[Cuomo:] I always sing this song as a personal anthem. Academy Award-winning actress Angelina Jolie now getting major Oscar buzz as a director for the World War II epic "Unbroken". All right. Now, making this film was a fashion project for Jolie and she formed a very personal connection with this extraordinary man at the center of it, all right? His name is Louis Zamperini. And this movie is really about her as much as it is about him. Take a look.
[Unidentified Male:] A lot of ocean.
[Cuomo:] To say the story of Louie Zamperini as epic would be an epic understatement. Listen to this, a kid who goes from outrunning cops to outrunning almost everyone in the world at the Olympics. That would be impressive enough. But it's only the beginning. Zamperini would become a top bombardier during World War II, survived a crash, and then an unheard of 47 days at sea in a raft, only to be captured by Japanese forces, and then endured two and a half years of torture by a psychopath in a prison camp.
[Unidentified Male:] You are enemies of Japan. Look me in the eye.
[Cuomo:] The story of Zamperini's survival chronicled by Laura Hillenbrand became an instant bestseller and there was only one title that could ever do it justice, "Unbroken". Actress Angelina Jolie now takes on the daunting task of bringing it to the screen. [on camera]: This story may be one of the best survival stories that I have ever read. And you feel the same way.
[Angelina Jolie, Director, "unbroken":] Yes.
[Cuomo:] But how do you make the decision to take on the task of telling a story like this?
[Jolie:] Blind bravery. That's an expression. I loved this story so much, like so many people, I had to convince them and convince myself I could do it. But I was convincing them I can do a shark attack, I can do a bombing, and I have a plan. I have a plan for how to recreate the Olympics. It's I'm not afraid of CG at all.
[Cuomo:] How did you make the choices, though? Usually you have a linear thread, right? Story.
[Jolie:] Right.
[Cuomo:] But this one
[Jolie:] So hard. So hard.
[Cuomo:] There's so many parts of this.
[Jolie:] I remember reading it and thinking why has it taken over 50 years for somebody to do this. It's the most obvious movie, it's great, and then there was a day where I thought, that's why, because I ended up making this graph of OK, what are the themes of his life. There's endurance, there's the facing abuse, there's endures, there's faith. What's amazing about the story is so many people say, was that all true? And you think, that was not even it. There was so much more. It's actually less than his life. So, it's really unbelievable.
[Cuomo:] And he had struggles that he overcame once he came home as well. They're so relevant, today's fighting men and women.
[Jolie:] Oh, absolutely. And so, what we did with that section is we talked about it. We said he comes home and what happens? He becomes very vengeful, full of hate, wants to kill the bird, goes very dark.
[Unidentified Male:] I want to kill him. Then, they shoot you. I don't give a damn, let them shoot me. That's not how. We beat him by making it to the end of the war alive.
[Jolie:] And then remembers the remembers the promise he made on the raft to God, remembers his mother praying. So, what we decided we would always have faith through the movie and this idea of darkness and light and darkness and light.
[Cuomo:] So, you take this book, it's a legendary epic story of perseverance and survival. First, you've got to make me happy, I'm the audience. Now, you've got to make Zamp happy and you know he's coming towards the end of his life. He's OK with it. But you want to show him the movie. What is that like?
[Jolie:] So, I got to call he was in the hospital. It took me by surprise and I brought it on my laptop and I held it over him in the hospital room and it was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. I think I went in there thinking, you know, is he going to like the movie? And, of course, it had nothing to do with the movie or making a movie. It was a man at the end of his life, this mountain of a man at the end of his life. Remembering his mother, his brother, all the friends he had lost. And when he, at this fragile state, seeing himself cross the finish line and be all that he had been in his life. And I think it was he was preparing himself to pass away. He was revisiting his memories and I was just there to watch the sparkling blue eyes. And, you know, and just felt honored to be there. Just felt honored to be there.
[Cuomo:] What a gift. What a gift you gave him, what a gift he gave you. What did he say? Did he like it?
[Jolie:] Well, he didn't say. That's the thing.
[Cuomo:] Oh, no.
[Jolie:] No, he didn't say. He didn't it wasn't, he was never planning on reviewing it. You know? He would have, and he probably would have told me he loved it regardless because he was that kind of a guy. And then before I left, because it was the last thing he said to me. He said something to me which I will never tell anyone. It was extremely funny and appropriate and extremely Louie. So, he left and I walked out of the room laughing and smiling. I thought, how did he do it, even in this moment take care of me and I'm walking out of his hospital room with a big smile on my face, feeling he wanted to make me feel it was OK. So he was great, he was great.
[Pereira:] What an extraordinary man.
[Camerota:] But, the story is extraordinary. The movie sounds like it's going to be extraordinary. The book was. But it seems like you and Angelina had a little bit of a connection there. It really does. I mean, I'm serious. You got more sort of personal information out of her, a softer side than I have seen in some interviews.
[Cuomo:] I was a little baffled at the end of the interview. I said, Angelina, thank you so very much. And she was like, absolutely, Frank, anytime. But I'll tell you, one of the reasons that we want to show you this interview is that she made choices about what to tell about his life that were a reflection of her own. She does not talk about the stuff that's she's dealt with her life very often.
[Camerota:] Great.
[Cuomo:] But she does through the choices she made in this movie, and she acknowledges it is in the interview and what it means for her and what she's doing with her own family. We're going to show you more of that coming up.
[Camerota:] Yes, you got her to talk about those things.
[Cuomo:] No, she wanted to talk about it.
[Pereira:] I think the film got her to talk about it, too.
[Camerota:] I'm just giving him credit.
[Pereira:] Well, OK, it's Frank.
[Cuomo:] Believe me, I'll give myself credit. Just don't deserve it right here. There's a lot of news this morning in addition to this. So, let's get to it.
[Sen. Dianne Feinstein , California:] The CIA spent $40 million to prevent us from issuing this report.
[Unidentified Male:] It's a pure political piece of crap.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] The CIA set up something very fast, without a lot of forethought.
[Unidentified Male:] I think it was rogue by design. We didn't threat the Nazis like this. People at the top frankly didn't want to be aware of the specifics. This is something that is without precedent. Grand Central Terminal in New York, the seventh straight day of demonstrations.
[Uniddentified Male:] They're moving slowly towards the New York Police Department headquarters.
[Unidentified Female:] A silent shout from Chicago Bulls player, Derrick Rose.
[Unidentified Male:] They're role models and a lot of people follow what they do. You got something to say, I think it's a great message.
[Camerota:] Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to NEW DAY. I'm Alisyn Camerota, alongside Chris Cuomo. America in the line of fire this morning. That is the very real threat this morning and fear as bombshell details surface from the Senate's CIA torture report.
[Cuomo:] Top U.S. officials are now legitimately worried that these revelations could cause reprisals worldwide, maybe help ISIS even luring new recruits. This as new questions are raised about why the CIA continued these torture tactics, even though the report says they weren't working. So, there's a lot to figure out here. Let's get right to senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta Jim.
[Jim Acosta, Cnn Senior White House Correspondent:] Chris, good morning. President Obama is standing by the release of this torture report saying mistakes were made. But former top CIA officials are only beginning to speak out, and they are defending their actions.
[Acosta:] It was stinging criticism for the CIA from a sitting president. In an interview with Telemundo, President Obama said the agency was wrong to use harsh interrogation techniques on terror detainees after the 911 attacks that amounted to torture.
[Obama:] I think in the midst of a national trauma, and uncertainty as to whether these attacks were going to repeat themselves, what's clear is that the CIA set up something very fast, without a lot of forethought to what the ramifications might be.
[Acosta:] The president was responding to Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein's damning report on CIA interrogations that said detainees were waterboarded, kept in dungeon conditions, while others were naked, hooded and dragged, while being slapped and punched. The report said the agency misled the Bush administration about the program, and that no CIA officer up to and including CIA directors briefed the president on the tactics before April 2006.