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CNN Live Event/Special
Rob Reiner In His Own Words: A Larry King Exclusive. Aired 9- 10p ET
Aired December 21, 2025 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:30]
SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: Tonight, we open the CNN vault to shed new light on Rob Reiner, the father. In 1997, he sat down with CNN's Larry King for a frank discussion about life, work and parenthood.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, TV HOST: So life is good for you and the two kids? Tell us about the kids.
ROB REINER, FILMMAKER/ACTOR: It's very good. I got two little boys, Jake and his little brother, Nick, who's three and a half. Jake and Nick, as Mel Brooks said, you got a detective agency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: At the time, Reiner was at the top of his game, one of Hollywood's most celebrated creators, having directed classics like the "Princess Bride", "This Is Spinal Tap" and "A Few Good Men". He appeared on Larry King promoting his upcoming television special ""I Am Your Child"" hosted by Tom Hanks.
Reiner also spoke about the world he was building beyond the camera, including raising his two young sons, Jake and Nick. This is "Rob Reiner In His Own Words: A Larry King Exclusive."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Tonight, he stepped out from his father's shadow to become one of the hottest directors in Hollywood. It's Rob Reiner for the full hour just ahead on "Larry King Weekend."
Good evening and welcome to another special edition of "Larry King Weekend" in which we like to salute formidable people in the entertainment scene. And no one more formidable in the directorial end than the wonderful Rob Reiner, son of Carl Reiner, star in his own when he was a two-time Emmy winner on "All In The Family." And now Rob Reiner blesses us with his appearance tonight.
What is "I Am Your Child"?
REINER: "I Am Your Child" is the name of a television special which is the centerpiece of a national public awareness and engagement campaign about the importance of the first three years of a child's life. To that end, I went and I got Tom Hanks who agreed to host the show. And then we inserted a running feature through the show called Things You Might Not Know.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM HANKS, ACTOR: Another thing you might not know is that, I'm going to bring on my friend Rob Reiner to tell you some other things you might not know. Rob.
REINER: Good evening, Tom.
HANKS: Good evening, Rob.
REINER: Very nice to see you.
HANKS: Nice to see you. Now, Rob, are there some things you can tell us we might not know?
REINER: Yes. Well, because science now tells us that there are specific windows of opportunity when certain brain connections are made. You might not know that in a first year a child is eminently more receptive to the sounds of language than at any other time.
HANKS: I did not know that.
REINER: Yes. And to demonstrate that, I brought with me a gentleman who as an infant was exposed to all the languages of the world.
HANKS: Really? Is that right, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. (Foreign Language)
HANKS: This is amazing.
REINER: Yes. It's incredible.
HANKS: How many languages does he actually speak?
REINER: He speaks about 5,487 including Latin, Pig Latin and Ebonics.
HANKS: So we could be here for a while?
REINER: Oh yes. (Foreign Language)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REINER: We have celebrities come on in sketches and comedy sketches, talk about various things about --
KING: -- All about (inaudible) --
REINER: -- early childhood development - exactly. And so we've got Robin Williams and we've got Billy Crystal and Roseanne. We've got Oprah Winfrey, we've got Rosie O'Donnell and Martin Short, and Jon Lovitz, like I say, the President and the First Lady, Michael J. Fox. And they all do little bits and pieces about things you might not know about early childhood development.
KING: What got Rob Reiner interested in this topic?
REINER: Well, you know, I, you know, you've known me a long time, we've known each other, but I, you know, I've been politically active and, you know, civically minded most of my adult life. And I've actually been thinking about this for almost 20 years.
KING: Before having children?
REINER: Yes, before having children. You know, like a lot of people, you know, I sat around in living rooms and in groups and political organizations trying to figure out ways to solve societal's problems, society's problems. And, you know, we always, in talking on late into the night, we always came down to the idea that education was the key. I mean, we always hit on that.
But then the question was, what do you mean by that? Who do you educate? How do you educate? What form does that education take?
[21:05:08]
And as I went into my own personal analysis, my own work on myself, it became very clear to me that what had happened to me in my first two or three years of life was critical in terms of how I function later on as an adult, the good and the bad that I got. And I assumed that this realization was not unique to me, that there were others who. Who have gone through similar, you know, paths and discovering that their early childhood, and all of our early childhood was important.
I then started reaching out as I got more successful and as I became -- had more access to the powers that be. I called Tipper Gore up, and I had heard that she was interested in --
KING: How many children do you have?
REINER: -- mental health issues. I've got two children. So we started reaching out to all members, you know, the scientific community, the public policymakers, the entertainers. And we started, you know, just exploring all of this. And we came upon this campaign.
KING: The --
REINER: I was going to say more, but it's OK --
KING: Rob, I have to run a show here. (CROSSTALK)
REINER: I understand.
KING: OK. There's a lot to talk about. You had a whole hour.
REINER: I know, but this is more important than any of those things, but maybe not to the public.
KING: No, no. Of course it is. Every -- all of us were once this age. REINER: That's right.
KING: Which leads to this question --
REINER: That's right, yes.
KING: Few people have any memories before age three. Why is it important?
REINER: Well, because science now --
KING: Good question.
REINER: It is a very good question, Larry.
KING: OK.
REINER: I'm sorry I ever doubted.
KING: That's right.
REINER: I'm sorry I'm a little bit --
KING: That's an interview.
REINER: Oh, I feel bad.
KING: All right. Why is it important? I don't remember.
REINER: No. Well, you don't. You may not remember. If you went through analysis, it might bring up some.
KING: I have a fleeting member of my crib. I remember crib, basically.
REINER: Yes. No, they're very, very sketchy memories. Why it's important is that brain -- the research, the new research in brain development now tells us very clearly that what happens to a child in the first three years is the critical time period in when a child's brain organizes itself.
A child's brain grows to, like, 90 percent of its adult size by age three.
KING: Really?
REINER: And another 10 percent from age three to 10. And then pretty much it's cooked.
KING: Personality form to three?
REINER: Personality is probably there at birth, but the emotional foundation that every person has is laid in those first two to three years based on experiences that it has with the outside world. With the caregivers, that it comes in contact with, the parents and the important caregivers in relationship to the child. And what they've discovered, what brain science now tells us, very clearly, is that there are actual physical connections, biological physical connections made in the brain as a result of experience that a child has in the first two or three years. And that the brain organizes itself and wires itself in those first two or three years.
KING: Now, we're going to watch this show, of course, and that's going to focus a lot on. But how do parents use this? OK, we have this knowledge, we have this national campaign you're starting, then what? Early schooling, what?
REINER: Well, absolutely. I mean, not schooling in terms of formal schooling, but to understand that the child is learning at a very rapid rate in the first three years. The idea that we should talk to our children, that we should sing to our children, that we should read to our children from the day they're born.
The physical nurturing and holding of a child which actually causes brain connections to be made. These are things that parents have known instinctively for years.
KING: Bo-bo--ga-ga-ba-ba
REINER: It's not was stupid. If you start really interacting with your child from the day they're born, the facial expressions, the sounds that you make and the sounds that they make back, they are -- these are conversations to them. This is the way they learn language.
And if we focus in on this and we as a country understand that this is what is going to get children to be ready to learn at school. This is what is -- this is, in a sense, school readiness. And that if we devote our time and energy to this time period, we will have children that will be prepared and ready to learn.
If they have adverse experiences, if they have negative, abusive, neglectful type experiences, the brain will not organize itself in the same way as a child who gets nurturing experiences. And the child's brain may grow to a half or two thirds the size of a normal brain if they don't get the right kind of nurturing. And the gray matter won't fill in properly.
KING: It's fascinating. Rob Ronner will host this special "I Am Your Child." We'll be back with this brilliantly talented man. Don't go away.
[21:10:52]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REINER: Give that clean --
KING: Why are you sweating so much, by the way? Rob Reiner is our guest and appears nervous. Why?
REINER: I'm not nervous, Larry. I'm just very --
KING: Albert Brooks in broadcast news.
REINER: Yes, he was my best, best man of my first marriage. We don't talk about that.
KING: OK. You think it failed close to him?
REINER: Yes.
KING: OK. Yes. What do you remember about --
REINER: I do remember --
KING: -- on the three?
REINER: I do have a couple of specific memories. I'm not going to share them with you. (CROSSTALK) Yes, I did.
KING: So you must have been famous --
REINER: But, you know, he wasn't famous when I was three. He was still, I think show of shows went on the air in 1950. Well, I was around three. Yes, three, four years old.
KING: So what do you remember?
REINER: Well, I remember, you know, my grandmother in the household. I remember a lot of Jewish people yelling, you know, the food, the chicken soup's not bad. Where I go? No --
KING: You have a crib.
REINER: Yes, I do. I do remember.
KING: You were a good baby?
REINER: I was a very good baby. I was a -- I -- but my father said I was alert. I never went to sleep. He would sit and try to get me to sleep. He would rock me, he would sing songs, nothing would put me to sleep.
He would blow into my eyes. I was alert. I didn't want to miss anything.
KING: Are you still --
REINER: I was afraid that something, you know, was going to happen ---
KING: Kind of on the inside?
REINER: I'm alert. I'm alert, Larry.
KING: I could tell.
REINER: Yes.
KING: But I mean, do you sleep well now or not? REINER: Pretty good. I sleep better now. My father tells a story about how he was trying to put me to sleep once. And I was in the crib, and he was -- HE would blow into my eyes, singing. And then he put me down in the crib.
[21:15:06]
And the minute he'd release his hands, I'd start wake -- I wake up again. So he decided he -- but he could get me to sleep by holding me. He'd get in the crib with me, and he'd hold me and rock me to sleep.
Then he would slowly try to get up. And at one point, he did this over and over. It took him hours to get it from. Finally, he let his hands go. He got up out of the crib, and he was like this, holding his hands like this.
And my mother walked in and she saw him standing over me in the crib with his hands like this over me. And she went, Carl, you're killing him. You know, and she thought he was, like, getting so upset because he couldn't put me to sleep. But -- and then, of course, I woke up again and I couldn't go back to sleep.
KING: I didn't sleep when I was four or five years. Did you cry a lot?
REINER: I don't know if I cried a lot. I think I cried some.
KING: Remember your earliest experience say why you were attracted to women? We don't know why we -- why some people are gay and some people are straight. Do you know you didn't make that decision?
REINER: No, it's not a decision. I think, you know, let's face it, you wouldn't decide. I mean, knowing the problem that you're going to have face, you know, society.
KING: Decided to be gay.
REINER: I'm going to be gay and take on, you know, I don't think that's a decision. I think that you are, you know, either discovery one way --
KING: And getting Tom Hanks to host this show, does he have --
REINER: By the way, he's not gay either? I don't know --
KING: Either?
REINER: Well -- yes.
KING: Getting Tom Hanks to host this show, does he have particular interest in this topic?
REINER: He has become. Yes, he has become. He also has, you know, he has four children.
KING: Just a hired hand. REINER: No, no, no. He, you know, we talked about it. I, you know,
friends of his and we've been friends for a while and I told him I was doing this and. And he said, you know, it's time now. I want to really put something back in and this is what I care about, so yes.
KING: We'll be talking more about it now. We trace the career --
REINER: Tracing the career.
KING: Plus or minus, growing up in a household where the father is well-known and funny.
REINER: I think, ultimately, minus if you want to go into show business. It's plus if you like to laugh, and most of us do. So that part's a plus.
KING: Why a minus?
REINER: The minus is, if you want to go into show business, it's a tough road to hoe.
KING: Because you have the name?
REINER: Yes. You know, I -- I've had this conversation with Michael Douglas on a number of occasions. I mean, we figured out that we may be. I mean, there are a lot of successful offspring of famous people, but I think of the people that reached a very, very high level, you know, like Kirk Douglas, my father, who reached a very high level in his career., there are very few offspring who have attained what their parents have attained
And we may be in a club of two or three. I mean, you can count them one hand.
KING: You've got strikes against -- you got pluses, you get in the door.
REINER: Yes. But, you know, you get out the door real quick, too, if you don't have anything to offer. You know that -- getting in the door is important, but having, staying power and being able to sustain a career, at least on the level of or exceed your famous, you know, father or mother is very, very difficult.
I mean, you're under an enormous pressure and scrutiny, and I don't recommend it for anybody unless you know that this is something you have to do.
KING: But a plus as a kid.
REINER: As a kid, it's great because in my household, there's Mel Brooks and there's Norman Lear, and there's Sid Caesar and there's Neil Simon, and there's all these people. And like, I've always said, you know, people ask me what it was like growing up. And I said, well, you know, I didn't find out until I went to other people's house that it wasn't as funny over there. You know, it was a lot funnier where it was in mine. KING: What, for want of a better term, was your break? How did we get to know you?
REINER: Well, you know, obviously "All In The Family" was the first thing --
KING: You do in sitcoms before that?
REINER: Well, I was, you know, I started --
KING: You want to be an actor.
REINER: I started as a director and a writer, and I had my own theater company when I was 19 years old. I directed theater in Los Angeles. Had a group called the improv -- It was an improvisational group called the Session that Richard Dreyfuss was in.
And I acted and directed that. So I was --
KING: Go to school --
REINER: Yes, went to school, UCLA, and we actually, you know, started our company at UCLA. They -- we rehearsed every night at Royce Hall, in the basement, until the cops found us and kicked us out of there. But that's what I started doing.
And I wanted to be a writer and a director when I was an actor. And then as I got this part in "All In The Family" was like, well, this is not going to go anywhere. Clearly, this is not going to amount to anything because it's too -- it's too hip for the room, as they say, you know?
I mean, it was too smart and too edgy. And we figured, well, it's going to be -- take it off after four or five weeks. And, you know, eight years later, I'm on that show and learning a lot.
KING: Did Carl have anything to do with your auditioning for him?
REINER: No, nothing. As a matter of fact, he didn't want to have anything to do with me pursuing that. I think he knew how difficult it was going to be for me. And he pretty much stayed out of my way and let me find my own way. And we never really --
KING: Smart idea?
REINER: It was a very smart idea. We never discussed anything. He never gave me any advice about any of this stuff. And I found that as I achieved things, I knew I achieved them on my own. And there wasn't a result of anything that he had.
KING: How did you get Meathead?
[21:20:00]
REINER: I had auditioned two times for two different pilots that were done for ABC before it was eventually done on CBS. And I didn't get the part in those earlier pilots. And I eventually auditioned --
KING: Same show earlier pilots.
REINER: Same show. Norman Lear was produce -- It was Carroll O'Connor and Gene Stapleton were part of the cast, but the Mike and Gloria characters were different actors. And Sally started and I were the third, you know, Mike and Gloria.
KING: And was that -- we'll ask about that, what a story that is. Our guest is Rob Reiner. His most recent film, "Ghosts of Mississippi." You'll see his special. It is titled "I Am Your Child" with Tom Hanks' as host. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back with Rob Reiner. What -- was "All In The Family," you know, memory fades, was it a hit right away?
REINER: No, no. The first --
KING: It's based on a British show, right?
REINER: Based on a British show called "Till Death Us Do Part." And it aired in 1971, in January, and actually aired with a disclaimer at the beginning saying, you know, if there are -- there's language in this show and attitudes presented that might be offensive to, you know, so and so-so, you know, you know, be warned.
It came on with very little fanfare. They didn't promote it very well. And it ran for 13 weeks with not very good ratings. CBS, at least in those days, they didn't yank a show immediately.
[21:25:10]
KING: Did it get a lot of press?
REINER: It got some press. I mean, there was some stuff in the New York Times, Laura Z. Hobson who wrote "Gentleman's Agreement" was saying there's no such thing as a lovable bigot. And, you know, there was that kind of negative.
KING: There was (inaudible).
REINER: Yes, there was a discussion, a lot of negative press. And then CBS ran those 13 over the summer. So in essence, we were on 26 weeks in a row, the first 13 and it was rerun. And during that rerun of those second 13, the show started to catch up.
KING: What happened?
REINER: Audiences started to find it. They found it. It takes a while sometimes, especially a new show like that.
KING: In addition to the fine writing and the wonderful characterizations, why did we, in retrospect, like it and continue to like it so much? REINER: I think you liked it for a couple of reasons. One is, people
identified with both of our characters. They identified with Archie and they identified with Mike. Even though Archie was espousing certain bigoted points of view, he was a human being.
I mean, we recognized that person and he was a complete human being. He had good sides and bad sides. He was well drawn. Same with my character. You had these two forces, you know, going after each other and people -- and it was funny. And that was the second thing.
And the third thing is that, they were real people. They really reflected real people --
KING: Reflect a real mother and daughter.
REINER: -- as well. And we saw those characters grow over the period of the --
KING: We got to know them.
REINER: Yes, we did. And so, you know, people enjoyed it for a lot of years.
KING: Was he a lovable bigot?
REINER: Well, you know, bigotry is not lovable, certainly, but as a human being, he had loving sides to him. I mean, he did care about his wife, he did care about his daughter. And he also cared about his son in law, ultimately.
And so, it was, not just -- it was not a cardboard character. I remember Norman Lear telling me when we first started the show, he told me that one of his favorite plays of all time was Major Barbara, which was by George Bernard Shaw. And if, you know, if you knew George Bernard Shaw, he was a liberal.
He wrote this play in which there was basically, you know, a debate over guns and butter. You know, the liberal and the conservative point of view were both put on the table. And you left the theater, if you didn't know that George Bernard Shaw was a liberal, you'd leave theater wondering, what does this guy believe in? Because they were equally presented, and that was the way Norman Lear wanted to do it.
KING: That sure was.
REINER: He wanted to equally present both sides and let the audience have the discussion and have the arguments.
KING: How great was it working with Carroll O'Connor?
REINER: It was tremendous. You know, he taught me --
KING: He's not a funny guy. Like, let's say, he's not a guy who's going to crack you up at the table.
REINER: But he is. KING: He's a great actor.
REINER: But he is. He is. He also can be very funny and. But the one thing that he taught me more than anything is how to act. He taught me how an actor takes a moment in a scene, how an actor understands the arc of what he's supposed to be doing in a scene.
He also told me that an actor has a part and has a place in creating the whole piece, not just in their performance, not just in their character, but how it relates to everything else in the fabric of the piece. He allowed us, along with Norman Lear, the two of them together, allowed us a freedom in creating that show that I don't think any actors have ever experienced in television.
KING: What did it do to your life? I mean, here you are, you obviously want to be a director, you want to do many things, and now you're in a major program that's not only a hit, but important.
REINER: Right. At first I was thrilled about it and excited and we were, you know, accepted and was a national --
KING: Phenomenon.
REINER: Phenomenon, exactly. But then as it went along, I went, oh, my God. I mean, am I going to be trapped in this for the rest of my life because I wanted to do other things as a writer.
KING: Calling you Meathead on the street.
REINER: I've often said, you know, no matter what happens to me, I'll always be, you know, I could win the Nobel Prize. It'll say, Meathead wins Nobel. That will never go away. That's always there.
But as the series progressed and I settled in and relaxed a little bit, I said, you know something? I can learn a lot here. There's a lot to be learned. I'm going in front of an audience every week for 200 shows. I'm learning what audiences like, what they don't like.
I'm being allowed to get involved in the creation of the scripts and the stories. On many shows, I didn't have that much to do. I spend my time up in the booth watching the director and working out the shots and all of that. That eight year period was one of the big learning experiences that I've had that I've taken with me through all of the film work that I've done.
KING: All right. During all this time, were you telling yourself, I'm going to direct again?
REINER: I kind of knew that I would, you know.
KING: Did you think along with the director of "All In The Family," were there times you said, but let's say as you're getting on now, I would have shut this?
REINER: Well, no. We were allowed so much --
KING: We had input.
REINER: We had input. We were allowed a lot of creative freedom. We were -- I often helped stage scenes and said, hey, might be funnier if he crosses over at that line or turns on that line.
[21:30:10]
We were allowed to do all of those.
KING: How is your run?
REINER: Well, I was involved with it for eight years.
KING: History today.
REINER: Yes, yes. Then --
KING: Did you write go into directing movies?
REINER: Not right off. I mean, I wanted to and I got involved with my three cohorts on "This Is Spinal Tap".
KING: You directed that.
REINER: Which I directed, right?
KING: Hysterical.
REINER: Thank you very much. But it took us four years till were able to get it off the ground. At that time, people who were in television were looked down upon. They were like second class citizens.
Now, you see a lot of directors having come from television. Ronnie Howard and Jim Brooks, and Danny DeVito and Penny Marshall, Garry Marshall. But in those days, there were very few guys that came out of television that made it big.
KING: The studios weren't bankrolling.
REINER: Not at all. And it took me four years of banging my head against the wall to finally get "Spinal Tap" off the ground.
KING: And what a series of films he has given us. Our guest is Rob Reiner, we'll be right back. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: I just asked Rob Reiner how he handled since he sweats on camera, how he handled being on "All In The Family" every week. He said I sweat.
REINER: Yes. There's no getting around it.
KING: OK. Your films have been incredible ups and downs. Would the most successful be "When Harry Met Sally?"
[21:35:06]
REINER: Well, actually the most successful, box office wise, was "A Few Good Men".
KING: Did better than Harry?
REINER: Yes, that did about $50 million better than "When Harry Met Sally."
KING: Is it --
REINER: But the Harry and Sally was very successful, too.
KING: Is it the one you're most associated with? When people say Rob Reiner, what do they say first? What movie?
REINER: I don't know. I mean, you know, a lot of people like the "Princess Bride," a lot of people like "Spinal Tap," a lot of people like "Stand By Me," some people "Misery." I've had a few people say sure. thing, you know.
KING: "Misery."
REINER: "Misery" a lot of people like --
KING: Sure Thing is a great movie. but "Princess Bride."
REINER: "Princess Bride" is --
KING: Wacky, funny.
REINER: Yes, yes. That was to me, at the time when I made it, I mean, it was a real, you know, I loved William Goldman. I loved his work. And I thought, oh, God, I got a chance to make something that touched me and connected with me so much as a young person when I read it.
But then when I got to see the movie with my two little boys recently, you know, in the last few years, that's the biggest thrill I've ever had with that.
KING: You have killed my home for my father's death.
REINER: I sit with my two boys, and they run around saying, you know, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. And they sword fight, so.
KING: Yes.
REINER: Yes.
(CLIP FROM THE MOVIE "THE PRINCESS BRIDE")
KING: OK. "Harry Met Sally," did that surprise you in how well --
REINER: Yes.
KING: -- it caught on?
REINER: Yes, it did. It did. Because, I mean, we thought were making a very small little film. It wasn't that very expensive. And it shocked us how well it did. But, I guess, it hit a nerve, you know, the idea of men and women trying to figure out how do you know, how do you interrelate and can you remain friends?
KING: Were you a founder of Castle Rock?
REINER: Yes.
KING: How did that come about? That's now part of Warner Turner and everything.
REINER: That's right.
KING: How did Castle Rock begin? How was it named?
REINER: Well, it was named from the town in "Stand By Me." The town where the boys live in "Stand By Me" was called Castle Rock.
KING: It was a song do the Castle Rock.
REINER: It was.
KING: If you don't know how to do it, boy --
REINER: I thought it was "The Hucklebuck." So I think that was "The Hucklebuck."
KING: I changed it to the Castle Rock.
REINER: All right, the Castle Rock. That's OK.
KING: All right, fine. Put me down to another.
REINER: That's all right.
KING: It's OK, we accept this. OK, all right. Sure. I think we'll never be back. Get a good look at him. That's right.
REINER: It was, yes. But we got together. The five of us had always worked together, you know. No, no. In Castle Rock, the founders were Alan Horn, Glenn Padnick, Martin Shafer, Andy Scheiman and myself.
And we had all worked together over the years in different ways. Most of us worked together for Norman Lear with Tandem and then Embassy.
KING: It was later sold -- (CROSSTALK)
REINER: It was totally Mickey Rooney. It was like, let's get together and put -- and create a movie studio and a television studio. And that's exactly what we did. And we're still good friends.
And it's 10 years later and we still have Castle Rock. We've been through a lot of, you know, various incantations. KING: How did you become part of this Turner Warner?
REINER: The way I became part of the Turner Warner is Ted Turner bought us.
(CROSSTALK)
REINER: Ted Turner said, I'm buying you, and now I own you.
KING: I see.
REINER: And now, guess what, I'm selling you over there to Warner's.
KING: Do you feel like --
REINER: So now I'm over there at Warner's because he bought me and then he sold me.
KING: And buying you, though, you made money on this?
REINER: Yes, he did give us some money. He's a very generous man. And as a matter of fact, I love Ted Turner. He's brilliant. He's a genius. He's a true visionary.
KING: You feel like a property or do you feel like?
REINER: No, no, no, no. He's always left us alone to do our thing. And, you know, and now we're, you know, with Time Warner, and we're also, you know.
KING: Your biggest hit was "A Few Good Men".
REINER: Yes.
KING: Was that a big bidding war for that play? That was a very successful play.
REINER: I don't know. You know, because by the time we came to, it had already been bought by TriStar, and it was kind of languishing there. And we actually were looking for a writer for another project that Castle Rock did called "Malice." And it was with Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman.
KING: I am God.
REINER: That's right. That's right. The doctor says that. And we were looking for a writer for that. And the play of "A Few Good Men" was sent over as a writing sample for Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the play.
And we said, well, what about this play? Is anything being done with this? And we then found out that a movie was being, you know, developed, a TriStar, and they were not going anywhere with it. And we said, can we buy the rights?
I went to see it in New York and I flipped out over it and I thought, wow, this is a great property. And we developed it. KING: You liked when you saw the play?
REINER: Yes, I did.
KING: OK. The Nicholson part, the character who played that on stage, played it so broad.
REINER: Yes.
KING: And that was tremendous. That guy overwhelmed the stage. It was wild --
REINER: Yes, yes. Right.
KING: -- the way he played. Played as a caricature of the get-go.
[21:40:07]
REINER: Yes. I think you can get away with a little bit more on stage than you can on film.
KING: Nicholson couldn't do.
REINER: No, no, but Nicholson played it. You know, he was certainly a clear character. I mean, this was -- no. I mean, he didn't hold back when he was on that witness stand. I mean, he went after it.
(CLIP FROM THE MOVIE "A FEW GOOD MEN")
KING: Cruise, and we've now discovered after Jerry Maguire, that Tom Cruise is underrated.
REINER: I think he's always been underrated. I think he suffers from --
KING: Good looks?
REINER: -- good looks, sex appeal, youth and money. He has all these things, and that's why everybody hates him.
KING: Because he's a --
REINER: We love him. We love him, we want to see him, but we hate him, too, because he has all these things.
KING: He's a good actor.
REINER: He's a tremendous actor. He's also a great guy. And, you know, he's very versatile. And you can see him, Jerry Maguire.
KING: And you also gave Kevin Pollak a wonderful shot in that movie, one of my favorite people on the planet.
REINER: Yes, he's a great guy.
KING: He's a great guy. He's a talent. REINER: Very talented. He's another guy who can play comedy and drama.
KING: Did you like directing drama?
REINER: I do. I do. I like both, actually. I mean, you know, it's not like I could pick one over the other. If somebody said you could only one, I would have a hard time to choose.
But what I like about drama is, you can inject some thoughts and ideas that you've been thinking about for many years. And you can find ways of getting it in. It's harder to do it in comedy because you're so hell bent on getting the laugh. I mean, that's so important.
KING: There's little doubt that Eddie Murphy in the "Nutty Professor" was an incredible performance, both acting, everything.
REINER: And why are we talking about Eddie Murphy now? I'm just curious.
KING: He wasn't nominated.
REINER: He wasn't nominated.
KING: All right. Why aren't comic --why aren't comedies nominated and comedic actors nominated?
REINER: I don't think they're taken seriously. I don't think --
KING: You agreed Murphy did it?
REINER: I didn't see the movie, but I heard he was great.
KING: Unbelievable.
REINER: There are a lot of great comic performances that don't get recognized. It's like, you know, it's a second cousin. I mean, it's there -- it's relegated to the back of the bus.
KING: Isn't comedy is harder?
REINER: Yes, way harder. It's way harder, anybody who knows it and who's done both --
KING: Any great comedian could do drama, right?
REINER: Well, yes. I mean, it's hard to do comedy. It's very difficult, but for some reason, because the subject matters usually aren't serious, they don't get the, you know, what they deserve. It's unfortunate.
KING: Was Carl a good dad?
REINER: Yes. Yes, he was. He's a very loving person. He's very warm. He's one of these people that when he hugs you feel hugged.
KING: And he's so proud of his son. Your mother, too? REINER: Yes. He's a good, decent guy, too. He's very fair, honest. There's not a -- there's no BS in there.
KING: You have brothers and sisters?
REINER: Yes, I have a sister, Annie, and a brother, Lucas.
KING: Either one in the business?
REINER: Well, Annie's a writer. She's not in the business, she's a writer. She's a psychoanalyst and a writer. She's written some poetry and some children's books. And my brother's an artist and a very good one.
KING: So life is good for you and the two kids? Tell us about the kids.
REINER: Very good. I've got two little boys. Jake, who is, he's almost six years old. He'll be six in May.
KING: Named him Jake?
REINER: Yes, his name is Jake. And his little brother Nick is three and a half. Jake and Nick, as Mel Brooks said, you got a detective agency? Jake and Nick.
KING: Why would a Jewish father name someone Nick?
REINER: You know, I -- because I'm -- I don't know. I mean.
KING: Is it Nick or Nicholas?
REINER: No, it's Nick. There's no Nicholas and it's Jake, there's no Jacob. It's Nick and Jake. That's it.
KING: All right. And they are -- they like their names?
REINER: Yes, they are. Yes. There's a senator and a bank robber.
KING: OK. We'll be back with Rob Reiner. We'll talk about "Ghosts of Mississippi" after this.
[21:45:48]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back. I hummed the wrong song, but there is a song. "Castle Rock." Frank Sinatra fans will know it.
REINER: Yes, and people will write in and tell you --
KING: "Ghosts of Mississippi," tremendous, great idea, Medgar Evers. Why didn't it catch on?
REINER: I think we had a lot of problems, number one, with the fact that I was a white person telling a story that was -- that had civil rights as a backdrop and had a -- the main character was white in it. I think a lot of people had problems with that. I'm not saying everybody, because a huge section of the black audience loved the film and were very happy that I made the film.
I think there were a lot of people who looked at the film and said, how can you possibly make a movie that, in their mind, was about the civil rights movement that focused on a white protagonist? But the movie wasn't about the civil rights movement. The movie had civil the civil rights movement as a backdrop. It had race relations as a backdrop.
The movie was specifically about an actual occurrence in history, which was after 30 years, there was a reinvestigation and re- prosecution of Byron De La Beckwith. And the person who headed up that reinvestigation and re prosecution was Bobby Delaughter, who was white, was a white DA.
And I thought -- I found it interesting that here was this white guy who was raised with a segregationist background, who was -- who had this case dropped into his lap, had to face his own feelings of racism and push forward with this because it was the right thing to do. I thought that was an interesting story to tell.
[21:50:09]
(CLIP FROM THE MOVIE "GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI")
KING: Critics were wrong in reading into it what you weren't reading into.
REINER: Well, the critics wanted the movie to be something other than what it was.
KING: Isn't it unfair, the critics wanted you to do what you're not doing.
REINER: Well, they reviewed a movie that wasn't there. And listen, you know, we're living in a time where race relations are very, very strained. And if you do just, you know, you look at something the wrong way or do something just slightly, you know, wrong from what people perceive, you get, you know, lambasted for that.
KING: Will it be when we sit down and write the Rob Reiner anthology, one of your proud films?
REINER: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. It may be the best film I've ever done. And I think, unfortunately, it goes this way with all film criticism. You can't look at a film when it comes out. The vagaries of the time, the vagaries of people's feelings when they see a film.
The only way to judge a film is to go 15, 20, 25 years down the road, take a look at it in "The Cold Light of Day" and say, is this -- does this have intrinsic value? Is there something here of value?
KING: Does it hold up? REINER: Yes. And I would say that a film that talks about bringing to
justice a white supremacist who killed a civil rights leader 30 years after the crime took place is a valid thing to tell a movie, to make a movie about. And, you know, this guy, you know, Medgar Evers, nobody knew who he was. Nobody knew Medgar Evers was.
Black people in this country didn't ever heard of Medgar Evers. So instead of looking at the glasses half empty, how about the glasses half full, that now people have heard of Medgar Evers. And if they want to learn more about him, he's been presented, he's been made available.
KING: What a performance you got from Jimmy Woods.
REINER: He's great. He was great. He deserved his Oscar nomination.
KING: He was terrific. Was "Misery" tough to make with the intensity of "Misery," Stephen King.
REINER: Yes. It was really hard to make. I mean, first of all --
KING: Maybe the best Stephen King movie, though.
REINER: Well, Stephen King, you know, I may -- I've done two Stephen King movies. You know, I did "Stand By Me," which was based on a Stephen King novella, and then "Misery." And, you know, he, I think, he views them as two of the best films made from his work.
This film was very difficult because it was intense. I mean, you know, first of all, 75 percent of the movie takes place in one room. And these two people are, like, thrown together. Here you got Jimmy Caan, who's very physical in bed every day, you know. And I was to -- I used to kid him every day. He came to the set.
I said, OK, Jimmy, in this scene, you're going to be in bed. I would say that to him every morning. He kept thinking, oh, I'm going to get to do something. No, no. You're going to be in bed this -- so when we finally when he, you know, he picks the lock of the room and he gets out into the hallway.
When we moved from that room into the hallway, the crew was, like, ecstatic. It was like, we got out of jail. No, but we got -- all we did was move five feet from this set to this set. It was like, five feet away. But, hey, we're out of that room, you know.
KING: Kathy Bates was unbelievable.
REINER: Yes. She was great and she deserved her Oscar. I know.
(CLIP FROM THE MOVIE "MISERY")
KING: What happened with "North?"
REINER: "North", again, it's one of those situations --
KING: I think it's bomb. REINER: Yes. There's no question about it. You know, it was a bomb. But, you know, I love the film.
It's a sweet little fable. It's not meant to be any more than that. It came on the heels of "A Few Good Men". And I think people have certain expectations of, OK, He made "When Harry Met Sally," "Misery," now "A Few Good Men," and now he does -- and they wanted it to, again, to be more than it was.
I think again, years from now, they'll look at it and go, it was a sweet little fable.
KING: They won't allow you.
REINER: No, no, they don't. But the other thing that's beautiful about this is, they build you up, then they knock you down, and so then they can pull you back up again.
KING: Back with our remaining moments with Rob Reiner and we'll talk more about his special right after this.
[21:55:10]
KING: We're running close on time. People who watch "I Am Your Child" should come away with what?
REINER: They should come away with, first of all, that the first three years of a child's life are critical in terms of how he will function later as an adult in society. And to know that there is a direct nexus between what happens, experience wise, to a child in the first three years and how he will act out on society.
KING: And how will I use this?
REINER: Well, I think hopefully we can use it to create public awareness, to create a public will so that we can move some policymakers to understand that if we want to have a real impact on crime, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, child abuse, welfare and homelessness, we have to take a serious look at the first three years of life.
KING: Next film?
REINER: The next film, I don't know for sure what it's going to be. I'm developing something with William Goldman and it's -- we'll see what happens with it.
KING: What do you like most about directing?
REINER: I like that I can use all of my abilities, which are not great in any one area, but the sum total are OK. I'm pretty good musically, I'm pretty good with script, I'm a pretty good actor, I'm pretty good visually and all those things I can put together.
KING: Pretty good guy.
REINER: And a pretty good guy who sweats a little bit, but not so bad.
KING: Thank you, Rob.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Rob Reiner spent his life doing what he described to Larry King best putting the pieces together. He shaped American media along the way. Rob Reiner was 78. His wife, Michele Singer Reiner, was 70.
