The coming of age of Sally Field

no one's ever been loved so much by the people don't waste that power Mrs Lincoln Madam president if you please in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln don't convene another subcommittee to investigate me sir I'm teasing smile Senator way I believe I am smiling Mrs Lincoln the role of the imperious difficult Mercurial First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln you think I'm ignorant of what you're up to because you haven't discussed this scheme with me as you ought to have done is played by Sally Field I believe you when you insist that amending the Constitution and abolishing slavery will end this war and since you are sending my son into the war woe unto you if you fail to pass the amendment it's a rare historical role for field I had to put on a lot of weight I put on over 20 PBS and I hope it shows in the movie I don't in real life there's nothing Regal or standoffish about her I want to be wanted by everyone you Mr Mason I started this and I'm going finish it she's built her career on playing ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances I'm staying put struggling to give fellow Factory workers basic rights I'm not going to let that happen I don't care if it kills me I'm not going to give up saving her family farm drum and both feel that she should not work after she gets married taking charge on her daughter's wedding day you should be kind to your circulatory system but my daughter again then mourning that same daughter at her funeral God I'm so mad I don't know what to do I want to know why I want to know you can't not root for Sally Field but if you thought three emys and two Oscars you like me remember that famous speech you like me meant the part of Mary Todd Lincoln was hers for the asking I realized I had to fight for it well the story of how she got the role opposite Daniel Day Lewis is itself a classic Sally Field tale of struggle I am 10 years older than Daniel Mary was 10 years younger than Lincoln I automatically knew that age was going to be somewhere in it was going to be an issue and it was after D Lewis was cast as Lincoln Spielberg called with bad news the part of Mary Todd Lincoln wasn't hers I said I can't let you walk away Mary belongs to me I am Mary I won't let you walk away and I you know somewhere brought Mary up inside of me to to be Feist enough to say test me you owe me a test her pluck paid off Daniel D Lewis flew from Ireland to screen test with her and when field met D Lewis for the first time they were both in full costume I was in this highback chair with a shaft of light coming in on me and I thought fine I'm just going to sit right here and I heard a hubub across the hallway a ways away and I didn't turn and look and finally I slowly turned to look and there he came my beloved Mr Lincoln and was it like Abraham Lincoln coming towards you yes it was I Rose and gave him my hand he kissed it I said Mr Lincoln he said mother and that's the way they addressed each other in real life except he either called her mother or Molly Molly and um I want to see the movie about you getting this role I know I know I've had some times of my life but that was one of them for sure and it was magical Mary and her Abraham connected instantly in a very modern way he started texting me he would text me all the time totally in character which was hard to do because you had to figure out how the because the language was so different than how we speak and I would text him back totally as Molly constantly sometimes he would just send me bizarre limericks and I I as Mary would write back usually criticizing him you know that's hilarious I love that Mary Todd Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln were texting back and forth tting yeah we were texting back and forth you didn't tweet as Mary Todd Lincoln no I don't tweet as anyone I'm a tweet person this is Mary's bedroom we met with Sally Field at Mary Todd Lincoln's childhood home in Lexington Kentucky it was a wonderful city to shoot in and where we continued talking about her own history during her almost five deade career in the business field says she hasn't just struggled for roles she struggled with some co-stars literally did you really bite Tommy Lee Jones oh God yes years ago yes you sure have traveled a long way not to go nowhere I'm still on the Move in 1981 field and Jones co-starred in back roads you can just let go of me field says he was something of a wild man back then and at a rehearsal the 5'2 field was having none of it you or not Tommy's a big strong man and he had hold in my little wrist to show me how I couldn't get free and I was you know twisting it I went and he let me go I got free you see before you me G you of course a Southern California Native was already known to audiences you are kind of cute a surfer girl gig good grief sister flying none sister [Music] beril and as cibil the woman with dissociative identity disorder is anybody there Peggy what back then was called multiple personalities I'm here but I don't want to be it's Politically Incorrect to say it but you've had more lives than cibil I have pain develops truth is the woman who now Hawks medication for osteoporosis so I wanted to stop my bone loss looks a lot younger than 66 you look like you're 40 tops I mean if I didn't know about the whole beniva osteoporosis thing oh yeah know but my bones are strong thank you very much a lot of skin hanging down here I don't know if I just go like that and talk like this she's been married twice they called you the and had a high-profile romance with Bert Reynolds why don't you just drop me off here I'll catch a cab was your relationship with Bert Reynolds as fun as the Smoky in the Bandit movies we did it were you just tearing down Country Roads and Trans Ams no no she's single now I am the traditional woman in a lot of ways desperately looking for the traditional man and then hating these guts when I find him no because he asks me to be the traditional woman so go and figure that one out do you not ask guys for a lot in return do you not say hey you got to do this for me I do now I learned I learned how yeah and notice I'm alone s right over this way please she may be single but one thing is sure whatever Sally Field sets her sights on she goes for it and yes that's why people like her really like her

Channel: CBS News

Views: 54,389

Keywords: cbsepisode, cbs, sunday, morning, lincoln, mary, todd, sally, field, flying, nun, mrs., doubtfire, acting, career, age, bones, daniel, day, lewis, movies

Id: 1cN-SqTvGxM

Length: 7min 28sec (448 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 11 2012