Hillary Clinton Talks Beyoncé, Feminism and Her New Documentary at Sundance

Was it true that you were in a production of Bye Bye Birdie in school? Yes. Was this high school or? It was high school on the condition I not sing but I lip-sync. Was it the only play that you were in? I was in some other plays. I had a speaking but not singing role as I recall in Sound of Music. Like most Americans I'd followed the election very very closely. Had a lot of emotional feelings about it. Had followed Secretary Clinton's career for many years. Although didn't know it nearly as well as I do now. But I was excited to talk about it. I'd never met her in person so that was interesting to do. And it was just a great opportunity. Why was it important for you to have a woman director? Well I wanted to have the best director and I had a preference for a woman director because I thought number one we need more women directors and number two I thought that there was so much about the campaign and then when it became about my life obviously where a woman director would have an understanding of some of the issues in a very real way that could translate to the screen. Your idea to broaden it and making it about Secretary Clinton's life, how did that come to you? Was that initially what you thought or was it based on your conversation with her? Or how did you, you pitched that right when you went in? Yeah I mean initially I pitched I think it should be bigger than the campaign. I think we can talk about gender. We could talk about Russia. I didn't instantly have this idea like let's do this about your entire life. What happened was is while I was watching all the behind the scenes footage I was also reading everything. The good, bad and the ugly like from every different point of view. And I realized you know what a touchstone she is and how she's just always been at the tip of the spear and I thought that in order for people to truly understand the story and to talk about the themes that were important, partisan politics, how divided our country is, the history of the feminist movement, what is the sexism that we're experiencing, where do we come from. I thought it was important to lay out her whole life. One of the things I really loved about the movie is how it places you as a trailblazer throughout your career and throughout your life before you even entered into the White House. When did you first identify yourself as a feminist? You know I always thought that being a feminist was just absolutely to be expected because what is it? It's the belief that you know men and women should have the same equal rights in the economy, in politics, in the culture and society. So I never understood why it was very controversial and certainly when I came of age and started not just going to college and law school, there were so many barriers to women's full participation. You know there were jobs we couldn't apply for, scholarships we weren't eligible for, colleges we couldn't go to. There was just so much that basically said stay in your lane. You know you can be really good but stay in your lane. And I was just part of that what second wave feminism where people said wait a minute we've got to tear down these barriers and try to make sure that the promise of equality is real. The documentary revisits the 1992 comments that were controversial at the time about staying home and baking cookies. In 2016 when Beyonce performed at a fundraiser for you in Cleveland she reclaimed that quote and used it as a message for empowerment. How did that feel? I did not know that Beyonce was going to use that quote from the 92 campaign about following my profession. But when I saw the setup of the stage and that that was going to be prominently featured I thought good for you. I mean really good for you because you know her career trajectory has demonstrated so clearly how she's embraced you know feminism and stood up for herself and spoken out and for her to adopt that and use it as a theme for her support of my campaign really made me just break out in a huge smile. Nanette what surprised you the most about making this documentary? I think what surprised me is understanding all the various examples of how she was polarizing over the years and how that happened and understanding the humanity of it. I mean you know there are moments in the film where you see Hillary as the first lady and she's trying to pursue universal health care and she's burned an effigy over it. There are. You had forgotten that right? I had forgotten it until I you know saw the film when she finished and I saw that footage but I think that you know as Nanette does such a great job of demonstrating in the film you know yeah the film is about me it's about my life but it's about these bigger issues. The really the arc of women's lives and the women's movement and also you know both the advances we've made in politics but also the pushback that we see so clearly today. So I think that in the four hours it should be really fruitful for lots of conversations that are yes about what I did or what you know what I said but more than that how does this fit into the history of women's rights and roles? I'm sorry Nanette I cut you off you were saying. No no that's okay I mean there are plenty of examples you know when she became the first lady of Arkansas she goes on the local TV show and the interviewer says you know how do you feel about being first lady of Arkansas when you have your own job, you wouldn't take your husband's last name, you don't stay at home, you know he just has this litany of criticisms that are kind of shocking in today's world and yet that was just normal on television and so to see how blatant the sexism was and now it's still there it's just more insidious it's very surprising and shocking to see it all laid out. You spoke last night about the misogyny online especially when you're a woman running for president and you referenced Elizabeth Warren and what she's been going through. Why do you think there is so much hatred online for women who are trying to run for president or seek leadership positions? No it's a great question because I don't think it's in any way limited to women trying to run for president but because of the high visibility of women who try the misogyny that is directed not only at the women themselves but at their supporters is so shocking and I remember in 2016 look I have a tough skin I put myself out there I was the one running but what was said and done to my supporters men and women but predominantly women who spoke up for me or proclaimed their support for me online was just so vile and some of the groups like Pantsuit Nation they had four million members and people were targeting individual members all over the country and insulting them and threatening them that they had to take their Facebook group private and so I'm seeing some of the same right now some of the organized efforts to undercut demean belittle the women who have been running and still are running in this election. Did you ever read the comments yourself did you ever go on Twitter to see what people were saying or were you ever hurt by what people were saying or do you stay away from it? No I never did because first of all a lot of it was manufactured we now know that a lot of it was amplified by Russian bots that's still going on and I knew that it was not really about me it was about the threat that a woman running for president posed to certain set beliefs and structures and it's fascinating because we've had lots of women leaders around the world who come out of and it's a different kind of effort that you put into in a parliamentary system where you you just literally run in one small constituency and then your peers choose you as leader but when you run for president in the United States man or woman you start from scratch you have to raise all this money you have to get out there and it inspires both tremendous support and extraordinary criticism and you have to be willing to take it but the online feature is different because it is matched with just outright lies and false accusations that we saw in 2016 and we're seeing again in 2020. There was so much outpouring of support and love for you after a Howard Stern interview. Was it fun being interviewed by Howard Stern and do you did you wish you had done it I have to say I actually really enjoyed my interview with Howard Stern much to my surprise and his he interviewed me for two hours and 20 minutes certainly the longest interview by far that I've ever done and you know it was fascinating because yes he had tried to get me to be on his show before and you know I didn't but like doing this documentary I'm doing a lot of things that I never did before and I found his talking about his journey and how he you know really began to examine himself and what he what he said and how he behaved and what he believed I believe in that I believe that people are on a journey in their lives and I respected that so the experience I had with him was really a positive one. Variety was founded in 1905 it's the oldest entertainment publication in the United States so I just had some a few fun questions I wanted to ask you that I think our readers would like. What was the last great musical or play that you saw on Broadway? Oh wow I go a lot so what was the of the last great play you know there's so many that I see so let me plug a few okay I loved Ain't We Proud I saw it twice because I'm a huge fan and I took my husband the second time I loved Hadestown I thought it was creative innovative great theater I'm looking forward to West Side Story being brought back so you know I like the theater I like both you know musicals and comedy and I like drama. Do you DVR or TiVo anything? We TiVo a lot yeah and we're way behind on catching up so my husband is in charge of the TiVo you know it's kind of like a gender-linked role and he TiVos sports events he TiVos news events he TiVos a lot of series that he watches and so yeah we have a lot of backed up on our DVR. What do you make of the Oscars only nominating men again? I think it's really a shame especially because there were so many notable films this year by women directors and you know I just I know they're making an effort and I applaud them for their effort but I really hope that it's not just an effort but it produces some results and the work that women are doing and the importance of it is recognized by the academy every year. Did you have a favorite movie last year? Well I love Little Women so I thought she should have been nominated. Greta Gerwig yeah yeah I really thought she she deserved it because I thought it was beautifully beautifully done and the way that it was constructed made the best use cinemagraphically for the book I thought you know I just also saw The Report which is a heavy movie but one that I really wish more people would see because it lays out pretty clearly what went on during the the war in Iraq so those are the two most recent ones. I saw Knives Out which I thought was a lot of fun so I don't get to go as often as I'd like to but those are the three most recent. Do you have you don't have to tell me who it is but have you picked who you're going to vote for in the primary 2020 primary? You know I'm going to vote that's what let me leave it at that I will definitely vote I vote every time there's an election and I am telling everybody here at Sundance everywhere I go please please get out and vote and then whoever the nominee is support that nominee whether it's you know someone you voted for or not in the primary process because the most important responsibility we all have is to retire Donald Trump. I know that you're not running but do you ever feel the urge that like I could beat him if I were or like I wish I'd you know? Yeah I certainly feel the urge because I feel like the 2016 election was really an odd time and an odd outcome and the more we learn the more that seems to be the case but I'm going to support the people who are running now and do everything I can to help elect the Democratic nominee. And then I just have one last question it's from the documentary there was a lot of online chatter about the line in the documentary where you talked about Bernie Sanders but I feel like the context got lost because you were talking about his history in Washington D.C. and how the press treated you versus him could you sort of clarify that? Well you know I think we did that interview about a year and a half ago I wasn't thinking about the election by any means and you know I've said I'm going to support the nominee but I do think it's important to look at somebody's record and look at what they've gotten done and see whether you agree with that or not. I think that's what any voter paying attention should do.