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• See Jane program
• Women's Sports Foundation
• Ms. Davis' bio

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Tavis: Pleased to welcome Geena Davis to this program. The Oscar-winning actress, of course, has starred in so many acclaimed films. Films like 'The Accidental Tourist,' 'Thelma and Louise.' I was just telling Geena, you know how it's gonna end, and I still cry every time. 'A League of Their Own,' one of my favorites.

Now, of course, she stars on the ABC drama "Commander in Chief.' Earlier this year, she won a Golden Globe, you go, Geena, for her role as the president of the United States. If only life were as progressive as art. The show airs Thursday nights, 10:00 P.M. Here now, a scene from ABC's "Commander in Chief.'

Tavis: Madam President, nice to, nice to have you here. (Laugh)

Geena Davis: Thank you so much, Tavis. (Laugh)

Tavis: So how cool is it to play the president? You dig this?

Davis: I really do. (Laugh) I love to be the president. When I just even first heard about it, I was, like, oh my God, why didn't I think of this? It's such an incredibly fulfilling and rewarding role. But it's also really fun, to be going around the White House and all the Secret Service guys following me everywhere I go. (Laugh) Totally, my life is ruined, basically. I'll never be able to go back. (Laugh)

Tavis: And you play it so well. I gotta tell you, I had this really silly thought, which I should probably not confess on national television, but I had this really silly thought, watching that clip, and watching you when you walked on the stage here. I had heard, of course, you're really tall; you're what, six feet? So I'd heard you were really tall, my first time meeting you. And you sit down - I see these long legs you got wrapped up here. And I'm thinking, Hillary is too short to be president.

Davis: Oh, God. (Laugh)

Tavis: Maybe that's the problem. It's not her politics. She's just not tall enough to be a commander-in-chief. (unintelligible)

Davis: Well, there's that whole thing. But haven't they figured out that the taller candidate usually wins, like, 90 percent of the time or something?

Tavis: See, I knew you would know that, because when you're in Mensa, you know stuff like this. I knew you'd pick up on the point I was trying to make there about that correlation.

Davis: Where did I hear, I would be the seventh tallest president, if I was the real president?

Tavis: You'd be the seventh tallest.

Davis: Seventh or seventeenth. Yeah, right, that I would...

Tavis: Of course, the flip side of that argument is, and here's this crazy Mensa conversation. The flip side of that argument is that we are typically taught, or told, at least, that it's that Napoleon complex that pushes a lot of guys to be aggressive and to seek power, and to (unintelligible). So maybe the theory is all wrong. I don't know.

Davis: I don't know. I don't know, perhaps those types seek power. But I don't know that we are attracted to people that are obviously and clearly power-mad. (Laugh) I think we'd like people to be more subtle about it.

Tavis: Yeah. What have you - this is a strange question to ask. Have you learned anything, looked at presidential politics differently, adjusted your viewpoint, your prism, because of the opportunity to play this role?

Davis: Well, one of the things I find most fascinating is that when I'm doing interviews, almost invariably, people will say do you intend to run for president in real life? And I'm really struck by that. Like, when I played (laugh) an assassin, everybody didn't say, you're really good at this. Are you planning to become an assassin in real life?

But, and I usually say I am learning no valuable experience for the real job on the show. But that's not entirely true. I do have to look at politics more, and think about it more, and I'm playing an Independent, which is different. I'm a Democrat, and really, it's fascinating to look at that, and think about all that.

Tavis: Have you thought, to your point, and I promise not to ask you that question. (Laugh)

Davis: (Laugh) No, I didn't prevent you from asking.

Tavis: I had that next on my list, as a matter of fact.

Davis: Oh, good thing I didn't ask. (Laugh)

Tavis: (Laugh) No, no. Glad I didn't ask that silly question for the eighteen-thousandth time. That said, have you thought about what chance a woman would have - I know you've been asked the question - could a woman really win? But could a woman win as an Independent candidate? Or would you have to be in line with a party to even have a real chance at?

Davis: I don't know that a man could win as an Independent. It just, I think that's more unlikely. That it will take longer for an Independent to win, because there's no party structure. No machine behind it. But hopefully, a woman will win soon. And the point I like to make is, we're not just gonna have one. We're not gonna have one and get that out of the way. We have to get to the point where it's just as likely for a woman or a person of color to be the president, and we just get used to that, get past it.

Tavis: See, that's why I love "Commander in Chief.' Got a sister, got a White woman as, a woman as president, and a brother as a Chief of Staff.

Davis: That's right.

Tavis: Now, it's television; you know it's television. (Laugh) But we can dream, can't we?

Davis: WE can, yeah. (Laugh)

Tavis: We can dream, can't we? Harry Lennix was on this program not long, I love Harry Lennix.

Davis: I love him, I love him.

Tavis: And you guys, the two of you, as I said just, you guys are, like, two of the brightest people I know, you and Harry Lennix. So it must, like, be really cool in between takes to be a fly on the wall, listening to the conversations between you and Harry.

Davis: Yeah, yeah. (Laugh) We're pretty, I'm amazed by him, and he claims to be amazed by me. But he could do anything. He's so brilliant and wonderful on piano, and he's got it all, he's so great.

Tavis: How many times a day, speaking of questions that you get tired of being asked, do you get asked that Hillary question? Do you get asked about the Hillary factor all the time? Particularly, you're playing president, you are a Democrat. You get asked that question all the time, I take it. I won't ask it, but yeah.

Davis: (Laugh) No, I did in the beginning. It sort of has faded away, but it was more before the show came on the air, there was some talk about is this show a plot to get Hillary elected. And I said, well, I don't think ABC has plots. I think they wanna have ratings.

So, and I think people see that the character really is her own person, and that really, the point of this show is less about that it's a woman that is president, and somebody that has an incredibly strong moral compass and figures I somehow landed in this place, and I'm gonna do the right thing. Because I'm not gonna get re-elected, probably, I'm not going to assume that.

I'm just gonna do what I think is right for the country. And I think that's what our fantasy always is, that we want to think that our leaders are gonna be people that make decisions for us, and for the right reasons, and not because of the party platform, or what's convenient for them.

Tavis: Speaking of fantasy, I suspect there are a lot of people watching right now whose fantasy it is to be a Hollywood, Golden Globe-winning movie star, television star, as you are. How did you know, with all your, how might I put this? With your prodigious talent that we see on display, how did you know that the acting thing was what you were supposed to do, particularly given that you were so gifted in so many other areas?

We know about your athleticism and the archery. We know about your music playing. We joked earlier about the seriousness of your being a part of Mensa. How, with all those gifts and skills, did you know that the acting thing was what you were going to choose, or were supposed to do, of all the talents that you had?

Davis: I don't know why I landed on that, but I did when I was three, I announced...

Tavis: At three, okay.

Davis: ...to my parents that I was gonna be...

Tavis: Didn't take long.

Davis: It didn't. (unintelligible) what I saw, even. We didn't really go to the movies, or (laugh) we didn't watch much TV. But that was absolutely from then on, that was it.

Tavis: The irony of that for me is, and I want you to talk about this, your work with See Jane, which I wanna talk about now. You see the irony here. You're three years old, and you know you wanna do this, and yet the work that you're doing through this project, See Jane, is about the fact that there aren't enough women...

Davis: Right.

Tavis: I'll let that go, but explain, yeah.

Davis: Right, right, yeah. I founded a project called See Jane, just pretty recently, the goal of which is to increase the percentage of female characters in the G-rated movies and the TV shows that we make for our youngest kids. We just completed the biggest study ever done of G-rated films at the Annenberg School.

And it was pretty stunning results, and it was pretty much what I suspected, 'cause I watched a lot of pre-school shows and tapes with my little daughter. And there's three male characters to every female character of the main characters. If you look at the whole world of the G-rated film, it's only 17 percent female. And of the few female characters, they're highly stereotyped.

Waist size that can't exist in real life, or to prove that it's the girls, they've got bows and jewelry and eyelashes all over. And I think it's a stunningly skewed version of the world that we're showing to little kids right from the very beginning. That it's a male-dominated world, that women and girls are peripheral, sidelined, silly, don't really need to be dealt with.

And it's so impactful for boys and girls, I think, to see this world, and grow up feeling that way. I can't help but think that it has an impact on how we wind up as adults.

Tavis: So here's the exit question, then. How does the most powerful woman in the world circumvent that reality with her own kids?

Davis: Right. Well, (laugh) it's really hard, because it's so in the culture. My daughter is so into, she's four, princesses right now that I'm like, (laugh) do you know that Mommy has an organization called See Jane? But we actually have, on the See Jane website, See Jane.org, we have tips for parents. Not that you should stop viewing films that are highly skewed toward male characters, but mitigating talk can really have a tremendous impact, where you say which character would you have liked to be?

You didn't want to be the girl character, could that character have been a boy? Would you rather do the things the boy character does, or the girl character? And having the child think about that really can have an impact.

Tavis: I hate to cut off the commander-in-chief, I could never do it to Bill Clinton, but with you, at least you'll let me jump in here.

Davis: (Laugh) I will.

Tavis: Thank you, Geena. Nice to have you. "Commander in Chief' on ABC, starring Geena Davis. Thanks for watching. Talk to you on the radio this weekend on PRI, thanks for being here. From L.A., good night, and keep the faith.