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This interview originally published during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
We are republishing it on the occasion of the Hulu release of the docuseries.
Which one of you had more trepidation about doing this movie?Hillary Clinton: [Laughs.]
I think that might be a tie!
Nanette Burstein: Yeah, exactly.
Certainly, for me, its a hard story to get right.
Theres so much information and its so complicated, at least the way I conceived it.
Wed love to think about doing a campaign movie.
And then I was presented with a couple of directors.
And thats indeed what happened.
Then they came back and said, Hey, you know what?
So it was surprising, because I wouldnt know how to do that.
Id have no idea how to do that!
But it was really effective.
And thats a fact.
There are pictures of me there.
And for the last several years, Rudy Giuliani has been saying I wasnt there.
And he didnt want to admit that I was instrumental in doing what we did to rebuild New York.
That was really telling, to see that in the film.
Are you familiar with the concept of the sleeper effect?
So you remember the information, but you forget where you heard it.
I think this really applies to the way people view you.
68 percent, 69 percent favorability.
Wow, look what we did to her.
It was fascinating to see those juxtaposed.HC: Yeah, interesting, isnt it?
Youre damned if you do, and damned if you dont.
Well, but you know how it is.HC: Yeah, I do know how it is.
I said the same day, Look, Im going to support whoever the nominee is.
That didnt happen for me.
I think about the speeches of yours that have moved me the most.
Its 2008, your speech right after Barack Obama clinches the nomination.
Then again in 2008, your speech at the Democratic National Convention.
And then in 2016, your concession speech.
I can speculate that women seeking power are still an oddity to some extent.
Theres no confusion or complexity about it, because, you know, Im not running for anything.
Im not holding any public office.
NB: One of my favorite stories in the film was from her childhood.
And Hillary still tried, being Hillary.
And she didnt win.
But then the guy who did win asked her to do all the work.
I just feel like that happens still today.
I see it in Hollywood.
HC: But I think this is really deep.
I dont think its that conscious with most people.
Even your question, which was a very honest question: Why did people love my concession speech?
I think I gave a lot of other good speeches, but I was just overwhelmed by the noise.
There was just a tremendous amount of other stuff going on.
And shemadethese kinds of speeches, but no one was tuning in or paying attention.
HC: Well, it was hard to compete with the overwhelming reality-TV performance of Trump.
They wouldnt show my speech, but theyd show an empty podium waiting for him.
Because he was exciting.
He was good for ratings.
He was good for profits.
You never knew what he was going to say.
Who would he insult?
Id get up and give this boring speech about how were going to get health care for everybody.
The press wasnt interested in that.
I saw this in real time, and it was very tough to compete with that.
Back [in 1992], it was only six women, which was revolutionary at the time.
And it was infinitely more in this past election.
But yes, it was remarkable to watch history repeating itself all the time.
Yeah, it was very hard to get voices from the other side of the aisle.
And both, there was no equivocation about it.
Newt Gingrich first said no diplomatically, in writing.
And Lindsey Grahams office could not have responded quicker.
Basically they were like,Are you kidding me?
I traveled with Lindsey Graham and John McCain.
I worked with [Graham] on a few issues.
He wrote an article praising me a few years ago for, I thinkTime 100.
And I mean, he told people, She was great to work with.
She really could get things done.
She helped enormously after Katrina, based on her experience with 9/11.
Thats all on the public record.
But today they wouldnt be caught saying anything positive.
And its very troubling that weve gotten to this point, and its not a both sides issue.
