.

KAGAN: So what's it like to be considered the authors of the thinking man's "Da Vinci Code?"

THOMASON: I'm sorry, we're having a little sound trouble.

KAGAN: OK. Ian, can you hear us?

OK, the rule of CNN, the guests have to be able to hear us in order for us to do the interview.

Susan Lisovicz, can you hear us?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I hear you. And I read "The Da Vinci Code" and I thought it was great.

KAGAN: OK. LISOVICZ: So I'm going to read that book.

KAGAN: OK. It's called "The Rule of Four." And we're going to get the authors. We're going to get it working here in a second.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: I think we have fixed the glitches with New York City and want to welcome back Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, authors of "Rule of Four."

Thanks for hanging with us there.

THOMASON: Thanks for having us.

CALDWELL: Sure.

KAGAN: All right. Now what I was asking you, what is it like to be the authors of something that's considered the thinking man's or the thinking person's "De Vinci Code?"

THOMASON: It's thrilling to have any comparisons to "The Da Vinci Code." We're both big fans, and it's been amazing, the kind of support that people have given us, so.

KAGAN: Ian, in 20 seconds or less, explain this renaissance text that really does exist that you based this novel on and how does it turn into an intriguing piece of fiction?

CALDWELL: Well, there is a renaissance text called the "Hictorono Mochia Palifily (ph)," which...

KAGAN: Easy for you to say.

CALDWELL: Yes, exactly.

KAGAN: Yes.

CALDWELL: It took us a while to be able to say it. Turns out nobody knows who wrote it, but there is a code inside the book that seems to suggest who the author might have been. And as soon as we found that out, we decided to develop a story about four best friends at Princeton who discover that secret, just as other researchers are being murdered because of it.

KAGAN: Of course you would. Of course you would take a text that isn't even written in English and try to make a compelling piece of fiction. You guys have been buddies since you were 8 years old.

THOMASON: We have. We grew up together in northern Virginia and actually started writing together very soon thereafter. We wrote a play called "The Klutzy Kidnappers" in the third grade. It was our first piece of fiction.

KAGAN: And how does it work? How do you guys actually work this partnership?

CALDWELL: Well it took us a while to figure it out. We'll start by outlining a series of chapters to make sure that we see them the same way, then we'll divide up the work so that he'll get one chapter, I'll get another chapter. We'll draft them and send them to each other over e-mail and then do a lot of revisions.

KAGAN: Now one thing I want to know about how you work this out, Ian, you went to Princeton, Dustin, you went to Harvard. In the book, the two guys go to Princeton. How did you -- did you flip a coin to say it would be Princeton instead of Harvard?

THOMASON: I think we decided that so many good things have been set at Harvard already because it's such a great setting.

CALDWELL: Yikes.

KAGAN: That was your little payback there. And you're already working on your next big blockbuster?

CALDWELL: That's true. We had a couple of months before the book came out after we finished the revision for it, so we've had some time to develop an idea for the next book. And we're going to keep writing together as long as we can get away with it.

KAGAN: And it works better together than separately?

THOMASON: We think so.

CALDWELL: Yes.

KAGAN: Has Hollywood come calling yet?

THOMASON: They have, actually. Warner Brothers secured the rights last week.

KAGAN: Well congratulations on your big -- your big movie deal. And since Warner Brothers is a sister company of CNN, you'll have to come on and talk about the movie. Congratulations.

THOMASON: Thank you very much.

CALDWELL: Thanks. Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you so much. Ian Caldwell, Dustin Thomason, the book is called "Rule of Four." Thanks for stopping by and sticking with us through our technical glitches.

THOMASON: Thanks again.

CALDWELL: Thank you.

KAGAN: That's going to do it for me. I'm Daryn Kagan. My colleague and friend, Wolf Blitzer, takes over from Washington, D.C.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired June 10, 2004 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.
Let's check the headlines 'At This Hour.'

Thousands are standing in line this morning to pay their respects to President Reagan. A live picture from the Capitol Rotunda, they are filing through the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol where the former president is lying in state. Tomorrow, Reagan's state funeral will be held at the National Cathedral also in Washington.

There was fighting overnight in the Iraqi city of Najaf between Iraqi police forces and the Mehdi army militia. The militia fighters attacked a police station. Iraqi police forces asked for coalition troop support but U.S. commanders held back.

U.S. and Saudi Arabian authorities are investigating the claims of two men who say they were part of a plot by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to assassinate the ruler of Saudi Arabia. The Libyan and Saudi leaders have long been enemies. If the claims are true, officials say it could have a major negative impact on the currently improving relations between Libya and the U.S.

We go to California. The jury hears more testimony when court resumes next hour in the Scott Peterson murder trial. So far, jurors have heard from relatives and a neighbor of Laci Peterson.

Our Rusty Dornin is covering the trial. She is in Redwood City, California.

Rusty, good morning.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well good morning, Daryn.

There's been a parade of prosecution witnesses, all family and friends of Laci and Scott Peterson, who have mostly been describing what they claim was strange behavior by Scott Peterson in the light of his wife's disappearance the night she disappeared and of course in the weeks and months to follow.

Three of those witnesses testified that Scott Peterson told them that he went golfing the day he disappeared. Now, if you remember, his alibi to police later that evening was that he went fishing at the Berkeley Marina.

One of those witnesses, Harvey Kemple, who is a relative of the Rocha family, sparred repeatedly with the defense team. He said he was very suspicious of Peterson after he discovered that Peterson told the police that he had gone fishing when he told him that he had gone golfing.

He even followed him one time to a shopping mall when Peterson had told him he was going to go hang fliers and watched him for 45 minutes as he sat in his car. The defense, of course, said don't you think that's a little strange that you watched him for 45 minutes? He had admitted that, which erupted in laughter in the courtroom.

He also said that he saw Peterson not behave as a man whose wife had disappeared and that he was very unemotional about it. He described repeatedly an incident on the 4th of July where Scott Peterson supposedly threw a tantrum over some chicken.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARVEY KEMPLE, RELATIVE OF LACI PETERSON: The man was more upset about his burnt chicken than even thinking about finding his wife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it's going to become very important, of course, on the morning that Laci -- that Scott Peterson went fishing, and that's going to be coming up later.

We are not sure who's going to be on the stand today. Of course everyone is still awaiting to see when Amber Frey, Scott Peterson's former girlfriend, will appear. And we have no word on that as yet -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Rusty Dornin in Redwood City, thank you.

Lawyers for Martha Stewart say they'll ask a judge today to throw out her conviction. They say it's tainted by the perjury charge against a prosecution witness. Stewart was convicted in March of obstructing justice and lying to investigators about a well-timed stock sale. Yesterday, a Secret Service ink expert who testified during the trial was charged with two counts of perjury.

The Bush and Kerry presidential campaigns have been on hold this week as the nation honors Ronald Reagan. A new poll, however, sheds some new light on how viewers view -- voters view the two candidates at this point.

Our Judy Woodruff is with me now from Washington with more on the poll. And of course she has our other political headlines of the day.

Judy, good morning.

WOODRUFF: Hi there, Daryn, thank you.

Well that new opinion poll is giving Senator John Kerry a seven- point lead over President Bush. In the nationwide "Los Angeles Times" survey of registered voters, Kerry getting 51 percent and Bush 44 percent. Kerry leads by six points now when Ralph Nader is included. A Bush campaign aide is calling the poll -- quote -- "a mess" and questions whether the poll's sample included too many Democrats. It is also worth noting that earlier this week a nationwide Gallup Poll showed Kerry leading Bush by six points.

The presidential campaign, as Daryn said, remains on hiatus because of the death of Ronald Reagan. John Kerry is in Washington today for private meetings. He has no public events scheduled. Yesterday in Los Angeles, Kerry had breakfast with movie mogul Steven Spielberg and he watched his daughter graduate from film school.

President Bush still in Georgia for the G8 Summit. CNN will be bringing you live coverage of his end of the summit news conference this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. After returning to Washington this evening, the president and the first lady will go to the Capitol Rotunda to pay their respects to Ronald Reagan.

The first President Bush turns 80 this weekend, and he plans to mark the occasion on a high-flying way by making another parachute jump, this one over his presidential library on Sunday. He and his wife, Barbara, talked about all that last night with CNN's Larry King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know.

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: You still think he's a little nuts to do this, right?

BARBARA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY: No, no. I think this is what he wants to do. I know he's safer than safe, so I'm not going to worry.

KING: Was there any thought to canceling?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Sunday's jump will follow a party on Saturday in Houston for, we are told, 5,000 guests.

When President Reagan was wounded in an assassination attempt in 1981, Press Secretary Jim Brady was nearby, and he was among those who were struck. I will talk with Jim Brady and his wife, Sarah, this afternoon.

Plus, I'll interview Michael Deaver, the late president's deputy chief of staff and a close friend.

All that and much more in a special edition of "INSIDE POLITICS" starting at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific.

For now, right back to Daryn in Atlanta.

KAGAN: And, Judy, before we let you go, I'm going to do a little impromptu pressing you into service here. We have live pictures coming in from Sea Island, Georgia, President Bush at the G8 Summit. He is greeting leaders of African nations. As the summit wraps up, they are looking at issues facing countries and the continent as a whole of Africa.

Judy, if you could just contribute here and talk about how this president has taken Africa on as a cause, much to the surprise of even some of his supporters.

WOODRUFF: I think, in particular, the president's commitment to put money to AIDS research, this is something that has been so important on the continent of Africa because of the 54 nations of that continent, so many of them have been hit hard by AIDS. It is something that is devastating their populations.

And when President Bush announced just, what, a year and a half, two years ago, with very much the involvement of the U2's lead singer, Bono, that he was going to make AIDS more of a priority, I think it endeared him, on many levels, to these leaders of the African nations. We're seeing a number of them with President Bush today in Georgia.

KAGAN: Judy, thank you for that.

And as we watch those live pictures from Sea Island, Georgia, and note that President Bush will be leaving Georgia and heading back up to Washington, D.C. for the state funeral of Ronald Reagan.

Much more ahead. Right now, a quick break here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His mom has to remind him that monks don't need toy trains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: He's been called a maverick documentary filmmaker in the mold of Michael Moore and Nick Broomfield. He is only 15. Chaille Stovall has been making movies for a long time, since he was 9 years old. His latest documentary is called "Little Monk" and it will premiere on HBO Family this Sunday. But in advance of that, we have Chaille with us here from New York City.

Chaille, a pleasure, thanks for being on with us.

CHAILLE STOVALL, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: Hey, it's great to be here.

KAGAN: Let's take -- have you take us through the mountains of northern India where you went to shoot this documentary called "Little Monk." What was the idea? What were you going to see? And what do we see?

STOVALL: Well, the idea behind "Little Monk" was to try and follow the journey of a 6-year-old boy leaving his home and his family to go become a Tibetan Buddhist monk. And he also gave up all of his toys and all of his worldly possessions, which is...

KAGAN: And he has to say good-bye to his family as well.

STOVALL: And that's a hard thing for someone to do. You can imagine my Western ideas of right and wrong kind of coming into this whole thing. So first it seemed kind of odd when I thought I might be filming something like some kid getting dragged away from his parents, you know, screaming and crying or having something, but what I got was something totally different. I kind of got something I didn't really expect.

KAGAN: So you went to this to see how this kid changes, but actually, in effect, you're really the one who changed through this experience as well?

STOVALL: That's just about how I feel. I think that my views have changed. It's a journey.

KAGAN: Now, this would be a fascinating story to watch anyway, from a Western standpoint. But you're 15, so you're a young adult, but basically, you're a kid. How do you think it's different that by being a child or a young documentary filmmaker that we're going to see a different point of view?

STOVALL: It's not that much different. I'm still a child.

KAGAN: You don't think so. Right. No, but I mean...

STOVALL: So...

KAGAN: ... to have a kid looking at this rather than an adult filmmaker looking at it.

STOVALL: Because an adult might look at it a different way. They might try and look at the legality of it or they might try and look at it as something to -- they might try and spin the story, I guess is what I'm staying.

I guess the difference between an adult filmmaker and a child filmmaker is that I can look at it with a certain eye of innocence. I can probably go into it and say, well, how would I feel? I'm a child. He's a child. How would I feel if I had to give up everything?

A grown-up would probably be able to do that because they've had much more experience in life. But me, as a Western-raised child, would probably have some hardships giving up some of the stuff, in a way -- in a sense of because of how I was raised.

KAGAN: What do you hope other kids will see and learn from watching this documentary? Western kids?

STOVALL: I hope they can learn a little bit more tolerance to other religions and learn that -- learn something from it. I hope they learn that there's something more than what's in their own house. There's something more than the toys that your parents give you. It's your parents' love I guess is what I can say.

KAGAN: I think -- I think that is said very well. And I can tell you it looked like there's something very special that's going to be on HBO Family this Sunday, it's when your documentary "Little Monk" will debut. We look forward to getting to see the whole thing. Chaille, thank you for your time and for your documentary.

STOVALL: No problem. Thank you very much.

KAGAN: That's Chaille Stovall, the documentary maker. Thank you so much.

STOVALL: All right. Thanks.

KAGAN: All right.

Well, say you have already broken the code, and now you're going to learn the rule. Up next, you're going to meet the two authors who already have -- OK, yet you're a fan of "The Da Vinci Code." This is the next step. We'll go into "The Rule of Four." You're about to run to the bookstore coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Just when you need a good summer read, along comes a book described by "Publisher's Weekly" as the intellectual companion of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code." It's called "The Rule of Four."

The best way I think to describe it is it's romantic intrigue. It's based on a renaissance text said to be filled with its own set of secret codes. "Rule of Four" is a debut novel of authors Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. They are lifelong friends and co-authors, and they are our guests this morning.

Good morning -- gentlemen.

DUSTIN THOMASON, CO-AUTHOR, "RULE OF FOUR": Good morning.

IAN CALDWELL, CO-AUTHOR, "RULE OF FOUR": Morning.

KAGAN: So what's it like to be considered the authors of the thinking man's "Da Vinci Code?"

THOMASON: I'm sorry, we're having a little sound trouble.

KAGAN: OK. Ian, can you hear us?

OK, the rule of CNN, the guests have to be able to hear us in order for us to do the interview.

Susan Lisovicz, can you hear us?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I hear you. And I read "The Da Vinci Code" and I thought it was great.

KAGAN: OK. LISOVICZ: So I'm going to read that book.

KAGAN: OK. It's called "The Rule of Four." And we're going to get the authors. We're going to get it working here in a second.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: I think we have fixed the glitches with New York City and want to welcome back Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, authors of "Rule of Four."

Thanks for hanging with us there.

THOMASON: Thanks for having us.

CALDWELL: Sure.

KAGAN: All right. Now what I was asking you, what is it like to be the authors of something that's considered the thinking man's or the thinking person's "De Vinci Code?"

THOMASON: It's thrilling to have any comparisons to "The Da Vinci Code." We're both big fans, and it's been amazing, the kind of support that people have given us, so.

KAGAN: Ian, in 20 seconds or less, explain this renaissance text that really does exist that you based this novel on and how does it turn into an intriguing piece of fiction?

CALDWELL: Well, there is a renaissance text called the "Hictorono Mochia Palifily (ph)," which...

KAGAN: Easy for you to say.

CALDWELL: Yes, exactly.

KAGAN: Yes.

CALDWELL: It took us a while to be able to say it. Turns out nobody knows who wrote it, but there is a code inside the book that seems to suggest who the author might have been. And as soon as we found that out, we decided to develop a story about four best friends at Princeton who discover that secret, just as other researchers are being murdered because of it.

KAGAN: Of course you would. Of course you would take a text that isn't even written in English and try to make a compelling piece of fiction. You guys have been buddies since you were 8 years old.

THOMASON: We have. We grew up together in northern Virginia and actually started writing together very soon thereafter. We wrote a play called "The Klutzy Kidnappers" in the third grade. It was our first piece of fiction.

KAGAN: And how does it work? How do you guys actually work this partnership?

CALDWELL: Well it took us a while to figure it out. We'll start by outlining a series of chapters to make sure that we see them the same way, then we'll divide up the work so that he'll get one chapter, I'll get another chapter. We'll draft them and send them to each other over e-mail and then do a lot of revisions.

KAGAN: Now one thing I want to know about how you work this out, Ian, you went to Princeton, Dustin, you went to Harvard. In the book, the two guys go to Princeton. How did you -- did you flip a coin to say it would be Princeton instead of Harvard?

THOMASON: I think we decided that so many good things have been set at Harvard already because it's such a great setting.

CALDWELL: Yikes.

KAGAN: That was your little payback there. And you're already working on your next big blockbuster?

CALDWELL: That's true. We had a couple of months before the book came out after we finished the revision for it, so we've had some time to develop an idea for the next book. And we're going to keep writing together as long as we can get away with it.

KAGAN: And it works better together than separately?

THOMASON: We think so.

CALDWELL: Yes.

KAGAN: Has Hollywood come calling yet?

THOMASON: They have, actually. Warner Brothers secured the rights last week.

KAGAN: Well congratulations on your big -- your big movie deal. And since Warner Brothers is a sister company of CNN, you'll have to come on and talk about the movie. Congratulations.

THOMASON: Thank you very much.

CALDWELL: Thanks. Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you so much. Ian Caldwell, Dustin Thomason, the book is called "Rule of Four." Thanks for stopping by and sticking with us through our technical glitches.

THOMASON: Thanks again.

CALDWELL: Thank you.

KAGAN: That's going to do it for me. I'm Daryn Kagan. My colleague and friend, Wolf Blitzer, takes over from Washington, D.C.

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