00:00Hi, this is Mariah Gullow from The Hollywood Reporter, and this is Meet Your Nominee,
00:05and I'm here with Oscar-nominated, for a ninth time, Diane Warren.
00:10Hi.
00:11Hi.
00:11Good to see you.
00:12Good to see you, too.
00:13Now, you've been nominated nine times, but I don't mean to say that to make you feel pressured about winning.
00:21No, no pressure at all.
00:22It would be nice.
00:23But you know what?
00:24It is great to be nominated.
00:25I mean, you know, it is.
00:27I mean, I stayed up all night with my friends, like, counting down the seconds.
00:30And this is like, it never gets old.
00:32And in fact, this was probably the most excited I've ever, literally ever been to get nominated.
00:36It's probably the best morning of my life.
00:39And it wasn't the first song, and it wasn't the second song, and it wasn't the third song.
00:43It was number four.
00:44So I had a little heart attacks for a few minutes.
00:48Well, you know, just to let you know, you beat Peter O'Toole now, because he had eight nominations.
00:53Did he ever win?
00:54He did not win.
00:55No.
00:56I mean, and Victor Young, composer, had 21 nominations.
01:01So, I mean.
01:01Did he ever win?
01:02He did posthumously.
01:04Oh, good news, bad news.
01:06He won.
01:07But here's the good news.
01:08He won.
01:09Bad news, he's dead.
01:10Okay.
01:10So I don't want, both of those things I don't want to happen to me.
01:13I don't want it to be 21 times.
01:15Absolutely.
01:15And I want to be here for it.
01:16I mean, it's really fun.
01:17If you go on Wikipedia, there's statistics about, you know, most winning and winning the earliest
01:21and the latest.
01:22And I mean, there's so many.
01:25But I've been 30 years now.
01:26My first was at the 60th Oscars.
01:29And here I am 30 years later, the 90th.
01:31With nine.
01:31That's amazing.
01:33What a stretch.
01:34I mean, I feel like that's kind of a lucky thing, though.
01:35This is a lucky year.
01:37Hopefully, that would be nice.
01:39That would be nice.
01:40I'm hoping.
01:41You know, it's, I think it's my most important song.
01:44I do.
01:45Yeah.
01:45I mean, let's talk about Stand Up For Something, which is in the movie Marshall.
01:49This song is, you know, it's.
01:52It's a call to action.
01:53It is.
01:53It's a call to action.
01:54We had Common interviewing, and that's exactly what he said, too.
01:56It really is, especially in the times we're in.
01:58Who knew how timely it would be?
02:00You know, it was written for Marshall.
02:01It was written to reflect who Thurgood Marshall was.
02:05But literally, every day, it becomes more relevant.
02:09And so many amazing causes are just adopting the song right now.
02:13Yeah.
02:14You know, it's like, wow.
02:15I mean, even this week, you see high school students speaking out against gun violence.
02:18Yeah, they're standing up, you know?
02:20Yeah.
02:20How great is that?
02:22Yeah, yeah.
02:22It's the kids again, right?
02:24It's inspiring.
02:24It's like in the 60s.
02:25Like, when I wrote this, I was trying to write a song, like one of those, you know, protest anthems,
02:31the soul kind of protest, like change is going to come.
02:33I listened over and over to change is going to come.
02:36I go, I want to write the 2000, at the time it was at the end of 2016.
02:41You know, what's the, what's that song going to be in this era?
02:44Like, there's no songs like that.
02:45There's nothing that makes you, like, I want to write a song that you march to.
02:48Yeah.
02:48I want to change the world with the song.
02:51And I just, just over and over, you know, weird because the era that, that 60s era,
02:58that tumultuous era is now in, where we're at in 2018.
03:01Like, you go, wait, what's changed in over 50 years?
03:05Well, you know what, what's, what, what doesn't change?
03:07People, there's a point where people don't take it.
03:09It's the kids, you know, they, you know, whether it was marching, you know, and with anti-Vietnam
03:14and against everything else that was going on, you know, it's going to happen again.
03:18It's happening again.
03:19Yeah.
03:19And so the song that was almost from that time is even more so for this time.
03:26Does something feel different with your, I mean, your songwriting process, does it feel
03:30different when you have an, I don't know, like a nominated award-winning song?
03:36Like, this, is the process any different?
03:37I don't want an award yet, so I only know the nominated part and it's awesome, you know,
03:40it's just, you know, it's just like this, but the song is making a difference, you know,
03:44it's like the last two songs I was nominated for, I feel, you know, with Till It Happens
03:49To You, the song I did, wrote for Gaga from The Hunting Ground, that was a song, you know,
03:54which I think brought the whole, I brought, I think it brought some sexual assault.
03:57It helped bring that into the conversation where it wasn't before.
04:00It helped bring that into the conversation where it wasn't before.
04:03And that was the song, you know, saying Till It Happens To You, you don't know,
04:06like when people go, yeah, you know, it's going to get better.
04:07Well, you know what, Till It Happens To You, it's like there was anger in it and stating a fact.
04:11Now you have Stand Up For Something.
04:12It's like, okay, we said Till It Happens To You, now it's like, okay, we're going to change this shit,
04:17you know, now it's Stand Up For Something and change it because it's going, in fact,
04:21in Till It Happens To You, there's a line, Till You Walk Where I Walk, it's just all talk.
04:27And I realized that the line I wrote in Stand Up For Something in the chorus,
04:30you can't just talk the talk, you've got to walk that walk.
04:32It's interesting that they're in both songs, you know, and it's, but it's saying the same thing.
04:36It's like, no, you've got to like, you've got to stand up.
04:39You can't just sit back and talk about it.
04:41It feels like people are doing that right now.
04:43It's great because we're woke.
04:45And once you're woke, you don't go back to sleep.
04:47So this is the woke national anthem.
04:50I hope, I hope it becomes that.
04:51Just in the past two years, you know, there are, there are more active marches.
04:57There's the Women's March.
04:58Oh yeah, is that awesome?
04:59There's, I mean, I mean, this is becoming a yearly event now.
05:02The Me Too and Time's Up have adopted Stand Up For Something as well.
05:06That's excellent.
05:06So they're one of the, I'm really proud of that.
05:09Do you stay in touch with Lady Gaga?
05:11Yeah, I mean, every now and then, you know, I mean, she's busy, you know, she, I mean,
05:15I'm busy, she's busy, but she's a lot busier than me.
05:17But, you know, I stay in touch with her, yeah, yeah.
05:19Do you ever plan on collaborating with her in the future?
05:22Well, we did a song for Star Is Born.
05:23I still haven't seen the movie, so.
05:25Excellent.
05:25You know, and I'd like to do more in the future.
05:27Yeah.
05:27She's just so talented.
05:28Yeah.
05:29You know, I'm so lucky.
05:30I get to work with, you know, these great artists, you know, I get to work with Andrew
05:34and Common on this.
05:34Yeah, tell me about the collaboration with Andrew and Common.
05:37I met Common when he, when he beat me.
05:40I was up against him for a song I wrote called Grateful, which was my seventh nomination.
05:44But I knew, I knew that one, one wasn't going to win.
05:46And I knew that, that he'd win with Glory, of course, you know, and he did.
05:50But we, we, we talked about working together, you know, after, after that a bunch of times.
05:55And then finally he did.
05:56So when I, after I wrote the song, I thought, you know what, how cool would it be to, to put
06:02a rap on there and, and what about Common?
06:04There's no one else besides Common.
06:05If we could add Common, if he could, you know, create this great rap on here and write
06:09this, you know, something to, to lift it.
06:12And, and it's so weird.
06:13Like literally a week after I thought that I was on a plane to Sundance and it was one
06:17of the few times I had to pay for my own flight.
06:19And usually I don't fly first class if I had to do that.
06:22And at the time I thought, you know, I'm just going to, whatever, I'll pay a little extra
06:24just to be a little comfortable.
06:26And he's writing back of me.
06:28And it was like not even a week after I thought of like, that he'd be the perfect, because
06:31you, those kinds of songs from the sixties, you didn't, rap didn't exist yet.
06:35So I thought like, what if you put that on there and you mashed, you know, decades and genres.
06:39So he's sitting in back of me and I, I told him about the song.
06:42I sang him the chorus and he like,
06:43loved it.
06:44And he goes, well, when we land, just get me the song, you know?
06:47So I sent him the song and I got like all these missed calls from him the next day.
06:51And he goes, I finally, you know, I don't know.
06:53I just didn't see the calls.
06:54I called him.
06:55I'm like, and he's like, I have to be on the song.
06:57I have to be on it.
06:59Can I be, I go, you don't have to ask me.
07:01I'd be honored.
07:02And what, what he came up with is, is inspired, you know?
07:06And as far as Andra, I thought Andra would be perfect, but I had only read the script when I wrote the song.
07:12I hadn't seen the movie yet.
07:13So when I saw the movie with the demo in it, I didn't know Andra was in the movie.
07:17She plays like a Billie Holiday character.
07:19I'm like, wow, how crazy is this?
07:21Like that all this meant to be stuff is happening, you know?
07:24Yeah, yeah.
07:25It's like, you know, whether it's Common, you know, right after thinking, you know, Common's the perfect person or wanting Andra, it's like, okay, this is so meant to be.
07:33Yeah.
07:34And, and, and this fits with what everybody, you know, we all want, you know, better for the world, all of us.
07:39We all stand up for what we stand up for.
07:42And if we can inspire, this song can inspire people.
07:44You can't just talk the time You've got to walk that far
07:50Yes, you do
07:52It all means nothing
07:56And if you don't stand up for something
08:00And I stand up for you
08:04People feel inspired by this song.
08:06What do you recommend they do?
08:07Like how, what's the next step for the call to action?
08:10You can't sit down.
08:11You have to like go for it.
08:12It's not just marching.
08:13It's voting.
08:14It's, it's, you know, just voting these people out that make these gun laws or, or, or, you know, just whatever you can do.
08:20Take it off Twitter.
08:21Start with Twitter and then take it off of Twitter.
08:24Exactly.
08:24Start with the hashtag and then walk on down to the streets.
08:27Yeah, it's not just a hashtag.
08:28It's like, it's active.
08:29Call to action is active.
08:31So I have a couple of questions for you about Oscar Knight.
08:34Yeah.
08:35If you could complete these sentences.
08:37If Jimmy Kimmel were to crack a joke about me, he would say...
08:43Susan Lucci's back.
08:44Susan Lucci's back.
08:47Susan Lucci's back.
08:48Maybe because I was talking at the end, he'd go, she's not Susan Lucci anymore.
08:51Hey!
08:55And even Susan Lucci isn't Susan Lucci.
08:56And she won when she's alive.
08:57That's right.
08:58It wasn't 50 times and she wasn't dead.
09:00So it's all good.
09:01That's right.
09:02She's a true inspiration.
09:03The night wouldn't be complete unless blank happens.
09:06Unless I win.
09:08Yes.
09:09Is that okay?
09:10Can I say that?
09:11Allison Janney was the same way.
09:12She was like...
09:13She's so cool.
09:14She was like, I don't know if I should say this.
09:16And then she was like...
09:17Yeah, but it's like, let's be real.
09:19And by the way, Allison's so cool.
09:21And I have a parrot named Butt Wings.
09:23I said she could borrow him for the Oscars.
09:25And he'll nip her ear right off.
09:26He's a little asshole.
09:27What a great plan.
09:28Yeah, I said, if you need a parrot, I got one.
09:31And he'll do the same thing that other parrot did, but worse, he will bite your ear off.
09:36You won't nibble, he will bite it off.
09:39He'll be a great prop.
09:40Yeah.
09:41The nominee I'd like to dance with at the after parties is...
09:44Common, because it would be a victory dance, hopefully.
09:48Excellent.
09:49Wishful thinking.
09:50Why not be wishful thinking?
09:51So we're just talking about, like, inspirations, call to action, but is there a movie that
09:56really inspired you when you were young?
09:59There was a bunch.
10:00I loved Born Free, you know, that was right into, played into my love of animals, you know.
10:06I love, I remember loving that movie and loving that song as well.
10:09And what's been the most surreal thing that has happened since the nominations?
10:13Yeah, the whole thing is surreal.
10:15I'm a valley Jewish girl from Van Nuys, not that far, and this was a million miles away,
10:20you know, going over the hill into Hollywood.
10:22Like, me and my friend were over there.
10:23We used to hitchhike here, you know, and to, you know, and here's, like, somebody that,
10:29you know, just would dream of this, would dream about being on the Oscars, and had no
10:33right to even ever think I'd be at the Oscars, much less nine times.
10:37Mm-hmm.
10:38That's beyond surreal.
10:39I don't take any of it.
10:41I'm not jaded.
10:42I don't take any of it for granted.
10:43It's a blessing, and it's amazing, and I'm grateful.
10:46Yeah.
10:47Lauren, thank you for letting us hang out at your studio.
10:50And we'll see you on Oscar night.
10:51You will.
10:52Bye.
10:53Bye.
10:54Bye.
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